POLITICS-US: Soldier Who Chose Jail Over Iraq Goes Home

Last week, a 41-year-old U.S. army sergeant from Hinesville, Georgia was released from prison after serving 13 months of a 15-month sentence for refusing to board a plane bound for Iraq.

POLITICS-US: Intel Estimate on Iran Blocks Neo-Con Plans

In the struggle over U.S. policy toward Iran, neoconservatives in the George W. Bush administration spoiling for an attack on Iran's nuclear sites have been seeking to convince the public that the United States must strike before an Iranian nuclear weapons capability becomes inevitable.

MEDIA-9/11: Remembering the Journalists

"If there's only one sight I'll remember from the destruction of the World Trade Centre, it is the flight of desperation - the headlong leap from the top-most floors by those who chose a different death than the choking smoke and flame," wrote John Bussey of The Wall Street Journal on Sep. 11, 2001.

POLITICS-US: Republican Control of Congress in Peril

As the 2006 U.S. mid-term election campaign officially got underway over the three-day Labour Day weekend, Republican hopes of retaining control of both houses of Congress look increasingly fragile.

MEDIA-US: “Fascism” Frame Set Up by Right-Wing Press

The aggressive new campaign by the administration of President George W. Bush to depict U.S. foes in the Middle East as "fascists" and its domestic critics as "appeasers" owes a great deal to steadily intensifying efforts by the right-wing press over the past several months to draw the same comparison.

POLITICS: Diplomacy Intensifies on Iran’s Nuke Programme

As the U.N. Security Council deadline elapsed for Iran to halt its uranium enrichment-related activities Thursday, the United States renewed threats of a possible international economic blockade of Tehran.

LEBANON: Critics Decry “Destroy and Lend” Policy

Lebanon is firmly en route to becoming the third nation in the Middle East after Iraq and the Palestinian territories to experience a devastating Washington-backed war and a massive influx of new illegitimate debt to cover reconstruction expenses, anti-debt activists say.

POLITICS-US: An Army Minus One

On Thursday, 22-year-old Army Specialist Mark Wilkerson turned himself in to Fort Hood in Texas, after being AWOL (Absent Without Leave) for more than 18 months.

RIGHTS-US: For Muslim Law Students, Knowledge Is Power

His name is Junaid Ahmad. He is 24 years old. And he is among a rapidly increasing number of first generation Muslim-Americans who have decided to pursue careers in the law.

FINANCE-US: Executives Cash In on War and Oil Bonanza

Top oil and defence industry executives in the United States are raking in record personal profits on the backs of the U.S. wars following the terror attacks of Sep. 11, 2001 and sky-high oil prices, two think-tanks said Wednesday.

RIGHTS: Vanished, But Not Forgotten

Marking the International Day of the Disappeared, United Nations officials joined international human rights groups Wednesday to draw attention to the plight of the thousands of people around the world who have been seized and imprisoned without recourse to their families or lawyers.

POLITICS: Doubts Grow Over Bush’s Syria Policy

A growing debate within Israel over whether United States President George W. Bush's Middle East policies really serve the interests of the Jewish state has spread to Washington, where influential voices within the U.S. Jewish community are questioning the administration's hard-line positions in the region.

POLITICS-SUDAN: Darfur Crisis Set to Worsen?

Human rights and Africa activists are urging the U.N. Security Council to urgently authorise the deployment of as many as 20,000 peace-keeping troops to halt the rising tide of violence and chaos in Darfur, Sudan's western-most region.

POLITICS-US: Republican Report Hypes Iran Threat

In what some critics describe as a replay of the run-up to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Republican chairman of the Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives has released a report suggesting Iran may acquire nuclear weapons much more quickly than U.S. intelligence agencies believe.

MIDEAST: Peace Groups Slam “Misguided” U.S. Policies

As a multinational peacekeeping force is slowly assembled at the United Nations to preserve the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, U.S. peace activists say the work toward a comprehensive settlement has only begun.

IRAN: Europe Has Six Days to Resolve Suspension Dilemma

After months of bickering over arbitrary deadlines, the Iranian government delivered its long-awaited response to the P5+1 package punctually on the eve of its self-imposed deadline Tuesday.

POLITICS: Bush Ensured Iran Offer Would Be Rejected

Even before Iran gave its formal counter-offer to ambassadors of the P5+1 countries (the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China) Tuesday, the George W. Bush administration had already begun the process of organising sanctions against Iran.

MIDEAST: Will Israel Defy the U.N. Again?

A cartoon in a U.S. news magazine many moons ago showed a Palestinian family huddled together in a refugee camp, as U.S.-supplied Israeli fighter jets kept bombarding the makeshift shelters in an orgy of destruction.

POLITICS-US: Hard-line Neo-Cons Assail Israel for Timidity

While much of the world has criticised Israel for carrying out a "disproportionate" war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, hard-line neo-conservatives have attacked the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for timidity.

POLITICS-IRAQ: Civilian Translators Thrust Into Combat Roles

Goran Habbeb had just left his house to get into his car with his brother and his seven-year-old daughter, Soleen, when the armed men opened fire. Taken by surprise because the men were dressed in police uniforms, he just managed to get the white Toyota Previa van into motion and escape.

MIDEAST: Veteran Policy-Makers Fear Disaster in U.S. Course

Alarms are definitely on the rise here.