The quest for water to satisfy the burgeoning needs of an ever-increasing number of Jewish settlers in arid Palestine is as old as zionism itself. Theodore Herzl, the founding father of political zionism, recognized the vital importance of water for the success of his colonialist project.

History does not move in leaps and bounds. Most Muslims involved in Islamic activity, especially of the political party variety, want immediate results.

In the east Malaysian state of Sarawak, the confluence of the Rajang and Balui Rivers is marked by the Bakun Rapids. Here, churning whirlpools and crashing white water have undone many an experienced boatman.

Malaysia’s controversial mega dam project in the Eastern state of Sarawak is showing signs of stress. Reports of construction mishaps and financial problems faced by Ekran, the main contractor of the Bakun Hydroelectric Dam Project are being blacked out from the tighly-controlled Malaysian press.

The brutal manner in which Muslims are being treated in Myanmar (Burma) is no bar to the junta’s ambition to join ASEAN, the grouping of South East Asian Nations.

A tug of war between the Refah-led government of prime minister Necmettin Erbakan and the military establishment over the role of Islam in public life has dominated Turkish political scene since the end of February.

Just as the European Union (EU) announced that its members were sending their envoys back to Tehran after a 20-day hiatus, the Rahbar (Leader) of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatullah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, delivered a powerful slap on their collective face.

The two-year ordeal of Dr Mousa Abu Marzook finally ended when he landed in Amman, Jordan on May 6. Throughout his incarceration in the US on trumped-up charges levelled by Israel, the political head of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic group, maintained his innocence and said that he was a political prisoner.

Following the April 23 treaty between Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in Moscow, perhaps Harvard professor Samuel Huntington should go back to the drawing board and revise his ‘clash of civilizations’ theory.

Shaikh Omar Abdul Rahman, the 60-year-old blind teacher, sits in his stinking cell, in Springfield, Missouri, isolated but not broken. Suffering from diabetes and heart disease, he has been denied numerous fundamental rights.