IRAQ: U.S. Takes Custody of Another Wayward Client

At last in U.S. military captivity, ousted former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein will soon mark an important 20th anniversary, the kind of anniversary that brings with it an appreciation of the ironies of life, and politics.

IRAQ: Triumph Becomes Also a Problem

The arrest of Saddam Hussein closes a long chapter, but poses new challenges for the coalition forces in their relations with Iraqi officials and people.

IRAQ: Future Uncertain as Saddam Unearthed

U.S. President George W. Bush celebrated a second victory in Iraq here Sunday with confirmation that occupation forces had captured fugitive former president Saddam Hussein on Saturday evening at a farmhouse outside Tikrit.

MIDEAST: Settlers Begin to Feel Isolated

"We have heard these rumours of evacuation so often, and we are still here," says an Israeli settler in Netzarim, an isolated outpost in central Gaza surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. But there is a new unease about.

POLITICS-U.S.: Baker’s Return = Cheney’s Heartburn

It may be that, by four or five months from now:

POLITICS: Iraqi Contracts Expose Washington’s True Aims – Critics

The George W. Bush administration's decision to exclude countries that opposed the U.S.-led war on Iraq from multi-billion-dollar reconstruction deals contradicts its position both on free trade and its self-described mission in Iraq, analysts here say.

RIGHTS-IRAQ: Cluster Bombs, Air Strikes Killed Hundreds – HRW

Hundreds of civilians were killed by Coalition cluster bombs and air strikes designed to "decapitate" the Iraqi leadership, according to a new report by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), which said the high cost in civilian casualties caused by the two tactics may have violated the laws of war.

POLITICS-U.S.: The Axis of Incoherence

As the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush searches increasingly desperately for a viable "exit strategy" from an Iraqi quagmire, its policy there is appearing ever more incoherent.

/INT’L MIGRANTS DAY/IRAQ-MEXICO: "Bring Our Children Home"

"Our children must come home, and not keep dying in this absurd military occupation," says Mexican Fernando Suárez, whose son, a U.S. citizen, was killed in Iraq in the first days of the war.

IRAQ: Recent Visitors Question U.S. Tactics

While electricity generation now exceeds pre-invasion levels, markets are plentiful, and virtually all school-aged children are back at their desks, the war for Iraqi ''hearts and minds'' remains very much up in the air, say independent analysts who have recently returned from that country.

POLITICS: Former U.S. President Drives Home Hard Truths

Addressing the Geneva Initiative on Palestine this week, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said something that the world, particularly Muslims, has long believed but which no prominent U.S. public figure dared to say publicly since Sep. 11.

MIDEAST: Mixed Response to Geneva Peace Plan

Amid much fanfare and hype, a group of mostly former leaders on Monday gathered in Geneva for the signing ceremony of an elaborate and painstakingly negotiated alternative peace plan between Israelis and Palestinians.

POLITICS: Unofficial Mideast Peace Plans Get Global Backing

If the success of the unofficial Israeli-Palestinian peace plan launched amid great fanfare in Geneva on Monday were dependent on international goodwill, it could be implemented tomorrow.

IRAQ-U.S.: Is It the Bases?

Now that the Bush administration has decided to sharply accelerate the transfer of full sovereignty to an Iraqi government, why does it not invite the United Nations to help with the transition?

IRAQ: Sceptics Scoff as U.S. Again Turns to U.N. for Legitimacy

After coercing the United Nations to give its blessings to the military occupation and post-war reconstruction of Iraq, the United States is planning to return to the world body - this time to legitimise the transfer of political power to Iraqis.

PAKISTAN: Suspension from Commonwealth No Big Worry for Military

Pakistan's continued suspension from the 54-nation Commonwealth for failing to fully restore democracy four years after the coup by President Gen Pervez Musharraf is no cause for much concern for the military-backed government.

POLITICS-U.S.: The Realists Rally

After two years of dominating U.S. foreign policy, are unilateralist hawks in the administration of President George W. Bush losing power to the so-called realists whom they have long disdained?

MIDEAST: End of Red Cross Aid Upsets Palestinians

Naima Zayyad tries to put a brave face on it. Her husband has not worked since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising, more than three years ago, and now he is ill.

POLITICS-IRAN: For Many, Qods Day a Wornout Cliche

''Cutting ties with the Zionist regime is a must for the Islamic world,'' reads a placard in Tajrish Square in the north of the Iranian capital, a well-off area with lots of fashionable young passersby.

IRAQ: Contracts Leave Local Business Out

U.S. officials have shut Iraqis out of the business of reconstruction contracts, many local businessmen say.

IRAQ: U.S. to Get Billion-Dollar U.N. Oil for Food Programme

The U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) will get control of billions of dollars in Iraqi oil revenues beginning midnight Friday when it formally takes over the seven-year-old, U.N. administered "oil-for-food'' programme (OFFP).