Malcolm Beith

If Pausanias, the ancient Greek writer who by most accounts penned the first travel guidebook in A.D. 180, walked into the travel section of any large bookstore today, he would surely be shocked by the volumes beckoning from the shelves. "Caribbean Cruises and Ports of Call," "Around Paris With Kids," "Istanbul to Cairo on a Shoestring" --the only thing missing is the "Rough Guide to Travel in Outer Space." (That, too, will surely come one day.) It's unlikely Pausanias could have imagined the...

Rick de Oliveira didn't exactly major in reality TV. But in 1993, the recent college grad snagged a production job on MTV's "The Real World: Los Angeles." That's when the reality bug bit and he's never complained about working an 18-hour day since.Now he's directed and coproduced the "reality TV" movie "The Real Cancun," which opens today.

The suicide of French chef Bernard Loiseau in his Burgundy home threw the gastronomic world into shock last week. Loiseau had been under tremendous pressure as owner and head chef of the three-star Cote d'Or in the town of Saulieu, and peers like Paul Bocuse blamed the critics, particularly the GaultMillau guide, which had decided to drop its rating of Loiseau's eatery.

Here's a tag you don't see much, but should: "Made in Outer Space." Thanks to the commercial minds inside NASA, many of Earth's consumer goods have distant origins in the U.S. space program.

On paper, Ruggles seems like your ordinary world traveler. He's been to France, Germany, England, Costa Rica and Canada. He's hopped over from his home in Ft.

AFGHANISTANHow Best To Help?With the Loya Jirga a success and a new government in place, the situation in Afghanistan was looking up. The Bush administration was set to review its "where now?" goals.

All sorts of rumors are being peddled these days about anti-Israel boycotts in Europe. Here's a tip: don't believe everything you hear. European activists are certainly upset about the military crackdown in the West Bank, but they're not having much economic impact.

If the photo was indeed fabricated to bolster a propaganda move by the Israeli Army, as Palestinians charged, it was a sickening example of child exploitation.

When Esther (Eppie) Lederer, nee Friedman, began her career as advice columnist Ann Landers for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1955, the letter was our primary form of communication.

There's no doubt that Jimmy Carter's trip to Cuba is historic. He is the first U.S. president, former or serving, to visit the country since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.He was invited by President Fidel Castro to launch his own inspections of Cuban laboratories, in search of bioweapons development.

I've lived in the United States for nearly 15 years. But baseball--America's national pastime--always baffled me. Overstuffing yourself with hot dogs, so many games (162 per season) that each seems meaningless individually, depressingly few hits--I just couldn't see what all the fuss was about.

Concerned about "tracking polls" showing that its "favorable" rating with the American public has yet to climb back to pre-9-11 levels, the Saudi Arabian government has launched a multimillion-dollar ad blitz designed to portray the kingdom as a close partner with the United States in the war on terror. "The People of Saudi Arabia...

ECONOMY Oil Rivers Run DeepThe world's oil market was hit again last week when Saddam Hussein drew another arrow from his quiver, announcing a 30-day halt of Iraqi oil exports in protest of Israeli military action against the Palestinians.

"In a world full of vote rigging, two men are about to learn a secret that could change the world ..." The voice-over for the latest Oscar contender? Nope, one better.

EU VS. USPower Diplomacy--Or Just Politics?Talk about disdain. The very public flap between Europe and the United States over Iraq doesn't do justice to the word.

Al Qaeda's Supporting ActsWas September 11 supposed to be only one of a series of carefully timed Qaeda attacks on American targets? That theory is gaining currency among investigators in the wake of law-enforcement crackdowns around the world.

On Sept. 21, 2001, Scotland Yard's antiterrorist branch raided the London home of flight instructor Lotfi Raissi. They immediately saw the Algerian's framed pilot's certificate on the wall, and grinned.

Former Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil surrendered last week, and was quickly handed over to American forces. U.S. officials hope that Muttawakil will provide a wealth of information about the Taliban's dealings with Osama bin Laden and his foreign legion of "Afghan Arab" fighters.U.S. officials also are optimistic that top Qaeda leaders were killed by a CIA Hellfire missile last week.

Ooh, that Hamid. he's such a dish. At Milan's menswear fashion show last week, the buzz was all Afghanistan--not guns but the buttery-smooth look of the war-torn country's new president, Hamid Karzai.

All it took was a pretzel. After he choked on one and fainted early last week, President George W. Bush gave the world its first chance to laugh at him since September 11.

Investigators looking into Al Qaeda's global network now appear to be making breakthroughs. U.S. officials confirm that key leads have come from one Osama bin Laden aide in U.S. custody: Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi, who reportedly ran Al Qaeda's Khalden training camp in Afghanistan.

Last year, U.S. trade Representative Robert Zoellick warned the European Union that if it imposed sanctions in the ongoing EU-U.S. tax dispute, it would be the equivalent of detonating a "nuclear bomb" on their relationship.

It only takes one to tango. At least, according to one of Nigeria's strictest Sharia courts. In October 2000, 35-year-old Safiya Hussaini was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery after she gave birth to a daughter out of wedlock.

In the past year, Alan Greenspan, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, has cut interest rates 11 times, from 6.5 percent to 1.75 percent--yet the latest numbers from 2001 are looking just about as bad as ever.

Behold, the end of the world is nigh! Or at least, Pat Buchanan seems to think so. In his latest book, "Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization," the former U.S. presidential candidate and eternal evangelist draws on global population data and immigration figures to predict...

Who has integrated best into the global economy? The A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy Magazine Globalization Index report for 2000 amounts to a sort of quiz on interaction with the world, with points awarded for global engagement in technology, politics, personal contact and economics.

In the war on terror, President George W. Bush repeated last week, other nations are "with us or against us." But not everybody is heeding the warning. Belarus and Iran appear to have moved further into the "against" column.

The Cayman Islands, the Cote d'Azur, Beverly Hills... Scotland? The past two years have seen the frosty northern nation rise to new ranks as a celebrity hot spot.

Lexicographers, take note. Despite a Yale degree, the "leader of the free world" still pronounces nuclear "nuke-yu-ler." Which poses a question: when President George W.

"The Fellowship Of The Ring," we hoped, would provide an escape from the reality of the war on terror. So why do journalists insist on drawing allusions between the fantastical tale and modern-day political realities?