March 2009

White leaflets flutter to the street in downtown Beijing, each one a snapshot of someone's misery: a shuttered factory, a sick child, a real estate swindle.

Even as it tightens control over the fraught Tibetan region, China is losing its grip.

China, the world's second-biggest energy consumer, started initial construction of its third gas pipeline connecting the remote west to the country's eastern cities to meet future demand for the cleaner-burning fuel.

Although United States President Barack Obama was quick to order the closure of the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay soon after assuming office, the question of what to do with the roughly 175 current inmates who are unlikely to be prosecuted by the U.S. remains.