Suzanne Goldenberg

Nepal wants to lift itself out of poverty by expanding its tourism industry but there is no strategy for waste disposal

Neither man has yet to secure his party’s nomination, but Barack Obama and John McCain have begun to lay down the battle lines for a possible confrontation in November’s presidential election. McCain, all but certain to lead the Republican ticket, is starting to plot election strategy, aides say.

The embattled Iraqi leader, Nouri al-Maliki, has said he no longer wants to be prime minister, underlining the United States’s loss of control over events just as President George W Bush is poised to announce his new strategy on the war. Bush is expected to announce early next week that he intends to increase the number of US forces in Iraq.

<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/140248/USA2.GIF" align=left>The three words that were on everyone’s mind did not escape John Kerry’s lips when the soaring notes of the gospel choir faded away and he rose before the congregation. With just 48 hours to go before his fate is decided, the Democratic candidate was determined to return to the closing message of his campaign — his promise of better jobs, health care and education.
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Officials in Zimbabwe hurled racial epithets at United States Secretary of State Colin Powell last week, including branding him an "Uncle Tom" after his attack on President Robert Mugabe in <i>The New York Times</i> the previous week.