
The Zimbabwe government's youth militia use the most horrific tactic — rape — as a tool to terrorize those suspected of sympathizing with the opposition. President Robert Mugabe's ruling party has been carrying out a campaign of political terror since
opposition supporters contested his election.
Today's New York Times
paints a graphic picture of how many of Zimbabwe's women have been abused, humiliated, and raped, often in front of their families.

In the
latest bout of violence Sri Lanka has seen since the
ceasefire broke in January, 27 Tamil Tiger rebels and two government soldiers have been killed on the frontlines of their brutal civil war. This bloodshed coincides with an attack on a journalist and a British High Commission official from unknown assailants. The country's situation isn't often the lead story on Countdown but the mounting death toll makes it impossible to ignore.

Every nation has a head of state, which serves as the chief public representative for the country. Depending on the constitution, the head of state may or may not exercise executive power.
In parliamentary systems found across the world, and especially in Europe, the prime minister, or premier, functions as the chief executive officer and answers to the parliament.

At least 200,000 people have died, and more than 2.5 million have been displaced as a result of the
Darfur conflict in Sudan. In 2004, the Sudanese government troops, as well as independent, Arab, pro-government militias, began targeting discontent rebel forces and the black African population. The rebels sought to resist a Muslim central government, accusing them of neglecting the black African residents of the region in favor of the Arabs. It's thought that the government supports one of the militia groups fighting against the rebels, the Janjaweed, known for brutal acts of theft, rape, and slaughter, though the government denies this link.

So, Iraq. It's admittedly complicated. You hear the news, you hear about the Sunnis and the Shiites and you know there's internal conflict in the country, but you're not sure how, who, and why?

Our news tends to report stories in a simple binary: good guys versus bad guys. And sometimes those cast as "bad guys" become interchangeable. Not to sound too Rudy Giuliani about the whole thing, but since September 11, we've had a pretty steady stream of appearances in the media by the Taliban, and al-Qaeda.

Sri Lanka's civil war continues to
escalate, following the government's annulment of a 2002 cease-fire treaty. On Wednesday, 23 people were killed and 67 wounded in a
bombing of a civilian bus. The
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) were responsible for the bombing.

Unrest and violence have plagued
Kenya, one of Africa's most stable nations, since the disputed
December 27 presidential election. Since then, more than 600 people have been killed and 250,000 have been displaced.
Many Kenyans, along with much of the international community, believe the election was rigged to give the ruling party an unexpected victory.

A recent surge in suicide bombings
carried out by women, may indicate that desperate Iraqi insurgents will increasingly employ women for suicide attacks.
Using women as human bombs gives the insurgents a
tactical advantage. Many conservative Muslims believe physical contact is forbidden between unrelated women and men.