Why Americas need new gum control laws and the drugs cartels looking for new homes. Plus, our Washington column looks at how branding is selling the recovery package.

Decades of warfare against drug cartels and armed guerillas have provided Colombia with a valuable asset. Countries across Latin America are sending their troops and police to learn the techniques of its elite Jungla unit…

The brief: to persuade Afghanis to take pride in their national army, to shun terrorism and to give up the narcotics trade. Not an easy task in a country where war has been raging for nine years and where the population is…

It’s been a bad start to the year for Afghanistan. As reports claim it is heading for failed-state status, the Taliban continues to defy US and Nato-led troops. President Karzai is increasingly frustrated with US and Bri…

This month’s military news round-up, looking at conscription in Austria, budget cuts in the US and smaller-scale deployments in Guatemala.

Saudi's Arabia's big weapons spend and a personnel shortage in the Polish Army.

The world goes cyber-war, Brazil prepares a new range of submarines and we met Washington's man in Yangon.

As Colombia looks to expand business ties with Asia, the country's principal port town of Buenaventura has huge economic potential. But its Pacific waterways are also a major transit for drug smugglers, bringing a new set…

We kick off a new series on strategic flight paths, starting with Istanbul to Mogadishu.

How Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, gets around in Me and My Motorcade, plus why Hezbollah loves a good DVD night in and a spotlight on the forthcoming Lebanese election.

It is a tiny Muslim nation in one of the world’s most politically hostile regions. But Djibouti is also in the perfect position to keep tabs on Islamist militants. That’s why the US army is here and, thanks to a hearts- and…

Global forecasting requires an expert view, so we called on four leading thinkers for a considered analysis of the future: Michael Axworthy, former head of the Iran section at the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office,…