POLITICS-US: Obama Weighs Options as Afghan War Enters Ninth Year

On the eighth anniversary of the launch of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama spent a good part of Wednesday deliberating with his top advisers on what is likely to be one of the most momentous decisions of his tenure: the future of U.S. involvement in that war.

POLITICS-US: Democrats Disgruntled as Obama Fails to Deliver

Since before taking office, U.S. President Barack Obama has been no stranger to being in the crosshairs of Republican pundits who have accused him of everything from bring a "secret communist" to a tax-and-spend liberal who would oversee huge expansions in the federal government.

MIDEAST: Finally Taking Off Their Gloves

Amazingly, just when all four parties - the U.S., its allies in the Arab world, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel - seemed to have hit rock bottom in terms of the prospects of moving the region away from conflict and towards peace, all of a sudden everything seems to be pointing in the exact opposition direction.

POLITICS: Leaked Iran Paper Based on Intel that Split IAEA

Excerpts of the internal draft report by the staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published online last week show that the report's claims about Iranian work on a nuclear weapon is based almost entirely on intelligence documents which have provoked a serious conflict within the agency.

ENVIRONMENT: India Warms Up to Copenhagen

With the clock ticking away on the United Nations Framework for Climate Change Committee (UNFCCC) summit in Copenhagen in December, the fractiousness between the developed and the developing nations on who ought to do more to control climate change is getting increasingly strident.

POLITICS: U.N. Session Marked by Highs and Lows

The two-week long high-level segment of the U.N. General Assembly, which concluded last week, was characterised by historic moments, political controversies, and at times, routine boredom.

IRAN: Non-Western Big Powers Enjoy Growing Influence

Thursday's seven-party talks in Geneva on Iran's nuclear programme resulted in a breakthrough agreement on Russian enrichment of materials Tehran needs for nuclear-medical work.

POLITICS: New Doubt Cast on U.S. Claim Qom Plant is Illicit

An Iranian assertion that construction on its second enrichment facility began only last year and further analysis of satellite photos of the site have cast fresh doubts on the Barack Obama administration's charge that the construction of the plant near Qom involved a covert decision to violate Iran's obligations to report immediately to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on any decision to build a new facility.

POLITICS: China, Burma Bust Up Over Border Unrest

The border dispute between two close allies, China and Burma, has now been compounded by concerns over the junta’s future relations with the United States.

POLITICS: U.S. Story on Iran Nuke Facility Doesn’t Add Up

The story line that dominated media coverage of the second Iranian uranium enrichment facility last week was the official assertion that U.S. intelligence had caught Iran trying to conceal a "secret" nuclear facility.

EUROPE: Failing Both Governments and Migrants

The police have cracked down Tuesday on makeshift shelters that migrants moved into after the immigration camp at Calais in France was razed to the ground a week back. The migrants, mostly Afghans, are now homeless again - and in search of new shelter.

U.S.: Fears of Blame for Defeat Shadow Afghan War Meetings

In a remarkable parallel with a similar turning point in the Vietnam War 44 years ago, President Barack Obama will preside over a series of meetings in the coming weeks that will determine whether the United States will proceed with an escalation of the Afghanistan War or adjust the strategy to reduce the U.S. military commitment there.

MIDEAST: A Good Time Not to Make Peace

Most analysts agree that the past week of Middle East diplomacy has actually set back the cause of peacemaking. If they are right that the intensive U.S.-led effort has actually diminished prospects for a breakthrough towards Palestinian-Israel peace, who is to blame?

US-MIDEAST: A Week of Dimming Peace Prospects

Eight months after Barack Obama launched his presidency by promising a speedy push for Palestinian-Israeli peace, that effort has stalled badly. And there are now growing fears that the top levels of Obama's peace team are torn by internal disagreements that may undermine the whole peace effort.

G20: Rising Above the G8

Something that was perhaps only half-expected has happened in Pittsburgh: the G20 has moved on from being an event to becoming an institution.

G20: An Emerging Development

Almost before anyone knew it, a new language has become current leading up to the two-day G20 meet in Pittsburgh that divides the world in ways that seem suitable at the high table of the day. The new tiers are the developed, the emerging, and of course the poor.

G20: Stiglitz and Sen Come In Too Late

A new report on Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress presented earlier this month in Paris by Nobel prize winners Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen is a late, and quite modest contribution to an old debate, many experts say.

MIDEAST: U.S. Pushing Beyond Settlement Freeze

"Nobody can usurp the right to determine the fate of the nation on their own - not the Palestine Liberation Organisation, nor anyone else. It is the will of the Palestinian people that must determine our future," declares Hamas political leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh.

POLITICS: Obama and Netanyahu Still Tussling over Priorities

As world leaders prepare to gather here for the all-star "general debate" at the U.N. General Assembly on Sep. 23, two of them - U.S. Pres. Barack Obama and Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu - are still tussling over whether to prioritise their anti-Iran campaign or the push for a Palestinian-Israeli peace.

Q&A: "Climate Change Reinforcing Political Problems"

The negative fallout from climate change, including drought, floods, melting glaciers, mass migration, and sea level rise, is being increasingly viewed as a potential security threat to nation states worldwide.

MIDEAST: Israel Struggles to Wriggle Out of the Dock

The Goldstone Commission has delivered an unremittingly scathing report on Israel's 22-day war against Hamas in Gaza last December and January.