Despite the winter lull in Afghanistan, it is becoming increasingly evident that the US-led alliance operating there since the Taliban were overthrown in 2001 is on the brink of collapse. How did a ragtag group of ill-equipped militants manage to survive seven years of military occupation by the strongest military in modern times, backed by the strongest military alliance since the collapse of the Warsaw Pact?

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By Huang Tien-Lin 黃天麟
STATISTICS SHOW THAT Shanghai handled more than 26 million standard containers last year, 20.4 percent more than the year before, to replace Hong Kong as the world's second-largest container port. Measured in terms of cargo throughput, Shanghai, which handled 561 million tonnes of cargo last year, maintained its position as the largest port in the world for the third consecutive year.

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By Guy Sorman
EVER SINCE THEIR reinvention by Pierre de Coubertin, the Olympic Games have been politicized. They first took place in 1896 in Athens in order to embarrass the Turks still occupying northern Greece. The Berlin Games in 1936 celebrated the triumph of Nazi ideology. The Seoul Games in 1988 opened the door to South Korea's democratization.

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ON SATURDAY, PRESIDENT Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) traveled to Taiping Island (太平島) to visit troops there and inspect an airstrip that was recently completed.

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At least four doctors, two dozen nurses and paramedics and several hospitals were involved with selling 'stolen' kidneys. Their victims will have to pay for their loss for the rest of their lives
By Sam Dolnick
The last things Mohammed Salim remembered were the knees pinning him to the ground, the guns pointed at his head, and, finally, the injection that sent him into oblivion.

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By Choe Sang-hun
On a clear day, one can stand on this island and see the coast of North Korea, pale and milky on the horizon, 16km away. The channel could be crossed in just half an hour by boat.

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By Thomas Palley
For 25 years, the so-called "Washington Consensus" -- comprising measures aimed at expanding the role of markets and constraining the role of the state -- has dominated economic development policy. As John Williamson, who coined the term, put it in 2002, these measures "are motherhood and apple pie, which is why they commanded a consensus."

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