INTER PRESS SERVICE

Multiple suicide bombings in Iraq early this week and escalating violence against U.S.-led multi-national military forces are stymieing U.N. efforts to return to the war-devastated country.

IRAQ: Few Enter the Door Kuwait Opens

By Sanjay Suri

A Kuwaiti pitch to offer itself as a smooth gateway to business in Iraq was timed particularly badly. The worst of the killings in Iraq came just as the Kuwaitis raised their pitch.

POLITICS: Israel Frowns on Pakistan’s Nuke Leaks, India Cautious

By Ranjit Devraj

India's eagerness in cultivating a new friendship with Israel will likely stop short of making common cause over the revelation that rogue scientists in neighbouring Pakistan have been leaking nuclear technology to some of Tel Aviv's worst enemies.

IRAQ: U.S. On Track for Market Economy

By Emad Mekay

The United States is reporting success in installing a free-market economy in Iraq but the changes have not improved the lives of most Iraqis, many of whom remain unemployed and without basic services, according to one expert.

POLITICS: New U.S. Plans for Nukes Hypocritical, Say Experts

Proposed new U.S. curbs on the proliferation of nuclear weapons are fundamentally hypocritical, U.S. academics, military analysts and peace activists said Wednesday.

POLITICS-U.S.: Cyber-Campaign Demands Congress Censure Bush

Grassroots cyber-movement MoveOn.org, which claims more than two million U.S. members, has launched a major campaign demanding Congress formally censure President George W. Bush for lying to it about the threat posed by ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

MIDEAST: ‘Hello, I’m Israeli-Palestinian’

Ali Jarbawi has long seen the creation of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side, as the best solution to the Middle East conflict. But the professor of political science from Bir Zeit university in the West Bank is not sure any more.

POLITICS-U.S.: Co-Chair of Bush Panel Part of Far Right Network

President George W. Bush's choice to co-chair his commission to investigate intelligence failures prior to the Iraq War is a long-time, right wing political activist closely tied to the neo-conservative network that led the pro-war propaganda campaign.

POLITICS-EU: Bulgaria Moves from Backyard to Frontline

Bulgarians were not expecting that some of them would die in action alongside coalition forces in Iraq long before they could join NATO.

RIGHTS: Palestinian Women Hard Hit by Israeli Occupation

Israel's repressive policies in military-occupied West Bank and Gaza have had a devastating impact on the lives of Palestinian women and children, a new U.N. study says.

MIDEAST: Israel Out of Gaza, Not so Fast

Since taking office three years ago, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has made a series of bold political pronouncements, especially for a right-wing prime minister. But questions have arisen over what he meant before, and what he means this time.

DEVELOPMENT: Green Groups Slam Loans for BTC Pipeline

Leading environment and human rights groups have slammed commercial banks for financing a controversial oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean.

POLITICS-IRAQ: Questions about Secularism Raised

A pair of suicide bombings in the Kurdish area of Iraq and repeated demonstrations by supporters of a revered Shiite leader throughout the country has raised two nagging questions in the minds of many in the war-torn nation.

U.S.: Foreign Aid Budget Takes on Cold War Cast

If the "war on terror'' is beginning to look increasingly like the Cold War, then President George W. Bush's fiscal year (FY) 2005 foreign-aid request will not change that impression.

POLITICS: Doubts Arise as U.N. Readies Iraq Elections Team

Pressed by the United States, the United Nations will send an electoral team to assess the feasibility of holding nation-wide elections in Iraq before the end of June.

MIDEAST: Crime Soars in Palestinian Areas

The suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem last week brought a sharp setback to fledgling attempts by the Palestinian Authority to reassert control at least over civilian affairs.

IRAQ: Council Plan Would Cut Women’s Legal Rights – US Lawmakers