EUROPE: Common Defence Makes Historic Headway

The mid-December European summit in Brussels brought a watershed agreement on EU defence despite the failure to agree a new constitution.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Debate of Changing Constitution Gathers New Steam

As it prepares for the second dispatch of military troops to Iraq next week, Japan's long simmering debate on changing its post-war 'Peace' constitution, written by the U.S. occupation forces in 1947, is gathering new steam.

MEDIA-U.S.: Iraq Blotted Out Rest of the World in 2003 TV News

AIDS killed three million people around the world last year, more than two million of them in Africa. The three major U.S. television networks' evening news programmes devoted a combined total of 39 minutes to the issue.

ECONOMY: Egypt Rushes to Rescue Tourism

It was too late to save Flight 604, but Egyptian officials are moving quickly to save a fragile tourism industry.

RIGHTS: Killings of Journalists Soared in 2003 – Reports

The news was not good for journalists in 2003, as media workers were killed, jailed and censored at much higher rates than a year earlier, according to reports by two watchdog groups.

POLITICS: Afghans Living in Fear, Says U.N. Official

Despite a heavy western military presence and a two-year-old U.S.-backed government in Kabul, Afghanistan has been reduced to a country with no rule of law, a senior U.N. official warned Monday.

POLITICS-U.S./IRAN: One After-Effect Could be Detente

The earthquake that levelled Bam last week appears to have provided an opening for pro-détente forces in both Washington and Teheran.

IRAN: Trial of Saddam Hussein Would Raise Tricky Questions

Three weeks after former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was taken into custody, 34-year-old bookseller Siavash Akbari finds himself still wondering about the lessons that the capture holds for other dictators, including, he says, those in Iran.

POLITICS-EUROPE: U.S. Firms in ‘Military Takeover’

Increasing takeover of European military industry by U.S. companies is raising new concerns in France and Germany.

POLITICS-FRANCE: Iraqi Hangover Clouds Ties with U.S.

The diplomatic tension that arose between France and the United States over the invasion of Iraq was put aside formally, but it is far from over.

PAKISTAN: Musharraf More Valuable than Ever in ‘War on Terror’

This month's narrow escape by Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf of an attempt on his life has made him even more important to the international coalition in its 'war on terror'.

POLITICS-U.S.: Little Joy at Sharon Speech

U.S. peace activists have denounced Thursday's long-awaited speech by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on his plans to ''disengage'' from the Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories, even as the White House offered a more nuanced reaction.

IRAQ: U.S. Firm Bechtel Planned to Evade 1988 Sanctions – Document

U.S. construction giant Bechtel, a firm with a major contract to help rebuild Iraq, planned to hire "non-U.S. suppliers of technology" so it could evade economic sanctions imposed by Washington after Saddam Hussein used poison gas against Iraq's Kurdish minority, according to a newly declassified document.

IRAQ: ‘Why Isn’t Saddam Dead’

An extraordinary number of Iraqis just want their former president dead.

RIGHTS: U.S. Raps Nations Over Religious Freedom

The United States criticised several countries on Thursday, both allies and adversaries, for failing to protect religious freedom, a charge it has faced itself since launching its "war on terror".

IRAQ.: Who Needs WMD When You’ve Got Saddam?

With former president Saddam Hussein in the bag, the administration of President George W. Bush appears determined to make U.S. voters forget Washington invaded Iraq on the pretext that its apparently non-existent weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed a direct threat to the United States and its allies.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Iraq Deployment Shows the East German Syndrome

-Four years ago, the author and critic Chalmers Johnson wrote a prescient book about U.S. foreign policy that unfavourably compared Japan's postwar prime ministers to the East German leaders Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker.

IRAQ: Arrest Embarrasses Saddam’s Tribe

Sheik Mahmoud Nidda who heads Saddam Hussein's Al Nasseri tribe has reasons to be upset.

CARIBBEAN: Try Saddam in Global Court, Says Tribunal’s Backer

One of the main architects behind the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is pushing to have former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein tried by that tribunal.

IRAQ: Saddam’s Arrest Could Refuel Arab Anger With Leaders

The capture of Saddam Hussein could fuel the simmering anger that Arab populations feel towards their dictatorial leaders, and embolden them to demand greater participation, say analysts here.

IRAQ: Anger Too Surfaces over Arrest

Many people in the poor Sunni Adamiyeh neighbourhood find the arrest of Saddam Hussein unbearable. A day after the news broke, at least a thousand protesters shout their rage.