U.S.-IRAN: The More Things Change…

"We are not satisfied with [U.S. President Barack] Obama's actions since they have not been in line with claims of change - although we are not without hope either."

ZIMBABWE: Obama Cautious on Power-Sharing Deal

As the Zimbabwean parliament approves the power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, the new administration of U.S. President Barack Obama says it will look for concrete change in the way the country is governed before deciding U.S. policy.

RIGHTS-US: The Children of Guantanamo

Legal experts and human rights advocates are challenging the public to remember Guantanamo's "child soldiers" when the detainees there are characterised as "the worst of the worst".

U.S.: Hawks Urge Boosting Military Spending

Despite a shrinking national economy and a record defence budget, U.S. neo-conservatives and other right-wing hawks are mounting a spirited - if misleading - campaign to persuade Congress that the military should get a bigger slice.

RIGHTS-US: Indefinite Detention Case to Test Obama’s Pledges

In what promises to be the first major test of the Barack Obama administration's new approach to the rule of law, the Supreme Court will soon hear what could be one of the most consequential cases in U.S. history.

U.S.: More Troops, More Worries, Less Consensus on Afghanistan

Even as U.S. President Barack Obama prepares to deploy more military forces to Afghanistan - what he has called "the central front" in former President George W. Bush's "global war on terror" - a consensus on overall U.S. strategy there remains elusive.

RIGHTS-US: Study Challenges Claims of Gitmo Recidivism

A prominent law professor says the U.S. Defence Department is issuing questionable data on the number of Guantanamo detainees who have been released "and then returned to the battlefield" because the government "is now in a position where they have to find some bad guys - even if they have to invent them by naming people who were never there".

US-IRAN: Nobel Laureate Calls for Direct Diplomacy

Almost exactly 30 years ago the U.S.-backed dictator, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, fled his country, never to return. Shortly after his departure and the subsequent collapse of the monarchy, the Islamic Republic of Iran was born.

US-IRAQ: Generals Seek to Reverse Obama Withdrawal Decision

CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, supported by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, tried to convince President Barack Obama that he had to back down from his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months at an Oval Office meeting Jan. 21.

POLITICS-US: Obama Taking Hands-On Approach to Mideast

During the three weeks of the Israel-Gaza war, then President-elect Barack Obama vowed he would be ready to engage on the Palestinian question "on Day One" of his presidency.

RIGHTS-US: Close Torture Loopholes, Physicians’ Group Urges

While applauding President Barack Obama's recent executive orders banning torture and other harsh interrogation practices, medical authorities are calling attention to a little-reported section of the Army's Field Manual on Interrogation that they say still allows the use of tactics that can constitute torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under U.S. and international law.

Q&A: "U.S. Must Take Seriously What the World Thinks"

John Brown, a Foreign Service officer with the U.S. State Department for more than 20 years, resigned in 2003 to protest the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He now teaches at Georgetown University.

ECONOMY-US: Poverty Safety Nets Fraying Nationwide

The global economy is barely showing a pulse, and the world's poor are especially at risk, the International Monetary Fund declared Wednesday.

POLITICS-US: Top Defence Chiefs Vow Focus on Afghanistan

Both the top civilian and military leadership of the U.S. Department of Defence had busy days on Tuesday, fielding topically varied questions on their new policy priorities since President Barack Obama took office one week ago.

POLITICS-US: Is Gates Undermining Another Opening to Iran?

When U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates accused Iran of "subversive activity" in Latin America Tuesday, it raised the question whether he is trying to discourage President Barack Obama from abandoning the hard line policy of coercive diplomacy toward Iran he has favoured for nearly three decades.

MIDEAST: Obama’s Quick Start Raises Hopes

A series of unexpectedly swift moves to begin addressing the Arab-Israeli conflict taken by Barack Obama in the week since he was sworn in as the U.S. president is being hailed by many regional specialists here who were deeply frustrated by George W. Bush's relative indifference and virtually unconditional support for Israel.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Obama Signals End to Era of Denial

Environmental activists have hailed the first moves by U.S. President Barack Obama to reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions by setting tough new fuel efficiency and pollution standards for the country's cars and trucks, steps that his predecessor, George W. Bush, had rejected or ignored.

POLITICS: Muslim World Hails End of a Despised Symbol

While the decision of President Barack Obama to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, and end the practice of interrogation techniques that violate international law, made front page news throughout the United States, press reaction in the Middle East was far less extensive - but generally favourable.

HEALTH: Obama Lifts "Global Gag Rule"

U.S. President Barack Obama Friday lifted an eight-year ban on U.S. funding for overseas family-planning groups and clinics that perform or promote abortion or lobby for its legalisation.

LATIN AMERICA: Blacks See Ray of Hope in Obama

Members of the black community in Latin America and the Caribbean hope the rise to power of Barack Obama, the first U.S. president of African descent, will help raise awareness about the discrimination and other problems they face.

Q&A: "U.S. and Iran Share an Equal Monopoly on Violence"

"Obama is going to have continuous pressure from Israel to attack Iran and, in some way, their nuclear facilities, and this is going to be tied up with Gaza and Lebanon," according to Robert Baer, a former top Central Intelligence Agency operative and the author of "The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower."