As matters stand, the British contingent in southern Iraq is set to be reduced to 2,500 men in the next few months with a further drawing-down in numbers to 1,500 expected not long after. This is partly to allow for a redeployment into Afghanistan but also to send the political signal that Britian's military role in Iraq is coming to an end. In present circumstances, this would mean leaving a total force that was barely sufficient to conduct training of the Iraqi Army and which could be vulnerable to attack in its own base.

It would be irresponsible to stick to this timetable. Ministers should make it plain that the current troop levels will be maintained in the area at least until the end of the year and if a modest increase is required to guarantee that conditions in Basra improve dramatically, so be it. This is a crucial moment not only for Iraq's second city but for the whole quest for normalization. If the militias are disbanded, free elections are held and the oil industry can function properly then wider political reconciliation in Iraq will be lubricated. Britain could bring about that outcome in Basra. It would be a gross dereliction of duty not to try.

THE TIMES OF LONDON, MARCH 28

Mubarak on the Israeli bomb Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, visiting Moscow during the last two days to further "nuclear cooperation" between his country and Russia, unleashed a vituperative attack on Israel's nuclear capability, which he likened to "Iran's nuclear project." ...

Mubarak's customary hostility to Israel's reputed nuclear capability has always presented a jarring contrast with Egypt's role as Israel's most veteran peace-partner in the Arab world. His unconcealed antagonism hardly becomes a friendly neighbor.

Mubarak also knows that Israel's nuclear activity dates back nearly half a century, during which it has conducted itself with the utmost responsibility expected of the Western democracy that it is. In other words, Mubarak knows there's no risk of nuclear aggression by Israel, a fact that renders his analogy between Israel and Iran particularly galling.

JERUSALEM POST, MARCH 26

A warning of warming If the increasing frequency of extreme weather conditions around the world in recent years still fails to convince us of the imminent threat from climate change, the collapse of an area as large as 415 sq km from the Wilkin Ice Shelf in the Antarctic detected by satellite this week is testimony. ...

Yet, it is one thing to know the threat is there, and it is another to take effective measures to stop the threat from becoming a reality. ...

The collapse of the ice shelf should be a wake-up call that it is high time that we humans reconsidered the way we pursue our economic development and the way we live our lives. ...

The increasingly speedy global warming manifested by what is happening in the Antarctic leaves us no time to hesitate. We hope that it will not be too late before we adjust our way of life to effectively ease global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emission by a considerable amount.

CHINA DAILY, MARCH 28