Mainland

It came ashore without warning. Driven by a mammoth undersea earthquake, a speeding wall of water rushed inland, decimating everything in its path. The date: Jan. 26, 1700. The place: the west coast of North America. The tsunami devastated a stretch of coastline from California to northern British Columbia, and was so powerful that it wreaked havoc on the other side of the Pacific as well. Scientists say it will almost certainly happen again. The only question is when. "None of us would be too surprised if it occurred tomorrow," said Alan Nelson, a researcher for the U.S. Geological Survey.

HONG KONG -- Liu Jinling felt like a criminal when she crossed the border from mainland China into Hong Kong. She tried to hide the bulge in her belly by wearing a loose-fitting blouse. She carried a big purse close to her body. The Hong Kong immigration official behind the counter stared at her for a long time, considered her tourist visa, and asked whom she was coming to see. "I knew he was suspicious," Liu said. "When I walked away he turned to look at me again. I was so scared. I thought he must have regretted letting me pass and was going to drag me back."

THE THREAT of crisis between China and Taiwan receded when the party that has ruled the island since the 1940s made a surprising comeback in elections last week.After Taiwan went democratic in 1987 and the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, gave up its monopoly on power, the tide turned away from mainland refugees of 1949 toward native-born Taiwanese.When native Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party, became mayor of Taipei in 1994, he also became favored to win the presidency in 2000 on a platform declaring independence.

HONG KONG - Hundreds of thousands of people swept through Hong Kong's streets yesterday despite searing heat to demand full, direct elections of city leaders and an end to harassment of pro-democracy activists. The huge march presented a new challenge to China's communist leaders, who fear that a pro-democracy contagion in Hong Kong could spill onto the mainland. A sea of some 350,000 people, some of them carrying placards that read "Return Power to the People," flowed for three hours in sticky 95-degree heat along a four-lane downtown boulevard.

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan -- In the days leading up to this month's annual meeting of the National People's Congress, China's largely toothless parliament, the state security bureau began tailing a number of foreign journalists. Using motorcycles, cars and walkie-talkies, they followed the reporters everywhere: to lunch, to dinner, even on weekend outings with their children. During the congress meeting, the banned spiritual meditation group Falun Gong staged quiet, peaceful demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.

DENVER -- After the holidays, people across the country realize they have a little more around the middle than they want, but there is a little less of it on Coloradans.People in Colorado are the thinnest, on average, of those in any of the 48 contiguous states.A study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments has found that only 19.9 percent of Coloradans are overweight, compared with the median of 26.7 for the nation.Hawaii was the only other state where residents are as thin, with 19.7 being overweight.

WHEN Deng Xiaoping, then China's Communist ruler, looked at Taiwan two decades ago, he saw a political dictatorship not so different from his own. He also saw an unbridled capitalism that brought economic development and enriched the lives of Taiwan's workers and peasants beyond the dreams of China's counterparts. From that ideologically unblinkered perception and envy, China's reforms were born. On a massive scale, they have worked unevenly, but certainly brought huge development and personal enrichment and naked materialism to China's coast if not to the underdeveloped west.

Hurricane Isabel intensified into a rare and dreaded Category 5 monster last night, packing winds of 160 mph, and continued lumbering west across the Atlantic toward the U.S. mainland. Although the National Hurricane Center nudged its projected long-range track to the northwest, on a course that would take Isabel north of South Florida, forecasters say that prediction remains tentative. They advised residents to assume the system could easily threaten the region next week. "So many things can happen in five- to seven days, nobody should be letting their guard down at this point, especially considering this is a very powerful hurricane," said center meteorologist Steve Letro.

BORDEN, Prince Edward Island -- Prince Edward Island always has defined itself as a place apart from the rest of the world. The people who live here refer to it simply as The Island, and divide themselves into "Islanders" -- those born here -- and "CFAs," which stands for "Come From Away."The rust-colored hills furrowed with potato plants and the clapboard houses fronted with wide, covered porches seem unchanged from 100 years ago. Much of the ambience stems from the difficulty of getting here: There's the little airport near the capital of Charlottetown and two ferry routes, only one of which runs all year.

SALEM, Mass. -- If Carolina, a reddish canine with pointy ears and an affinity for nose-crinkling, could speak her mind, perhaps she would talk of her wretched living conditions in Puerto Rico and her dramatic airlift to safety.All of 20 pounds, the starving mutt was plucked from the streets of San Juan in September, nursed to health, flown to Boston and delivered to a shelter here to await a new home.For Save A Sato, the nonprofit group that saved her, it was one victory amid much sorrow.