Billed as an expression of "openness" to all the country's political forces, what does the composition of new French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government really mean, asks David Tresilian in Paris

The follies of US President Bush's scandalous choices have come home to roost, writes Gamal Nkrumah

So goes the punchline about who the Pole would rather kill first -- the German or the Russian. The German, of course. Eric Walberg reflects in exasperation over the latest debacle in Euro-Russian relations

Assem El-Kersh, in Islamabad, relays the mood of an upbeat premier

The killings in Karachi have left President Musharraf more isolated than ever before, writes Graham Usher in Islamabad