Free Republic

When Steve Vaught began walking across the United States he had two simple, yet difficult goals. He wanted to lose a lot of weight and he wanted to come to grips with his life. Now slowly approaching Oklahoma City, the geographical halfway point of his journey, Vaught, 40, has lost about 55 pounds from his 6-foot-1-inch frame, down from 400. He also has figured out how to deal with the problems that led to his weight gain and depression and long history of job changes. "I found out who I was before I hit Barstow," he said. "Now I'm just...

First in a series Ciudad Juárez, Mexico The battered pink and green bus pulls into a vacant lot at dawn near a neon-lit burrito joint and a cluster of factories. Several dozen men pile out, their clothes wrinkled and their faces covered with stubble, each carrying a tiny sack of belongings. Within seconds, a dozen waiting cabbies herd the men into taxis and drive off to deposit them at cheap hotels and homes scattered across this rough-and-tumble border city. The action appears routine. But you won't find this site, two miles from the city bus station, in any tourist guide....

HAMBURG: Any discussion of the post-war reconstruction of Iraq quickly turns to the country's potential oil revenues. Even the US administration has indicated that Iraq's oil wealth can pay the bill for the war's aftermath. But most oil analysts consider this idea an illusion. With 15.1 billion tons, Iraq has the third-largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia and Canada but its contribution to global oil supplies has been modest in recent years. Under the United Nations embargo Iraq was only allowed to export a limited amount of oil and could make no investments in facilities. At last...