US: Condoleezza Rice expanded President Bush's "axis of evil" countries - Iran, Iran and North Korea - at her confirmation hearing to include four more states - Cuba, Myanmar, Belarus and Zimbabwe - which she termed "outposts of tyranny" requiring close US attention.
"To be sure, in our world there remain outposts of tyranny and America stands with oppressed people on every continent... in Cuba, and Burma, and North Korea, and Iran, and Belarus, and Zimbabwe," Dr Rice said.
Belarus: President Alexander Lukashenko, first elected in 1994, has stifled dissent and persecuted independent media and opposition parties while prolonging his power through elections that international organisations say were marred by fraud. The United States has refused to recognise his election.
The US has criticised Mr Lukashenko for restricting freedom of speech, press and freedom of association and assembly. Washington maintains close ties with the opposition while seeking to foster democracy in the former Soviet republic.
Cuba: Cuban authorities have long said the US government is planning a military attack on the island - something US officials deny. US-Cuba relations, never good during Fidel Castro's four decades of communist rule, have deteriorated further under the Bush administration, which has toughened trade and travel regulations and last year published a plan for a democratic Cuba after Castro's death.
Burma: Burma has been ruled by the military - which changed its name to Myanmar in 1989 - for more than four decades. The regime is shunned by many Western countries, but the US has been one of the most aggressive in isolating it with political and economic sanctions. The US accuses the junta of human rights abuses including the use of slave labour and forced labour, and the persecution of pro-democracy activists and ethnic minorities.
Zimbabwe: The government of President Robert Mugabe orchestrates a permanent campaign of violence against the opposition and has a series of draconian security and media laws aimed at crushing political dissent. Washington contends that Mr Mugabe's security forces and ruling party militias have killed, abducted, tortured, beaten, abused and raped government opponents. It says that the government has also beaten, intimidated arrested and prosecuted independent journalists.
- (Reuters)