POLITICS-US: "Bush’s Brain" Besieged

Battered by sagging poll numbers, new doubts in the aftermath of the London bombings about the effectiveness of its war on terrorism, and no let-up in the bad news out of Iraq, the White House has found itself this week embroiled in yet another controversy, one that threatens the credibility, if not the tenure, of the man widely known as Pres. George W. Bush's "brain."

/ARTS WEEKLY/-IRAQ: Book Checks Hearts and Minds, Won or Lost

When journalist Aaron Glantz drove into Iraq from Jordan in a battered orange and white checkered taxi on Apr. 29, 2003, he was surprised to find most of the civilian neighbourhoods in Baghdad relatively unscathed by the U.S.-led bombing campaign.

RIGHTS-INDONESIA: Court Setback Could Set Back US Ties

A recent appeals court decision to acquit 12 soldiers convicted last year of a notorious 1984 massacre in Jakarta could complicate efforts by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to normalise military ties with the Southeast Asian nation.

POLITICS-US: "Coddling" at GITMO, or Just Humane Treatment?

Many people will remember Janice Karpinsky, the U.S. Army Reserve brigadier general who was reprimanded and demoted for failing to stop the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

SOUTH ASIA: Pakistan Alarmed by Indo-US Defence Deal

Alarm and dismay have been the general reaction in Pakistan to news of a framework agreement on defence cooperation signed between India, its long-standing rival in South Asia and the United States - which, only a year ago, accorded this country the status of ''major non-NATO ally''.

POLITICS-US: Familiar Debate Resumes in Wake of London Bombings

Thursday's London bombings that killed at least 49 people have rekindled a familiar debate in this country on the question first posed after the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the Pentagon: "Why do they hate us?"

CORRECTION/POLITICS: London Hit as Scepticism Grows on "Terror War"

Thursday's terror attacks against London's public transportation system, which reportedly killed at least 37 people, came amid indications of growing scepticism here about the effectiveness of U.S. President George W. Bush's "war on terrorism," the policy initiative that has earned him his highest public-approval ratings since September 2001.

POLITICS: India May Pay Price for Security Council Club Class

Within striking distance of gaining permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council, India is now making moves to stay ahead of other countries in the Group of Four (G-4) that have called for expanding the council's permanent membership from the present five to 11, say observers.

POLITICS: London Hit as Scepticism Grows on "Terror War"

Thursday's terror attacks against London's public transportation system, which reportedly killed at least 37 people, came amid indications of growing scepticism here about the effectiveness of U.S. President George W. Bush's "war on terrorism," the policy initiative that has earned him his highest public-approval ratings since September 2001.

U.S.: World Movement of Democracy, More than a Luckless Acronym?

Political terms like "movement," "revolution" and "global citizen networks" that have their origins in the left are now forming part of the foreign policy language of the U.S. government and its dependencies.

RIGHTS-AFGHANISTAN: Calls Mount to Prosecute Past Atrocities

As an unexpected resurgence of fighting by Taliban and allied forces against the U.S.-backed government of Pres. Hamid Karzai is raising new concerns over Afghanistan's stability, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has repeated its call for the prosecution of past atrocities by key warlords, a number of whom continue to hold senior posts under Karzai.

POLITICS-US: The Christian Left Strikes Back

As prodigiously funded groups on the religious right prepare to square off against the equally well-endowed but largely sectarian left in a take-no-prisoners battle over the replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Conner, there are signs that a new progressive religious movement may be emerging.

POLITICS-US: Charlie’s War, Act Two

Though it happened just over 20 years ago, today's media has all but forgotten that Afghanistan's Taliban was largely the creation of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) and a hard-drinking, party-loving Texas congressman who helped funnel billions of dollars in arms to "freedom fighters" like Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad Omar.

POLITICS: Eyes Wide Shut, India Enters Military Alliance With U.S.

Once proudly non-aligned, India has turned its back on strategic policy independence through a military cooperation agreement with the United States that analysts say has taken the five-year-old "strategic partnership" to an unprecedented plane.

POLITICS: Spectres of Militarism, Nationalism Dog Independence Day

As U.S. citizens mark their annual celebration of patriotism, the Fourth of July holiday, they might do well to also ponder the spectre of two other "isms" that threaten the Republic's durability and strength raised by two important books published over the past year.

RIGHTS: Groups Say Terror Lists Are "Arbitrary"

Government blacklists that proscribe groups and individuals as terrorists are arbitrary, secretive and unjust, according to a new report by a network of civil rights groups.

POLITICS-US: Bush’s Iraq Speech Falls Flat

Despite a strong delivery, solemn demeanour, and a respectful military audience, U.S. President George W. Bush's effort to rally the nation behind his Iraq strategy through a prime-time televised speech at Fort Bragg, North Carolina offered nothing new to reassure a restive public that the situation was coming under control.

U.S./IRAQ: Report Finds "Appalling Level of Fraud and Greed"

As a Congressional committee heard testimony last week that billions of Iraqi dollars - held in trust by the U.S. government - still cannot be accounted for, the inspector general charged with tracking the funds said he has referred three contractors to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecutions for fraud.

RIGHTS-US: Terror Policies Draw Outrage at Home and Abroad

The George W. Bush administration's policies on indefinite detention and "extraordinary rendition" are coming under heavy fire from a number of institutions and organisations, including the United Nations, Amnesty International, and members of the U.S. Congress itself.

RIGHTS-US: Groups Detail Growing Police State

The FBI is carrying out "unwarranted investigations for religious or political reasons", according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which charges that "the agency has sunk back into the kind of political monitoring it did in the 1960s and 1970s."

AFGHANISTAN: Kabul, Washington Press Pakistan on Taliban

Even as the war between U.S.-led forces and the Taliban intensifies in Afghanistan, a first rate diplomatic row has erupted between Pakistan and - who?