UNITED STATES
CALIFORNIA has always been a place where the distinction between fact and fiction is difficult to discern. When it involves Hollywood stars-turnedpoliticians, even more so. Over the last few days Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has had the dubious responsibility of deciding on whether the death penalty should be carried out on Stanley "Tookie" Williams. Arnie's political allies and enemies alike have looked on with interest at a decision sure to affect the "Terminator's" future as governor. As if that was not intriguing enough, as Ros Davidson reports, Mel "Braveheart" Gibson is being courted by conservative Republicans as their next potential political saviour.
SOUTH AFRICA
What a terrible statistic and reality it is that a woman is raped every 20 or so seconds in South Africa. Earlier last week former deputy president Jacob Zuma was the latest to be charged with the offence. But as Fred Bridgland reports from Johannesburg, this is a modern-day plague that affects every level of South African society. Just why is the incidence of rape so high in the country, and what can be done to stop its further escalation?
IRAQ
Spitting, ranting, threatening, and far from cowed, Saddam Hussein in court has been a disturbing spectacle. What we see on television apparently is only half of what the former dictator gets up to when he chooses to make an appearance before his accusers. Diplomatic editor Trevor Royle takes a closer look at the Saddam "show" in the context of other infamous trials of the world's despots.
CHILE
Watching Chile's former dictator General Augusto Pinochet in the last throes of his life is a reminder of just how turbulent the country's history has been. Today, as the country goes to the polls, South America's first elected woman president may be about to take office. But as Andrew McLeod explains, the appointment of 54year-old paediatrician and socialist Michelle Bachelet is also a further indicator of a shift to the left across Latin America making Washington anxious.
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