For Arab, European and U.S. officials trying to pressure Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, a key mystery is how much control Syrian President Bashar Assad actually has over his country.

Syrian soldiers flashed victory signs and waved automatic rifles as they drove eastward through Lebanon's mountains on Wednesday, pressing ahead with their evacuation of positions they have held for almost three decades and allowing for the Lebanese army to take their place.

The United States warned of Iran on Tuesday that it will consider possible actions against Iran if Iran does not fulfill its obligations to stop its sensitive nuclear activities.

The European Union wants to start building the world's first nuclear fusion reactor by the end of this year, with or without an international agreement, the bloc's research chief said on Monday, renewing a call for talks with rival host Japan.

Despite a round, bespectacled face, ruddy cheeks and a thick, drooping blonde moustache that give him an avuncular appearance, Bolton is known to be confrontational, combative and humorless.He began excoriating evil in the Reagan administration when, despite a lack of experience in developing countries, he held a series of posts in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) before winding up as one of Attorney General Edwin Meese's top aides -Jim Lobe/TomPaine.com

The escalation of tension between the US and Syria and Iran will dominate the fate of the region in the near future. The regional countries face the reality that regional politics is no longer independent from the realities of world politics of the era following September , 200.The relations among Turkey, Syria and Iran are exemplary in this sense -Dr Bulent Aras/Asia Times

The US anti-terrorism strategy has come in for sharp criticism at an international conference that opened here, as Spain prepared to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the deadly train bombings in the capital.Several members of the Club of Madrid, the body organising the three-day symposium on terrorism and democracy, and other participants warned that the United States' use of force and curbs on civil liberties risked being counterproductive -New Straits Times MY

"Liberty" is an easy word to say, but it is a hard word to live up to.Freedom has little to do with financial gain or personal pleasure.Accompanying freedom is her constant and unattractive companion,"Responsibility." Neither is she an only child. "Patriotism" and "Morality" are her sisters. They are inseparable; destroy one and all will die -Chuck Baldwin/Gulf

President Bush's nomination of a tough-talking conservative as ambassador to the United Nations set off ripples of worry in some of America's allies Tuesday.Critics who had hoped Bush would tend more carefully to ties with overseas friends in his second term feared the selection of John R. Bolton called into question the president's intention to do so

According to the Times of London, "Italy reportedly paid more than $6 million for Signora Sgrena's release, which was negotiated by Signor Calipari himself." But, the Turkish paper Zaman reports that "members of the Iraq Islamic Army who abducted [Sgrena] state that they refused the ransom money offered for the journalist's release." (a media overview) -Christian Science Monitor

Bolivian President Carlos Mesa withdrew his threat to quit on Tuesday, defying warnings by indigenous leaders of a new wave of street protests that would paralyze the impoverished country. Mesa had presented his resignation on Monday, but Congress voted near unanimously to reject his offer to quit, as even opposition leaders feared that the respected historian's departure could bring even greater chaos

The UK's Brent crude oil hit a new record high of $53.5 a barrel in London trade on Tuesday.The increase came amid rising demand for heating oil as cold weather hit the US northeast, while a weaker dollar encouraged speculative fund buying -BBC

Mt.St.Helens sprung back to life Tuesday afternoon with perhaps the largest eruption since the volcano became active again in the past six months.Video from our sister station KATU-TV in Portland showed a large steam and ash plume rising as high as 36,000 feet from the volcano's crater at the height of the eruption, with the cloud drifting off to the east and northeast -KOMO TV