World

Communal tensions flaring among indigenous groups from Mexico to the Amazon. Dozens of Chinese nuclear warheads aimed at the United States. Russia's power in serious decline, its population diminished by 16 million. A cold peace in the Mideast, but transcontinental terrorists attempting devastating attacks with weapons of mass destruction. Welcome to the year 2015, as characterized in chilling detail by a sweeping new U.S. intelligence report to be released today.

When Orson Welles adapted "Around the World in 80 Days" for the stage in 1946, he added circus acts, magic tricks--even, literally, a kitchen sink to let everyone know that no opportunity had been missed. If Welles was making a statement about all the hoopla going on in Jules Verne's rambling novel, director Michael Anderson and producer Michael Todd took that statement and added an exclamation point with their 1956 film.

World leaders united Tuesday to condemn the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, whose family name became synonymous with India and tragedy. British Prime Minister John Major said the killing robbed world politics of a brave man but that Indian democracy will continue. "There will be times when it is difficult, times when it is turbulent, but then India is a vibrant democracy and I am sure it will survive," Major said.

When leaders of the world's seven leading industrial nations met in Paris this summer for an economic summit, global environmental issues from the greenhouse effect to deforestation commanded nearly as much attention as the world economy. Several months earlier, the European Community and the United States, alarmed by the destruction of the Earth's ozone layer, had called for new limits on the production and use of ozone-destroying chemicals.