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From Geneva to New York, diplomats’ favorite parlor game is already under way: Name the next U.N. secretary-general. Kofi Annan will step down at the end of the year, and the race is on to succeed him. Who will be tapped for the top job? FP takes a look at some of the early leaders in the race.

Since Hamas’s victory in January, the economy in the West Bank and Gaza has plummeted, and tensions are rising between the new ruling party and President Mahmoud Abbas. Ziad Abu Zayyad, former legislator and Palestinian Authority minister of state, spoke to FP about Hamas’s leaders, why they came to power, and the prospects for peace.

If oil was the resource of the 20th century, then the 21st century belongs to water. The lack of clean water and basic sanitation already curbs world economic growth by $556 billion a year, according the World Health Organization. FP looks at four countries struggling to quench their thirst.

Across the globe, politicians are embracing open-source software with grand pronouncements and great expectations. Although they are correct to identify potential benefits, software is far more complicated than their talking points, and it may disappoint those with outsized hopes.

Memorial Day carries special significance as U.S. soldiers continue to fight in Iraq. FP spoke to Jon Soltz of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America political action committee, which supports veterans running for U.S. Congress.

America’s dependence on foreign sources of energy garners more media coverage, but Europe’s predicament is equally troubling. Worried by their dependence on Russian gas and Middle Eastern oil, European counties are also desperately scrambling to find a path to energy independence. FP looks at how four countries are trying to kick their bad habits—and how one succeeded.

Across the globe, politicians are embracing open-source software with grand pronouncements and great expectations. Although they are correct to identify potential benefits, software is far more complicated than their talking points, and it may disappoint those with outsized hopes.

The selection of Gen. Michael Hayden to succeed Porter Goss as director of the CIA raises questions about intelligence reform once again. Michael Scheuer, former chief of the Osama bin Laden unit at the CIA, explains to FP why he thinks Hayden is the wrong choice for the job, why intelligence on Iran is so poor, and why he thinks Iraq “is finished.”

The U.S. military is cleaning house. Existing bases are being retooled or eliminated, and new ones are popping up in some unexpected places. FP looks at the overseas bases that are now vital to the U.S. military—and the new ones that will change its global footprint for years to come.

In the United States, high gas prices and mammoth oil company profits have set off a new round of hand wringing in Washington. In this week’s interview, energy analyst Amy Myers Jaffe of Rice University's Baker Institute of Public Policy explains America’s energy predicament, why more offshore drilling should be permitted, and why the oil majors are at risk of being beaten in the race toward the future.