IRAQ: Human Rights Precarious – Amnesty

One year after the U.S.-led attack on Iraq, civilians are seeing some improvements in human rights but violence is endemic and many people live in fear for their safety, says a report by Amnesty International (AI).

POLITICS-IRAQ: A Year Later, More Turmoil Ahead

One year after U.S. President George W Bush ordered the start of a three-week ground-and-air assault that toppled three decades of Saddam Hussein's tyrannical regime, Iraq is still in turmoil and with little certainty in sight.

U.S.-EUROPE: Rift Over Iraq Belies Much Deeper Strains

The growing gap between the United States and its European allies over the Iraq war - most recently highlighted by last weekend's Spanish elections - belies deeper strains that date to the end of the Cold War, according to a report released Friday by the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

POLITICS: U.S. Moves To Seize More Iraqi Assets

The United States is moving to freeze millions of dollars in accounts held by relatives of Saddam Hussein and other senior officials in his fallen regime, months after Washington seized billions of dollars in frozen Iraqi assets overseas.

POLITICS: Activists Tackle Bulldozer Maker, US Aid to Israel

Still angered by the death of Rachel Corrie, a U.S peace activist who was run over and crushed to death by an Israeli Army bulldozer, peace campaigners here are urging U.S. legislators to investigate the death of the 23-year-old activist.

POLITICS: For U.S. Hawks, Madrid 2004 = Munich 1938

For neo-conservative and other right-wing U.S. hawks, Madrid has suddenly become Munich in 1938 and Spain's Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

POLITICS-EUROPE: Spain Tilts the Power Balance

The Socialist triumph in Spain last Sunday has transformed the balance of power within Europe in favour of France and Germany, who have been pleading for a common foreign policy independent of the United States.

TRADE-U.S.: Senators Want Mideast Commerce Tied to Reform

A group of U.S. senators is trying to forge changes in the Middle East and South East Asia via a new trade programme that would open those markets to U.S. goods and agricultural products, while rewarding nations that support the Bush administration's "war on terrorism".

SPAIN: Major Foreign Policy Changes Lie Ahead, Say Socialists

Spain's Socialists, who staged a surprise victory at the polls Sunday, anticipate a major overhaul of the country's foreign policy.

POLITICS: Bush Terror War Suffers Body Blow in Spain

It was just last week, on the eve of the bloodiest act of terrorism in Europe's modern history, that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet warned that the U.S. administration's optimistic rhetoric on winning the ''war on terrorism'' was premature.

DEVELOPMENT-IRAQ: Unmet Social Needs a Powder Keg for Instability

Mention Iraq these days and the most immediate impression will likely be daily attacks on U.S. soldiers, assassination of Iraqis, explosions, or maybe difficulties in transferring power from the U.S.-led occupation force to Iraqi officials.

POLITICS-U.S.: True Reactionaries

As U.S. troops prepared to invade Iraq one year ago, the foreign-policy elite's issue of the day was whether the United States had become so dominant that it could and should be compared to the British Empire of a century ago, and accept its responsibilities accordingly.

IRAQ: CIA Chief Clueless on Neo-Con Intelligence Channel

Was Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet really the last person in Washington to find out that both the president and vice president were being fed phoney or ''sexed up'' intelligence about pre-war Iraq by a Pentagon office staffed by ideologically driven neo-conservatives?

IRAQ-U.S.: ‘Stay the Course’ but Give U.N. Larger Role – Panel

Almost one year after U.S. forces invaded Iraq, a bipartisan panel of 20 influential foreign-policy experts is calling on both Republicans and Democrats to "stay the course" but to also ask the United Nations to play a "leading role" in the transition to Iraqi sovereignty and beyond.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY-MIDEAST: Violence Takes a Heavy Toll

Menbere Kifle had planned to return to her two teen-age children in Ethiopia. She had worked as an illegal labourer in Israel for ten years, she had saved some money, and acquired a new passport.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY: Liberation Touches a Syrian Village

In her shirt and blue jeans, Firial Ibrahim is an unusual sight in this little village. That she runs a successful business is even more unusual.

U.S.-IRAN: Ad Hoc Detente to Continue Despite Conservative Sweep

Despite the sweeping victory of staunchly anti-U.S. conservatives in Iran's elections last month, analysts here believe the tentative detente between the two countries that began late last year will continue at least through the November U.S. elections.

IRAQ: Delay in Signing of Constitution, Violence Make a Bad Week

It has not been a good week for Iraq.

RIGHTS: Think of the Arabs Within Israel

While world attention is focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a crisis is brewing among Israel's own Arab citizens.

POLITICS: Israeli Writer Defends Arafat

A distinguished Israeli writer describes Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as a statesman sensitive to the concerns of Israel.

COMMUNICATION: Egyptian Poor Find Virtual Wealth

In a small, unadorned room young Egyptians complete homework assignments on PCs and browse the Internet oblivious of the incessant din of car horns, scratchy music and calls to prayer from a nearby mosque.