William Underhill

Imaginary Heroes Directed by Dan HarrisFirst-time writer-director Harris chronicles the collapse of an upper-middle-class family after the suicide of their golden-boy son.

When it comes to winning sympathy, humor beats spluttering outrage. Sure, there's plenty of anger in Amiry's stories of life in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Picture a European farmer: he's a bloated subsidies junkie who gets more money from the taxpayer than from the market. Indeed, he owes almost his entire wealth to the European Union's notorious Common Agricultural Policy, which swallows almost half of the Brussels budget.

Armageddon By Max HastingsA leading war historian, Hastings concludes that British and American troops in World War II were cautious warriors outfought by a more determined enemy.

Picture a bison. He's curly-headed, low-slung and huge. The male, the largest land animal in North America, may stand two meters high and tip the scales at one ton.

Stanislav Gross is a political prodigy. At 35, the former railway engineer ranks as Europe's youngest prime minister. Even before taking charge of the Czech Republic's ruling Social Democratic Party this summer--just after his country enrolled in the EU--he'd served 12 years as an M.P.

Three years ago Ferenc Gyurcsany was a self-made millionaire, little known outside Hungary's business community. Today he's the country's prime minister, championing a new-look brand of social democracy in Central Europe.

History has been hard on Hungary. Just ask Miklos Patrubany. Like more than 1 million other ethnic Hungarians, the 52-year-old computer scientist lives in Transylvania, a scenic patch of Romania severed from the homeland after the first world war.

For a politician, Ivan Miklos exhibits a rare honesty. "This may be the most unpopular government in our country's short history," says Slovakia's Finance minister and a principal architect of one of the world's toughest reform programs.

Singapore Inc. may be well placed to invest in Chinese companies, but when it comes to Chinese stock listings, the real war is being waged among the global majors: the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and, increasingly, the London Stock Exchange.Last week the LSE opened its first office in Hong Kong, with the goal of upping its take of so-called red chips, the Chinese corporate giants.

It was a battle waiting for a battlefield. In one camp: the European Commission, the widely distrusted executive that steers the European Union. In the other: the European Parliament, elected champion of the Union's 450 million citizens, eager to assert the prerogatives of a derided institution.

Like every Dutch family, the van der Molens know all about the frailty of mankind's defenses against nature. They had to flee their homes from floods in 1995 and still remember the freak tides of 1953 that crashed through coastal barriers, killing 1,800 people.

As a seaside resort, Blackpool looks like a loser. British holidaymakers long ago deserted the chilly northwest coast in favor of dependable Mediterranean sunshine.

Beer Consumption Rises With Wealth, But Only Up To A Point, Which Is Why Big Brewers Are Running To Emerging Markets

Joszef Varadi flies near the front of what may be the world's thickest flock of new discount airlines. Four months ago his fledgling carrier, Wizz Air, took to the air with a single plane.

Ocean waves may seem like a fanciful source of energy. But two new power plants now look certain to shatter that perception. In August a 750-kilowatt power plant off the coast of the Orkney Islands in Scotland began delivering ocean-wave power for the first time to the local electricity grid.

Imagine a community for the deeply green. walls 19 inch-es thick keep temperatures comfortable year-round. Windows are triple-glazed. A wind-driven ventilation system feeds fresh air into each house--and grabs the heat from stale outgoing air.

A Range Of Energy-Saving Devices For The Home

Ocean waves may seem like a fanciful source of energy. But two new power plants now look certain to shatter that perception. In August a 750-kilowatt power plant off the coast of Scotland began delivering ocean-wave power for the first time to the local electricity grid.

NEW BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES AND INNOVATIVE ADD-ONS ARE MAKING NEARLY-ZERO-ENERGY HOUSES A REAL POSSIBILITY

New building technologies and innovative add-ons are making nearly-zero-energy houses a real possibility

Serial entrepreneur Niklas Zennstrom might serve as a model for Sweden's flourishing IT industry. This is the man who gave the world KaZaA, the file-swapping software that shook the global record industry.

Want a dinner with altitude? Check out these restaurants in the sky. 1. Cloud 9, Shanghai (below): Chomp some of the finest Asian tapas at the Jin Mao Tower, China's loftiest. (1,380 feet; 86-21-5049-1234)2.

For Szczepan Master, 62, self-sufficiency is the rule on his tiny farm in view of the Tatra mountains of southern Poland. The makeshift barn attached to his house shelters a few pigs, goats and a cow, as well as chickens and rabbits for the pot.

We know Bill Gates as the father of Windows, Steve Jobs as the man behind the iPod, and Sergei Brin and Larry Page as the geeks who brought us Google. When it comes to the new wireless revolution, however, many of its pioneers aren't even as well known as American Idol reject William Hung.

The grim decades of Soviet rule in Estonia gave the Cafe Pegasus, an austere '60s building just inside Tallinn's towering medieval walls, a reputation as a clandestine meeting spot for writers and intellectuals. "This was a place where you spoke about things you wouldn't speak about anywhere else," says owner Mart Tomson.How times change.

He's a canny operator. For almost 20 years he was an adviser and confidant to President Bill Clinton. Among his credits: pulling out victory in 1996 in a closer race than most had expected.

Cheapskates everywhere: that Mediterranean cruise could be within reach at last. There'll be no free ride to the port, and no free food or entertainment on board.

It's early morning in Patisserie Valerie, a Soho cafe that feeds the habits of London's hard-core francophiles. Walls are hung with Toulouse-Lautrec; the windows are stacked with aorta-clogging pastries.

Imagine you're young, Chinese and in search of once-forbidden thrills. Your country's supercharged economy means easier access to money. And its more relaxed politics means a passport is on offer for the first time.