• A rail behind time. • Stemming apartheid’s new thrust. • The Press and the third Republic. • Aid for a firm base: Nigeria considers World Bank finances for technical education. • A shine on the presidency: 'Babangida sets tone for the promised new pace. • A case for Nolle prosequi . • A grandmaster’s game: Kaunda gets set for yet another term. • Storm over an election: growing opposition imperils forthcoming municipal election. • Going for the jugular: Bush, Dukakis finalise last-lap battle strategies. • New kind of troubles: protesters demand political reforms. • In search of oil stability: OPEC moves to curb quota abuses. • Bottlers’ battle: soft drink makers renew jostle for customers. • Jelly to Lever’s elbow: Lever Brothers swallows Chesebrough Industries. • Sharia: man or God’s battle? The politics and the intrigues. • Face to face with a grim fate: the fears, arguments and backlash. • Sharia: What it is not, In spite of differinq views, Sharia exists as a body of laws. • The good, the ugly: in other lands, sharia pacifies or provokes. • Clothing the nation. • An innovative era. • Law of forward vision. • Strokes of the brush: artist searches for solutions through paintings. • Worries of a writer: Achebe's essays assail racism.