Obama tries to capture support of women voters
In the intensifying battle for the votes of Democratic women, his campaign is trying to turn years of feminist thinking on its head and argue that the best candidate for women may, in fact, be a man.
- Will Oprah Winfrey's endorsement of Obama help him?
- Business interests push for new rules before Bush leaves office

Ending famine, simply by ignoring the experts
Malawi's agricultural turnaround, credited to fertilizer subsidies, has implications for fighting hunger across Africa.

Putin's party wins decisively in Russia, exit polls say
United Russia party won more than 60 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections Sunday, with the Communists trailing far behind with 11.5 percent, early polls say.
- A landslide for Putin's party in Russia, and a big question
- Some voters speak out after casting their ballots

Delegates in Bali for talks on climate
A sense of urgency surrounds the meeting in light of a report issued last month by the UN, which detailed the potentially devastating effects of global warming.

Slow pace of advances against cancer frustrate researchers
Although the number of deaths from cancer has declined since 2002, specialists say that reflects earlier detection of the disease and lifestyle changes rather than improvements in treatment.

Pro-democracy candidate wins legislative seat in Hong Kong
Anson Chan, the former head of Hong Kong's civil service, won in a vote that was widely seen as a referendum on democracy.

Tehran defiant on nuclear enrichment
Talks between Iran's chief nuclear negotiator and the EU's top diplomat are called a "disaster."

Turkey claims it attacked Kurdish rebels
President Abdullah Gul reaffirmed Turkey's readiness and right to intervene in northern Iraq, but Kurdish officials in Iraq insisted that there had been no Turkish military incursion.

Hizb ut-Tahrir mobilizes in West Bank
Hizb ut-Tahrir, the organization that sponsored the anti-Abbas demonstrations in the West Bank last week, has become yet another extremist force driving out the moderate middle.

Will Oprah Winfrey's endorsement of Obama help him?
Next week the daytime talk-show host takes to the hustings, appearing with Senator Barack Obama, in a high-energy political moment that will test whether the philosophy of her hugely successful media empire translates to the political arena.

How Bauhaus was shaped into greatness
The Bauhaus, the German art and design school designed in the mid-1920s by the architect Walter Gropius in Dessau, became a technocratic, meritocratic and modern spirit. An exhibition at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art in England tells its story.