IRAQ: IMF Delivers Loan, Queried About Oversight

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), one of the most powerful architects of the world economy and controlled by the planet's wealthiest nations, marked its return to U.S.-occupied Iraq with a new loan worth 436 million dollars.

POLITICS: U.S.-Backed Warlords Big Threat to Afghan Elections

Insufficient security forces and a lack of election observers, combined with regional warlords backed by the United States, continue to threaten the upcoming presidential election in Afghanistan, says a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

ENVIRONMENT-IRAQ: ‘Garden of Eden’ Becomes a Mess

The Bible suggests that the Iraqi marshlands were once the Garden of Eden. But the garden if it ever existed is long gone, and so mostly are the marshlands.

POLITICS-U.S.: Poll Finds A Nation Chastened by War

Three years of the Bush administration's ''war on terrorism'' appears to have reduced the appetite of the U.S. public and its leaders for unilateral military engagements, according to a major survey released Tuesday by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (CCFR).

POLITICS-IRAQ: After Giving Boost to Bush, Allawi Heads to UN

In his first address to world leaders gathered at U.N. headquarters, Iraq's Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi urged the wealthiest countries to forgive Iraq's debts and described his nation's future as a battle between the forces of democracy and extremism.

POLITICS-U.S.: Human Dignity, Crazy Mike, and Indian Country

The reason why Washington is having such a difficult time persuading of its good faith and its good works in the "war on terror" was best illustrated Tuesday this week.

IRAQ: Doubts Rise Over Partial Elections

Iraqi leaders and officials are getting jittery over the now partial elections proposed for January next year.

POLITICS: U.N. Chief Urges World Leaders to Protect Civilians

Former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali once remarked that the tragedy of civil wars is that they are no longer civil.

POLITICS-U.S.: Kerry Delivers Scathing Critique of Iraq War

In his sharpest attack on U.S. policy on Iraq to date, Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry Monday accused President George W. Bush of having made "a series of catastrophic decisions" that has created a "crisis of historic proportions" both in Iraq and in the wider "war on terror".

POLITICS-U.S.: From Bad to Worse in Iraq

After weeks of hurricanes and controversies over swift boats in Vietnam and Texas and Alabama National Guard records, Iraq is beginning to creep back onto the front pages, and the news is uniformly bad.

IRAQ: Yawar Finds Friends in Europe

The European Union and some of its largest member states have reaffirmed their support for Iraq this week under the gaze of Iraq's interim President Ghazi al-Yawar and amid rising tensions in the country.

RIGHTS-US: Irate Judge Orders Gov’t to Hand Over Detainee Records

In a victory for human and civil rights groups, a federal judge has given the government 30 days to turn over or identify all documents relating to the treatment of detainees held by the United States at military bases and other detention facilities overseas, including at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

POLITICS: Rising Violence Deters U.N. Presence in Iraq

The escalating violence in Iraq - with over 50 civilians killed in Tuesday's terrorist attacks in Baghdad - is dissuading the United Nations from going back to the war-ravaged country, according to a senior U.N. official.

AUSTRALIA: Jakarta Blast Dominates Election Campaign

In the wake of last week's suicide bombing at the gates of Australia's embassy in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has deftly shifted debate in the federal election campaign, for the Oct 9 polls, onto his publicly perceived strong points on anti-terrorism measures and national security.

POLITICS-US: Three Years On, War on Terrorism Looks Like a Loser

Three years after al Qaeda-commandeered planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York and the Pentagon, the leaked ruminations of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld seem more pertinent than ever.

POLITICS: Seeking Method in the Madness of Abu Ghraib

âÇ "The American political system has never been as sick as it is today," says Belgian philosopher Lieven De Cauter, in a wide-ranging interview where he discusses his theories about the "state of exception" in the context of the Bush administration's "war on terror".

IRAQ: Rebels Begin to Control More Areas

Armed groups and foreign terrorists have established new camps in central Iraq as government forces attack rebels in the north and south, officials say.

RIGHTS-U.S.: Retired Brass Call for Independent Torture Probe

Adding their voice to a steadily growing clamour, eight retired generals and admirals have called on Pres. George W. Bush to appoint a bipartisan, independent commission to conduct a comprehensive investigation of U.S. detention and interrogation practices in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

POLITICS-U.S.: If World Could Vote, Kerry in a Landslide – Poll

If the people of the rest of the world could vote in November's U.S. elections, Democratic Sen. John Kerry would beat U.S. President George W. Bush in a landslide.

IRAQ: Headscarves Become a Life or Death Issue

The two French journalists kidnapped in Iraq more than three weeks back are still in captivity despite efforts by French and Iraqi leaders to secure their freedom.

IRAQ: Peace Talks Come Apart in Sadr City

The new outbreak of violence in Baghdad has shattered ceasefire talks between Shia militants and the Iraqi government.