JAPAN

Mainichi Shimbun, Tokyo, March 10: Mir, the Russian space station, is scheduled to plummet back to Earth around March 20. The uncertainty surrounding its final plunge is keeping the inhabitants of the countries expected to be under its final flight path on edge.
The Japanese government should implement disaster plans to be ready for a worst-case scenario. The Russians have not been forthcoming with sufficient information on Mir's re-entry, so we urge the government to acquire orbital data from the United States and to publicize it as it becomes available.
Really big: Today, the United States, Japan, Europe and Russia are jointly constructing the International Space Station, which will be as large as a soccer field, and weigh three times as much as the Mir. But little time has been devoted to the topic of how to dispose of the structure once its mission has been completed.
If a fuss is made every time space junk enters the Earth's atmosphere, the public will only grow more wary of space development programs. Countries around the world need to cooperate to develop technology to control the descent of space structures. Furthermore, international rules that would ensure the rapid dissemination of information on de-orbits should be adopted.
JORDAN
Jordan Times, Amman, March 11: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has long insisted he would never shake the hand of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, might find himself greeting his arch-foe sooner than he had expected. On the face of it, the two men deserve a "bon courage" wish in their tentative efforts to break the ice after they engaged in peace overtures over the weekend.
Now that both leaders have expressed interest in creating the right atmosphere to resume talks on the basis of signed deals, the Arabs are waiting for Sharon -- who spent 31 days on forming his unity government -- to prove his true intentions and show his real face.
Direct intervention: In tandem, the new Republican administration of President George W. Bush, which is still laying down its foreign policy priorities, should assume direct intervention in the crisis to help both sides make critical decisions -- instead of calling Jerusalem the "capital of Israel" as Secretary of State, Colin Powell, did recently. Not only is such a statement in violation of Security Council resolutions, it is also a negative factor that could obstruct the peace process.
CANADA
Globe and Mail, Toronto, March 13: The Olympic Games are about athletics, not politics. Yet, the awarding of the Games is inescapably political. The government that wins the right to host them also wins international recognition and prestige, a kind of unofficial stamp of approval from the rest of the world. Should the International Olympic Committee bestow that stamp on the brutes who rule China?
The issue of human rights hangs over Beijing's bid like the midwinter smog. Unlike the other candidates. China is a dictatorship, a place where people can be tortured in prison, executed for nonviolent crimes or thrown in jail for trying to organize a free labor union.
China insists things are getting better, and suggests they will get better still if the Olympics come.
Monopoly on power: It is true that China's opening to the world has improved the lives of its people, who are far freer in their everyday lives than they have ever been. On the other hand, the Communist regime still holds grimly to its monopoly on power and shows no inclination to change. To the contrary, human-rights groups say rights abuses have increased in recent years.
Perhaps China's leaders would amend their behavior if Beijing got the Olympics. On the other hand, they might well take it as a sign that the outside world will embrace them no matter how badly they behave. We cannot really know.
BRITAIN
The Times, London, March 14: Silent Spring -- Farming needs steady hands now and brave thinking later.
The comfort to be gained from British Agriculture Minister Nick Brown's assurances that foot-and-mouth disease is "under control" diminishes with each new case. It is growing exponentially, with more than 200 outbreaks, and has spread to France. As Mr. Brown admits, he faces "a biological phenomenon that is not going to obey political instructions."
The disease's rapid spread has not prompted a rethink of a containment policy of slaughter and burning. An alternative, vaccination, is not being considered while the disease is "under control;" it would lose Britain export markets for meat products in all 48 foot-and-mouth-free countries. Today's policy is one of economic, not agricultural, necessity. Despite growing public distaste for images of burning pyres which some believe to be an unnecessarily harsh response to a disease which does not kill man or beast, this stand was backed yesterday by the European Commission, which signaled no change in policy despite the French outbreak.
Strong case: The Commission's arithmetical case is strong. There are 50 million doses of vaccine in Europe. But there are 300 million susceptible animals, which would each need costly twice-yearly vaccinations. Each vaccine works against only one of four strains. Some vaccinated beasts would be carriers, with no symptoms. For now, vaccination remains a worst-case option.
BRITAIN
The Independent, London, March 14: Don't be too alarmed by these tumbling markets.
The headlines about possible meltdown are striking. Nor is it all just hype. The United States is now afflicted by a bear market -- officially defined as a drop of 20 percent on Wall Street. The chances of a full-blown recession in the US -- contraction of the economy in two successive quarters -- are increasing by the day. It has been fueled partly by the collapse of confidence in all things Net-ish. In some respects, however, this is an unwinding of the unsustainable, after an unprecedented period of growth in recent years.
Share-owning is so widespread in the U.S. that a market collapse has an immediate impact on spending. But the fundamentals remain strong. America's main problem may be its failure to brace itself for more problems.
Good order: Britain will be buffeted by trans-Atlantic waves. But this economy has not yet lost confidence; mortgage approvals, a sensitive indicator, recently reached a 13-year high, and the public finances are in good order. We should not be too alarmed. A slight buffeting can be healthy. Corrections ... also help to keep dangerous complacency at bay.