RIGHTS: U.S. Torture Report Assailed

Civil rights groups are accusing the U.S. government of failing to admit the extent to which abuse of non-citizens in U.S. custody in Afghanistan, Iraq, and its base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, violates the international treaty against torture.

DISARMAMENT: U.S. Ramps Up Arms Supplies to Repressive Regimes

The United States has accelerated arms sales to some of the world's most repressive and undemocratic regimes since the Sep. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, according to a new report from leading arms trade researchers.

POLITICS-AFGHANISTAN: Pleasantries But No Change as Bush Greets Karzai

While lavishing praise on his guest Monday, U.S. President George W. Bush indicated that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai will receive neither greater control over U.S. troops in his country nor substantially more aid to persuade poppy farmers to drop out of the narcotics business.

U.S.: Govt Sued Over ‘Political Abuses’ as it Seeks Expanded Security Powers

The U.S. government is engaging in political intimidation and improperly investigating law-abiding advocacy groups, civil liberties groups have charged - even as the U.S. Senate weighs renewing controversial counter-terrorism powers and the White House seeks to have them expanded.

DISARMAMENT: Israeli Arsenal Vexes Nuclear Negotiators

The U.S. administration has sought to keep a tight focus on the suspected nuclear activities of Iran and North Korea at month-long talks here on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). But other countries also have highlighted the impact of Israel's nuclear weapons arsenal on efforts to establish a Middle East nuclear-free zone.

U.S.: Security Missteps Spawn Quirky Cases

Expanded powers and a heightened sense of alert have helped U.S. law enforcers take some dangerous people off the country's streets since the White House declared its ''war on terror''. But they also have triggered some bizarre missteps.

POLITICS: U.S. Caught Up Short by Uzbekistan Violence

Taken by surprise by the sudden and unexpectedly bloody repression in Uzbekistan, the administration of President George W. Bush appears to be backing away from its initial, reflexive support for its authoritarian ally in the war against terrorism, Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

MEDIA-U.S.: A Tale of Two Stories

Here's a question for international news hounds. Who is the ''son of a bitch'' referred to in this comment by a U.S. Defence Department spokesman?

U.S.: Conflicting Security Assessments Breed Suspicion of Govt Claims

U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials say government steps have made it more difficult for terrorists to operate in the United States - even as leaders of an investigative panel assail Washington for moving too slowly to protect the nation and the Department of Homeland Security itself reveals it will scrap billions of dollars worth of hastily purchased equipment.

POLITICS-U.S.: Bolton Embarrassment Latest Setback for Bush Hawks

The failure of U.S. President George W. Bush's U.N. ambassador-designate to get the unanimous support of Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has dealt a new setback to the coalition of unilateralist hawks that led the drive to war with Iraq and is strongly opposed to diplomatic engagement with Iran and North Korea.

POLITICS-U.S.: A Terrorist Comes Home to Roost

The sudden and untimely arrival on U.S. territory of a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) asset and admitted terrorist, Luis Posada Carriles, poses an embarrassing challenge to the credibility of the Bush administration's war on terrorism.

POLITICS-U.S.: Security Whistleblowers Demand End to Retaliation

Fifty current and former employees of U.S. national security agencies are demanding that Congress end government retaliation against those who expose national security blunders.

RIGHTS-U.S.: New Driver’s License Rules Assailed as Unsafe, Anti-Migrant

New U.S. driver's license rules attached to a ''must-pass'' military spending bill will undermine individual privacy and public safety and lead to increased discrimination against immigrants and asylum-seekers, according to the new measure's critics.

RIGHTS: Repatriated Egyptian Detainees Face Torture – Rights Group

A major rights watchdog warned the United States, Arab League, and European Union against transferring detainees to prisons in Egypt and cautioned them not to seek or accept Egyptian government assurances that prisoners will not be tortured or abused.

POLITICS-IRAN: Independent Access to Khuzestan Urged in Wake of Violence

Amid rising tension between Iran and the United States, a major U.S. human rights group said Tuesday that at least 50 people were killed during week-long protests in southwestern Khuzestan province last month and urged Iran to permit independent journalists and rights monitors to go to the strife-torn region across the border from Iraq.

U.S.: Military Spending Leaves Home Front Unguarded – Report

The U.S. Defence Department should cut billions of dollars from major weapons programmes and plough the money into domestic security initiatives, says a new report with far-reaching implications not only for the federal budget but also for dozens of arms makers and other private defence contractors.

EDUCATION: International Recovery Effort Urged for Iraq

The United Nations is urging governments and educators worldwide to rise to the aid of Iraq's colleges and universities, saying that five out of six have been wrecked and warning that failure to rehabilitate them will set back efforts to heal the war-brutalised country.

RIGHTS: U.N. Afghanistan Envoy’s Sacking Highlights Abuses, Secrecy

Cherif Bassiouni, the top U.N. human rights investigator in Afghanistan until his job was eliminated at Washington's behest, has caused a stir by accusing the United States of obstructing, then ousting him in a bid to cover up abuses by its personnel. Even so, he delivered a grim report on the Asian country.

RIGHTS-U.S.: One Year Later, Abu Ghraib Scandal Seen as ‘Tip of Iceberg’

Rights watchdogs have seized on this week's anniversary of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal to protest what they termed a lack of accountability for the torture of prisoners in U.S. custody, and to warn that problems which came to light at the prison in Iraq merely were ''the tip of the iceberg.''

POLITICS: Domestic Terrorists Seen as Viable U.S. Threat

Domestic terrorism remains a clear and present danger to the United States, rights groups and government agencies warn amid a number of fresh reminders of homegrown terrorism's toll on the U.S. public.

RELIGION-US: Roots of Anti-Semitism Run Deep, Poll Finds

Nearly 35 million U.S. citizens - 14 percent of the adult population - hold "strong" anti-Semitic beliefs, according to a new nationwide survey by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) watchdog group.