World Watch

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RUSSIA
The Cold War Is Over. Long Live Star Wars
Russia agreed to a dramatic reduction in stockpiles of nuclear weapons, despite its concern that the u.s. intends to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty in order to develop its national missile-defense program, known as Star Wars. After long and contentious negotiations, both the Kremlin and the Pentagon committed to slashing arsenals of active nuclear warheads by around two-thirds. No sooner was the ink dry on that agreement, than NATO and Russia signed up to fight terrorism together, despite Moscow's reservations about the impending NATO expansion eastward. As NATO foreign ministers met representatives of the 10 former East Bloc countries applying for membership, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov groused that the enlargement was "no more than a hangover from the past."

SIERRA LEONE
Vote for Peace
President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and his ruling Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) received a huge endorsement from the war-weary country. Kabbah won a substantial majority in the presidential vote and his party took more seats than any other in the new Parliament. The President was credited with bringing in the international forces that put down a 10-year rebel uprising, which had seized control of the country's diamond fields and repeatedly tried to oust the government. After Sierra Leone's last election in 1996, the rebels made a point of hacking the hands off civilians, on the grounds they had been used to vote for Kabbah.

INDIA
Jammu's "Massacre of Innocents"
Tension between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir rose when three gunmen killed 34 people in a raid on the Kaluchak army base in Jammu. The dead were mainly women and included 11 children. Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told Parliament last Friday that the "massacre of innocents" meant that India would "have to retaliate." A day later, New Delhi expelled the Pakistani High Commissioner. Since December, the two countries have mobilized some 1 million troops along the border.

THE NETHERLANDS
Wheel of Fortuyn
After an election campaign overshadowed by the assassination of anti-immigrant populist Pim Fortuyn, Dutch voters roundly rejected all three parties in Prime Minister Wim Kok's outgoing center-left coalition. The winners were the opposition Christian Democrats, who set about exploring coalition possibilities with the party Fortuyn founded — now the country's second-largest political force. But consensus looked unlikely, as the two parties fell short of a parliamentary majority and the leader of a third possible partner, the right-liberal VVD, declared that his party would be in opposition.

IRELAND
Ahern vs. Apathy
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern picked up enough support from voters to win a second term. His Fianna Fáil party rode a strong economic performance to secure the most seats in Dáil Eireann, Ireland's House of Representatives. But wealth and bad weather bred apathy: turnout fell sharply. Attention also focused on seats won by members of Sinn Féin, the political wing of the I.R.A. Their election could help seal the organization's shift from violence into mainstream Irish politics.

MIDDLE EAST
Election Talk
Under pressure from all sides to broaden political representation, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat announced plans to hold parliamentary and presidential elections within six months.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon demanded Palestinian reforms as a condition for future peace talks, but legislators within Arafat's Palestinian Authority had already drawn up proposals to replace his Cabinet within 45 days. Arafat's insistence, however, that elections depended on an Israeli withdrawal left Sharon with his own plan on the table: an "interim" Palestinian government, appointed from outside.

LIBERIA
Rebels Beaten Back
Panic seized the capital, Monrovia, as government troops battled rebel fighters within earshot of the city. Soldiers loyal to President Charles Taylor reclaimed his home town of Arthington, 25 km away, and said they killed more than 120 rebels in towns farther north. The U.N. condemned rebel attempts to take power by force, calling for dialogue and international aid for 44,000 civilians displaced by the fighting.

AFGHANISTAN
Operation Condor
British troops based at Bagram airbase were called into combat for the first time after Australian special forces came under attack in eastern Paktia province. Backed by U.S. airpower, around 1,000 troops swung into action against suspected Taliban fighters close to the border with Pakistan. But there seemed no end to mishaps: a U.S. bombing raid mistakenly killed more than 10 civilians, and more than 300 British soldiers were quarantined after 38 were struck down by a contagious gastric illness.

CHINA
Confusion Says
Three North Koreans who sought asylum in a U.S. consulate in Shenyang, and two others at the Canadian embassy in Beijing, were finally allowed to fly to South Korea via Singapore. But confusion surrounded the fate of five other North Korean defectors seized by Chinese police in the grounds of the Japanese consulate in Shenyang. Japan demanded the Chinese hand them back, but talks over their fate stalled, straining already tense relations.

EAST TIMOR
New Nation
Almost three years after residents braved a hostile militia to vote for independence, the former Indonesian territory prepared to become a sovereign nation on May 20. To help it on its way, donors representing 27 countries and organizations pledged a total of $440 million in aid, but the country will still rank as one of the poorest in the world. Half the population live on less than 55¢ a day.

AUSTRALIA
"Pacific Solution"
Citing "border security" as a priority, the government announced a massive increase in spending to deter migrants from arriving in Australian waters to seek asylum. Presenting the annual budget, Treasurer Peter Costello said $1.5 billion had been allocated for preventive measures over the next five years. This included $660 million for the so-called Pacific Solution, which relocates asylum seekers to nearby islands.

THE U.S.
Iraq Deal
The U.N. Security Council finally voted to amend sanctions imposed on Iraq after the Gulf War 12 years ago. The measures were revised in 1996 to allow an "oil for food" program, which has now been extended for another six months. The 15-member Security Council voted unanimously to replace scrutiny of all imports with a list itemizing "suspect" goods, including high-speed computers. Iraq claimed the proposals were a front for "American political goals" but said it would cooperate with the U.N.'s humanitarian program.

CUBA
Carter Stirs It Up
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter waded into the delicate area of U.S.-Cuba relations during the first visit by a U.S. leader since 1959. In a speech broadcast live from Havana University, Carter called for an end to the U.S. economic blockade against Cuba, but he also urged leader Fidel Castro to initiate political reforms. The former President said he had come to "extend a hand of friendship" to Cuba's people. But the White House saw things differently, saying the four-decade-old economic and travel embargo was a "vital part of America's policy."