Still, I have to admit that when it’s lunchtime, I usually head for Lucille’s, a humble American-style greasy spoon in the Maadi district of Cairo that may serve the tastiest burger in the world. Don’t let me distract you from your Fourth of July barbecue; but yes, a family restaurant in Egypt dishes up the [...]

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TEHRAN, July 3 — Venezuela agreed to sell Iran gasoline on Tuesday, less than a week after Iran unveiled a rationing program to limit its dependence on gasoline imports.
“The Iranian government has asked to buy gasoline from us, and we have accepted the request,” Rafael Ramírez, Venezuela’s energy minister, told the newspaper Shargh. He declined [...]

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Islamist radicals in the Middle East increasingly see the United States and Israel as weak, retreating powers. Twentieth-century history tells us that wars often erupt when the enemies of democratic nations view those nations as soft and passive. Consequently, the United States and Israel are perhaps as close as they have ever been to full-scale [...]

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WASHINGTON – The United States and Russia pledged Tuesday to reduce their stockpiles of long-range nuclear weapons “to the lowest possible” level, although they have not yet agreed on specific numbers.
“We have a way to go in our discussion,” U.S. envoy Robert G. Joseph said at a news conference.
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Tailoring foreign policy to the Beijing Olympics
CHINA’S foreign policy, usually vilified in the West for its brazen mixture of commercial self-interest and callous disregard for even the most basic human rights, has been enjoying better press lately. Ahead of its great global coming-out party next year, the Beijing Olympics, China seems to be more concerned [...]

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China’s rapidly growing economic and military muscle may be worrying the world but oddly enough Beijing itself is concerned about a recent development in its backyard.
Taking note of a quiet meeting of top officials from the United States, India, Japan and Australia in Manila recently, the foreign office spokesman in Beijing pointedly asked the four [...]

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A new hi-tech long-range land attack missile has been successfully fired by a Devonport-based submarine.
The new ’smart’ Block IV Tomahawk missile was fired during a live firing trial off the US coast.
The 5,200 tonne attack submarine HMS Trenchant used one of her torpedo tubes to launch the missile, which then flew over the Gulf [...]

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The recent terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom need to be considered alongside the controversies in the United States over homeland security and immigration.
To put it bluntly, two great countries are under threat. Some people want to do something about the threat, others want to do nothing.
Let’s start with the attempted car-bombings across the Atlantic. [...]

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According to data from a report (PDF) by Doctors Without Borders, about nine million active infections of TB develop annually, leading to about two million deaths. TB is one of the most common infections among the HIV infected and the top killer of people with AIDS globally. A World Health Organization report finds the rise [...]

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The appointment of Sir Mark Malloch Brown as the U.K.’s new minister for Africa, Asia, and the United Nations is the clearest sign yet of a break with the pro-U.S. stance of the Blair government. Malloch Brown, who served as chief of staff and deputy to former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is well known for [...]

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