Julian Borger

President Pervez Musharraf said recently that troops would stay on the streets of Pakistan’s tense cities at least until a new election date of February 18. Parliamentary elections, intended to provide a transition to democracy after more than eight years of military rule, had been scheduled for January 8, but a controversial six-week delay was announced by the country’s election commission.

Karl Rove’s departure from the White House to spend more time with his family and to write his memoirs marks the end of the dominant political partnership of the past decade in United States politics. Rove took George W Bush under his wing when he was no more than the figurehead of a Texan baseball team, the wayward son of a political dynasty who was not expected to amount to anything.

The last good options in Iraq evaporated long ago and getting out is likely to be more complicated and bloodier than going in. Whether they go north or south, the 160 000 American troops now in Iraq would probably have to fight their way out against disparate enemies keen to claim a military victory.

The Pentagon is trying to develop "insect cyborgs" able to sniff out explosives, or "bug" conversations, by lurking unseen in enemy hideouts with micro-transmitters strapped to their bodies. Their most immediate task could be spotting and identifying the location of roadside bombs in Iraq.

This week, United States President George W Bush committed the US to the defence of Israel against threats from Iran, saying he would not allow the world to be "blackmailed" by an Iranian nuclear weapon. The president’s warning, issued in an exchange with students in Kansas, came at a tense time in relations with Iran.

United States officials last week insisted they were right to raise the alert over a potential terrorist attack against a US financial target, despite the fact that much of the information that prompted the warning was years old. But amid claims of political motives in the handling of the alert and scaremongering, is the US government’s high alert justified?

The Arts & Culture Trust has announced the finalists for its 2002 awards. The finalists comprise top individuals and projects that have gained a high profile and achieved success in the arts in the past year.

Thirty years after a nightwatchman stumbled on a break-in at the Watergate complex, sparking off the greatest political scandal in modern US history, the enduring mystery at the heart of the affair produced fresh media speculation.

An acrimonious rift opened between the CIA and FBI this week over which agency was more to blame for failing to prevent the September 11 attacks. An extraordinary finger-pointing battle broke through the usual wall of secrecy surrounding intelligence matters.