SOUTH KOREA: Incredible Journey
Torture, assassination attempts and years in exile have prepared Kim Dae Jung for what will be his new presidency's real challenge‹rescuing his country from the economic brink

Big Brother: How the U.S. saved Kim's life, twice

Q & A: "I never lost my faith"

Viewpoint: Why reunification is still a dream

JAPAN: Money for Nothing
A wining-and-dining scandal could thwart Tokyo's plans to shrink the mountain of bad debt piled up by private banks

CHINA: Hand of God
Mainland Christians feel the watchful eye of the state

INDIA: Sonia to the Rescue
Rajiv Gandhi's Italian-born widow fights to save the family dynasty's once-mighty Congress Party from electoral disaster

God's Army: The militant BJP tones down its image

Viewpoint: Democracy means more than just elections

EUROPE: An Anguished Land
An official report on Belgium's harrowing pedophile scandal fails to allay the public's worst suspicions about official complicity in the abduction and murder of young girls

RUSSIA:
Eight decades after their death and much debate on the subject, Russia's Romanovs will finally be buried

JUSTICE: Can a German man draw a death sentence for having an affair with an unmarried Muslim woman?

BUSINESS: In the driver's seat at Ford is a new chief executive with a familiar name: Bill Ford Jr., a scion of the dynasty who used to run a pro football team

THEATRE: The Latter-Day Trials of Bertolt Brecht Even as Germany celebrates the centennial of the legendary playwright's birth, Brecht's artistic legacy and reputation come under fire from an array of critics

Viewpoint: Happy Birthday, Bertolt

BOOKS:
Ted Hughes, Britain's Poet Laureate, finally offers a poetic meditation on his marriage with the tragic Sylvia Plath; two clever novels with the turn of the millennium as backdrop

TO OUR READERS

NAGANO 1998: Blockbuster Spectacle
The stately Olympics again cruise past anyt potential icebergs

Generation J: Japan's young melalists stir up trouble

CURLING: Sweeping All Before It
The sport's mixture of skill and strategy puts it right on target

ESSAY: Thanks a Million and Sayonara
Nagano's warm hospitality will be a tough act for Sydney to follow

CANADA

ARCHAEOLOGY: Exqusisite gold and silver objects of the Thracians go on tour

SOUTH PACIFIC

AUSTRALIA: Chilly Welcome
Is the country putting skilled migrants to the best use?

FESTIVALS: Celebrations of art and commerce

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