EGYPT: Iron Fist Beats Terrorism, or Does It?

Brute force used in Egypt to contain terrorism has come at the expense of civil liberties, rights supporters say.

IRAQ: Assembly Off to a Faltering Start

More than 1,300 delegates from across Iraq gathered here Sunday to elect 100 members for the interim consultative assembly, but angry opponents disrupted the opening sessions and accused the government of undemocratic ways.

IRAQ: U.S. Keeps Winning Battles, Losing Wars

Once again, U.S. armed forces appear on the verge of winning a decisive military victory in Iraq - this time in the holy city of Najaf. And once again, they appear closer to losing the larger wars for a stable and friendly Iraq and for an Islamic world that will cease producing anti-U.S. terrorism.

IRAQ: Insurgency Gets Some Editorial Support

The latest round of fighting in Iraq is the first real test for the country's new government after it took over from the U.S. and British-led occupation authority in the last days of June. The initial relative calm that greeted the handover has been slowly disintegrating across the country. The opposition against the new authorities has been powerful from the start.

RIGHTS-U.S.: Groups Ask Court to Unlock Prisoner Abuse Info

Human rights, veterans and civil liberties groups on Thursday will urge a federal court to order the U.S. government to release records on the alleged mistreatment of prisoners at U.S. military bases and other detention facilities overseas, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

POLITICS: Quick to Condemn, World Slow to Deliver Aid to Darfur

Although quick to condemn brutalities in Sudan, the international community has been painfully slow to respond to a U.N. appeal for more aid and for troops to serve in a peacekeeping force in the western province of Darfur.

UNITED STATES: Teens Grow Pessimistic in Post-9/11 World

While nearly one-half of teenagers in the United States believe going to war in Iraq was the right decision, the country's youth grow increasingly pessimistic following the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, according to a poll released Tuesday.

LABOUR-NEPAL: Iraq’s ‘Hell’ Still Lures Workers

Many jobless Nepalis are still heading to Iraq to look for jobs, despite the recent spate of kidnappings and beheadings and a ban imposed by the government after the U.S. invasion of Baghdad last year.

IRAQ: U.N. Absence Could Jeopardise Fair Elections – Official

The United Nations, which is supposed to prepare the groundwork for nation-wide elections in Iraq next January, is unlikely to send an electoral team to supervise the polls unless its workers are heavily protected in the violence-prone country, according to a report released Monday.

POLITICS: Bush Team on Defensive Over al-Qaeda Leak

One of the greatest coups in Washington's nearly three-year war against al-Qaeda has suddenly turned sour with reports the White House prematurely exposed the identity of a key source whose contacts and communication with the terrorist group's operational masterminds had yet to be fully exploited.

IRAQ: Anguished Christians Flee to Syria

IPS annuls with apologies the above story moved Aug. 07, 2004, which contained a serious error.

POLITICS-U.S.: Prisoner Abuse Scandal Rocks Legal, Medical Worlds

The scandal surrounding the torture and abuse by U.S. soldiers of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and in other theatres of the Bush administration's ''war against terrorism'' is producing unexpected aftershocks in the legal, medical and reporting professions.

MEDIA-U.S.: Won’t Get Fooled Again?

When U.S. Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge stood in Washington last Sunday to warn that some of the country's largest banks were being targeted by al-Qaeda terrorists, the mass media splashed the news on front pages and television screens - despite recent well-known intelligence failures in the "war on terrorism."

MIDEAST: A Handshake May Not Be Enough

Another significant handshake in the history of Palestinians, not at the White House but before what remains of the Mukata'ah, the government centre of the Palestinian Administration in Ramallah.

POLITICS: Iraq Avoids U.N. Dues by Crying Poverty

Iraq's U.S.-installed interim government, which is planning to spend some two billion dollars on its military this year, has declared it is too poor to pay 14.6 million dollars it owes the United Nations.

ECONOMY: Egypt Cashes in on Gulf Arab Tourists

Each summer as the temperature soars, well-off Egyptians abandon their dusty capital and head to a string of villas and beach resorts on the breezy Mediterranean coast. Filling the void are thousands of Gulf Arab tourists who flock to Cairo to escape the even more oppressive heat of the Arabian Peninsula. They come with one just one goal - to have a certain kind of fun.

POLITICS-U.S.: Attacking Neo-Cons From the Right

Why did the Bush administration invade Iraq?

POLITICS: UK Activist Sees Opening in Iraq Failure

The failure of the UK/U.S.-led coalition to implant democracy in Iraq has prompted deep soul-searching in the British civil service and opened the door for progressive organisations to influence its policy, says one long-time activist.

IRAQ: Arab Troops Would Be Unwelcome

The appointed Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi faces vehement opposition to his move to deploy troops from other Muslim countries.

IRAQ: Land Disputes in Kurdistan Could Boil Over Into Violence

Unresolved land claims between Kurds, Turkomans and Arabs in northern Iraq could erupt into violent conflict if they are not addressed fast enough, warns a leading international human rights organisation.

POLITICS: Iraqis Frustrated but Optimistic, Survey Finds

Iraqis are optimistic about the future but frustrated with unreliable services like electricity, and concerned about the quality of governance, according to a major poll released here Friday.