George W Bush's presidency is losing international influence, but it would be foolish to write obituaries for American power.

Foreign aid workers saddled up for the cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy Delta on Monday to see whether army-ruled Burma will honour a promise made by its top general to give them freedom of movement. "We're going to head out today and test the boundaries," said an official from a major Western relief agency.

It is a subject that has engaged some of the biggest names in international letters: Don DeLillo in Falling Man, Ian McEwan in Saturday and Jonathan Safran Foer in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Each attempted to explain in imaginary terms that great reordering of western life, which happened on 9/11 when New York's Twin Towers were destroyed by al-Qaeda terrorists.

There were tears and sweat aplenty in Moscow's Luzhniki stadium on Wednesday, but barely any blood. English fans kept calm. Russia's police avoided running amok. The result was that stereotypes of Russia as a harsh forbidding place lost another chunk of credibility, and its quest to be treated as a "normal" country on the post-Cold War stage advanced a further step.

The senior leader of Somalia's Islamist opposition vowed on Wednesday to expel United States-backed Ethiopian troops by force and create an Islamic republic in the war-torn country. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who led Somalia's Islamic Courts movement, said Mogadishu's Western-backed Transitional Federal Government was run by "traitors".

Over lavish buffets in giant, air-conditioned tents whose generators battle with the searing summer heat, Kuwaitis have been arguing over an election that is being watched for signs that one of the freest countries in the Arab world is disillusioned with its political system.

The United States Supreme Court said on Monday that it cannot intervene in an important dispute over the rights of apartheid victims to sue US corporations in US courts because four of the nine justices had to sit out the case over apparent conflicts. The result is that a lawsuit accusing some prominent companies of violating international law will go forward.

Seventeen years have gone by since T-90 tanks last rolled across the historic cobbles of Moscow's Red Square. But on Friday they were back -- with an unmistakable diesel-fumed roar -- and trundling past Lenin's tomb and the fantastic domes of St Basil's Cathedral. Led by a rather tubby general holding a sword, Russia held its annual Victory Day parade.

It was once considered the most dangerous object in the universe, heading for Earth with the explosive power of 84 Hiroshimas. Now an asteroid called 2000SG344, a lump of rock barely the size of a large yacht, is in the spotlight again, this time as a contender for the next giant leap for mankind.

The Pentagon is considering sending up to 7 000 more United States troops to Afghanistan next year to make up for a shortfall in contributions from Nato allies, the New York Times reported on Saturday. The paper said the push could drive US forces in Afghanistan to about 40 000.