RIGHTS: The Seven Paragraphs that Shook US-UK Ties

A British court has ordered the publication of previously secret information that appears to reveal the UK government's complicity with the U.S. in the torture of Binyam Mohamed, a British resident who was imprisoned by the U.S. at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

FINANCE: Fighting Off Looters in the Ruins

Reckless greed on Wall Street is a dog-bites-man story. Still, the renewed feeding frenzy of the alpha dogs of finance in the embers of the bonfire of their own vanities has inspired amazement and disgust across the political spectrum.

US-IRAN: Sanctions Are the Talk of the Day

If there were any doubts about what exactly U.S. President Barack Obama meant when he warned Iran of "growing consequences" during his State of the Union address last month, they seem to be dispelled by recent statements from top administration officials, who are beating the sanctions drum loud and clear.

POLITICS: Peace Talks May Follow Ex-Taliban Mediators’ Plan

If peace talks do ultimately begin between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban leadership, they may well follow a "road map" to a political settlement drawn up by a group of ex-Taliban officials who have been serving as intermediaries between the two sides.

RIGHTS: Legal Experts Slam “Targeted Killings” of US Citizens

Civil liberties advocates and legal authorities struck back Friday at what they describe as the "deliberate targeted killing of U.S. citizens far away from any active hostilities, as long as the executive branch determines unilaterally that they meet a secret definition of who the enemy is."

U.S.: Ill Omens for Senate Climate Legislation

Delivering his State of the Union address before both houses of Congress and a global audience on Jan. 27, U.S. President Barack Obama asked for passage of "a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America."

POLITICS: Iran and U.S. Moving in Circles?

The recent expansion of U.S. missile defence systems in the Persian Gulf just days after President Barack Obama warned Iran of "growing consequences" if it did not accept the West's conditions over its nuclear programme signals a possible change of approach by Washington even as uncertainty still prevails how it will deal with Iran eventually.

POLITICS: US, Karzai Clash on Unconditional Talks with Taliban

On the surface, it would seem unlikely that Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who presides over a politically feeble government and is highly dependent on the U.S. military presence and economic assistance, would defy the United States on the issue of peace negotiations with the leadership of the Taliban insurgency.

U.S.: Obama Calls for More Development, Counterinsurgency Aid

U.S. President Barack Obama Monday called on Congress to approve major increases over the coming months in global health, development, and counterinsurgency assistance as part of a record 3.8-trillion-dollar 2011 federal budget.

U.S.: New Defence Strategy Envisions Multiple Conflicts

A report and budget request from the U.S. Defence Department released Monday reveal both new and old priorities for President Barack Obama's Pentagon.

U.S.: Obama Losing Control of Iran Policy

In a surprisingly swift move on Thursday night that could have wide-ranging implications, the U.S. Senate passed a bill containing broad unilateral sanctions to punish foreign companies that export gasoline to Iran or help expand its domestic refinery capabilities.

U.S.: Obama Downplays Foreign Policy Agenda in Major Speech

In laying out his priorities for the coming year before a joint session of Congress and millions of viewers Wednesday night, U.S. President Barack Obama made it clear that the focus of administration would be, more than anything else, on domestic issues – and the vital mission of job creation in particular.

US-IRAN: Sanctions, “Regime Change” Take Centre Stage

With the Senate set to take up major sanctions legislation against Iran by mid-February, neo-conservative and other hawks are calling on the administration of President Barack Obama to pursue a more aggressive course of "regime change" in Tehran.

U.S.: Obama Faces Increasingly Daunting Picture Overseas

While President Barack Obama's first State of the Union Address Wednesday night will almost certainly focus on the economy, unemployment, and other pressing domestic issues, an increasingly worrisome international situation is likely to be tugging at the back of his mind.

POLITICS: U.S. Taking New Tack on Afghan Poppies

Counter-narcotics and counterinsurgency often go hand-in-hand in Afghanistan, where the opium poppy trade bankrolls much of the Taliban's operations and greases political corruption.

POLITICS: Behind Cautious Signal, a Decision for Afghan Peace Talks

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's very cautiously-worded support for a negotiated settlement with the Taliban leadership in an interview published Monday is only the first public signal of a policy decision by the Barack Obama administration to support a political settlement between the Hamid Karzai regime and the Taliban, an official of McChrystal's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) command has revealed in an interview with IPS.

AFGHANISTAN: In Run-up to Meet, US, Britain Push Reconciliation

On the eve of a major international conference on Afghanistan, senior U.S. and British officials are hinting that they are more open to a political settlement with elements of the Taliban than at any time since Washington helped oust it from power nine years ago.

U.S.: Obama Unveils Broad Banking Industry Reforms

U.S. President Barack Obama has delivered his plans for far-reaching banking and financial industry reforms, which mark a noticeable shift to the left in the administration's domestic policy and an acknowledgement of the public anger at Wall Street for its role in the financial crisis.

RIGHTS-US: Indefinite Detention “Defies Common Sense”

U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to detain 47 of the just-under 200 remaining prisoners at Guantánamo without trial indefinitely is drawing scorn from legal experts and human rights advocates, who charge that the government simply does not have enough evidence to convict the detainees it says cannot be tried but are "too dangerous to release."

Q&A: “U.S. Should Invest in New U.N. Women’s Agency”

One year after U.S. President Barack Obama's inauguration, how has his administration fared in terms of advancing an agenda for women's rights around the world?

RIGHTS: Whistleblower Challenges Guantanamo “Suicides”

Is the administration of President Barack Obama concealing evidence suggesting that three suicides at Guantanamo Bay were not suicides at all?