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Despite the deepening nuclear confrontation between North Korea and the world, the North is undergoing the most profound economic changes since the founding of the state 57 years ago.

Sectarian conflict in Pakistan is the direct consequence of state policies of Islamisation and marginalisation of secular democratic forces.

Former Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri’s tragic assassination capped a series of events that carry the potential of fundamentally altering not only Lebanon’s future, but also Syria’s and the broader regional landscape as well.

Whenever Balkan politicians discuss Kosovo's future status they warn of a "domino effect". One area frequently mentioned as vulnerable and a possible flashpoint of new violence is Serbia's Sandzak, an ethnically-mixed Muslim-Slav (Bosniak) majority region sandwiched between Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia.

The Sahel, a vast region bordering the Sahara Desert and including the countries of Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania, is increasingly referred to by the U.S. military as "the new front in the war on terrorism".

As it approaches the end of its second year, the Congo's transition risks breaking apart on the unreconciled ambitions of the former civil war belligerents. Inability to resolve political differences in Kinshasa have been mirrored by new military tensions that the parties, as well as Rwanda, have stirred up in the Kivus, the birthplace of both wars that ravaged the country in the past decade.

In the wake of the royal coup of 1 February 2005, Nepal's human rights crisis is spiralling out of control.

The next seven months are a time of great danger for Côte d’Ivoire. Under pressure of an increasingly suspect 15 October 2005 election deadline, its political class may lose control of the cyclical violence it has orchestrated during the on-again, off-again civil war that has divided the country since September 2002.

Iran’s influence in Iraq has been one of the most talked about but least understood aspects of the post-war situation.

Two years into the crisis in Darfur, the humanitarian, security and political situation is deteriorating. Atrocity crimes are continuing, people are still dying in large numbers from malnutrition and disease and a new famine is feared. The international community is failing to protect civilians itself or influence the Sudanese government to do so.