POLITICS-US: House Ties Iraq Withdrawal to War Funding

The new Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a 124-billion-dollar war spending bill with an explicit deadline for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, in one of the most vocal challenges yet to the George W. Bush administration's policy in the country.

POLITICS-US: Tentative Moves Toward New Palestine Govt

How seriously and to what ends is the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush willing to engage the new Palestinian government of national unity?

POLITICS-US: Congressman Trades Iraq Vote for Spinach

A liberal Congressman who represents California's picturesque central coast region is under fire for trading his vote on the Iraq war for spinach.

POLITICS: U.S. Nukes Plan Viewed as Provocative

The announcement earlier this month that the United States will pursue the design and construction of new nuclear weapons has not been warmly embraced by the rest of the world.

CULTURE-US: Battling Evil with Abs of Steel

If the new Hollywood blockbuster "300" weren't so homoerotic, Osama Bin Laden would probably make the film mandatory viewing for all members of al Qaeda.

POLITICS-US: Key Democrat Pressured to Cut War Funding

Peace activists entered their 10th day camped outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home Wednesday, the latest in an almost daily barrage of demonstrations, vigils and local government votes designed to convince Pelosi to refuse President George W. Bush's 100-billion-dollar war funding request.

RIGHTS: U.S.-led Terror War Victimises World’s Minorities

The U.S.-led war on terror has triggered a strong backlash against some of the world's minorities, including ethnic and religious groups, according to a study released here Tuesday.

POLITICS: Iraqis Increasingly Pessimistic, Anti-U.S.

Four years after the U.S.-led invasion, Iraqis have never been more pessimistic about their lives and antagonistic toward their purported liberators, according to a major new poll released Monday by BBC, ABC News, USA Today and the German ARD television network.

RELIGION-US: Who Says Halal and Kosher Don’t Mix?

If you happen to visit Fredericksburg, Maryland soon or other U.S. towns, you may find yourself invited to a local mosque for dinner - especially if you are Christian or Jewish.

POLITICS-US: Frustration Marks Another War Anniversary

The growing anti-war movement in the United States has sent another strong signal to the George W. Bush administration and the Congressional leadership that it is unwilling to accept mere cosmetic changes in the current U.S. policy on Iraq.

POLITICS: U.S. City Takes Stand Against War With Iran

As thousands of Iranians in northern California celebrated the Persian tradition of "Chaharshanbeh Souri" on Tuesday, the Berkeley City Council adopted a resolution opposing the use of military force against Iran and urging that Congress attach an amendment barring such action to the Pentagon's 93-billion-dollar supplemental funding request.

Q&A: "U.S. Funding Armed Groups to Overthrow Iranian Govt"

Author of the upcoming book "The Iran Agenda: the Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis", due for release in September from Polipoint Press, Reese Erlich recently spent three weeks investigating Kurdish resistance organisations in Iran and Iraq's Kurdish region. He tells IPS that "the United States is officially funding armed groups to overthrow the Islamic government" in Tehran.

POLITICS-US: Bush’s Book List Gets More Islamophobic

Accounts of a Feb. 28 "literary luncheon" at the White House suggest that President George W. Bush's reading tastes - until now a remarkably good predictor of his policy views - are moving ever rightward, even apocalyptic, despite his administration's recent suggestions that it is more disposed to engage Washington's foes, even in the Middle East.

POLITICS-US/IRAN: The Religious Right’s New Bugbear

Last Sunday, Pastor John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel, received a rousing reception at the opening dinner plenary of the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference.

POLITICS-US: End of Cowboy Diplomacy, Part II?

It was just nine months ago when Newsweek spoke for the conventional wisdom at that moment when it pronounced "The End of Cowboy Diplomacy".

POLITICS-US: Democrats Seek Iraq Withdrawal by End 2008

After several weeks of internal wrangling, the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives Thursday proposed legislation that, if enacted, would require all U.S. combat troops in Iraq to be withdrawn by Oct. 1, 2008.

AFGHANISTAN: On the Road to Becoming a Narco State

Although fully backed by U.S. military might and support from other Western powers, the government in Kabul has failed to change Afghanistan's status as the world's leading illicit producer of opium, according to U.N. experts who monitor the worldwide trade in narcotic drugs.

RIGHTS: Women’s Lives Unraveling in Occupied Iraq

Amid the chaos and violence of U.S.-occupied Iraq, the significance of widespread gender-based violence has been largely overlooked, according to a groundbreaking report released here today by MADRE, an internationally active women's human rights organisation.

POLITICS-US/LATIN AMERICA: Jorge Who?

"Too little, too late" appears to be the consensus view among Latin America specialists about U.S. President George W. Bush's six-day tour of the region, which begins Thursday when he boards Air Force One bound for Sao Paulo, Brazil.

POLITICS: US Rights Report Glosses Over Terror War Abuses

The U.S. State Department's annual Human Rights Reports, released Tuesday in Washington, points to the humanitarian disaster in Sudan and the failure of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf to improve his country's human rights record as some of the concerning trends in international human rights over the past year.

POLITICS: Israel, Iran, U.S. Least Liked Countries

A majority of people from around the world hold predominantly negative views of Israel, Iran, and the United States, according to a survey of more than 28,000 respondents in 27 countries.