POLITICS-U.S.: Bush Vows ‘Forward Strategy of Freedom’ for Mideast

In what the White House billed as a major address, President George W. Bush Thursday announced the United States has adopted a new policy he called ''a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East''.

RIGHTS: Israeli Abuses the Worst in 35 Years – U.N. Report

After 35 years of investigations, a U.N. committee monitoring human rights abuses of Palestinians has concluded that the situation in the Israeli-occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank was the worst ever last year.

POLITICS-U.S.: Feith is the Answer

''What's gonna happen with Feith?"

POLITICS: ‘Expert’ Draws Attention to Business of Counter-terrorism

The Sep. 11 attacks on the United States and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Iraq have spawned a new industry of terrorism experts, who have made their mark by explaining their theories to the media and advising governments and corporations on how to cope with threats to national security.

MIDEAST: Some Lives Begin and End at the Checkpoint

"I went into labour at one in the morning," Houriyyah Mir'ie recalls. "We took the car to Jericho. At the checkpoint they wouldn't let me pass."

POLITICS: Middle East, Muslim Students Shun U.S. Schools

For many years, students from all over the globe have streamed into U.S. universities in search of a good education, career opportunities and, at times, freedoms not available at home, thanks to a relatively open and streamlined student visa process.

POLITICS: EU Survey Sees Israel as ‘Biggest Threat’ to Peace

European citizens think that Israel poses the greatest threat to world peace, according to a survey released Monday by the European Commission.

POLITICS: U.S. Quest for Foreign Policy Continues

U.S. foreign policy continues to be in a quandary, and not just because U.S. troops are bogged down in the two Muslim countries that they invaded and occupied after Sep.11, 2001.

MIDEAST: Where the Front Line Runs Through Home

A camouflage-green bulldozer of the Israeli army slowly flattens the moonscape that marks the border between the Gaza strip and Egypt. There is a huge gap in the row of houses here in Rafah town straddling the border. The buildings around are pockmarked by bullets.

IRAQ: U.S. Paying for Intelligence Blunders

U.S. intelligence gathering operations are being called into question after the devastating attacks on the weekend, and the rocket attacks and suicide bombings rocking Baghdad and other cities almost every day.

MIDEAST: Poverty Becomes Israel’s New Enemy

Close to one in five families below the poverty line. An average of almost one in three children living in poverty. That is a total of 1.32 million people, including 618,000 children in a population of 6.5 million.

POLITICS-U.N.: Walking the Middle Ground, Annan Irks Extremes

When U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan recently faulted a lop-sided U.S. resolution for failing to assure self-rule for Iraqis, he was accused of threatening a regime change in the White House.

POLITICS-U.S.: Pentagon Hawk Released – Straws in the Wind?

A major Pentagon hawk has abruptly resigned his post in a move that, in the context of other recent developments, is likely to fuel speculation that the White House might be trying to soften the harder edges of its controversial policies.

POLITICS: Bush Cronies Hit Jackpot in Iraq, Afghanistan

Some 70 U.S. companies with good connections to the Bush administration have won at least eight billion dollars worth of reconstruction contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past two years, an independent research group said Thursday.

POLITICS: U.N. Pullout from Baghdad Threatens to Undermine U.S.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's decision to withdraw his staff from Baghdad over U.S. objections could deal another body blow to the U.S.-led military occupation of the increasingly dangerous, war-ravaged nation.

POLITICS: U.S. Set to Block World Bank Aid to Iran

U.S. officials have vowed to continue to fight World Bank assistance for Iran in a bid to derail funding for the country's alleged nuclear weapons programme and to penalise Tehran for its confrontational policies towards the United States and Israel.

IRAN: Khatami Could Have Done Better, Says Nobel Laureate Ebadi

Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi has said that Iranian president Mohammad Khatami has ''missed opportunities'' during his tenure. Speaking to IPS, the 56-year-old Iranian human rights activist and lawyer indicated her disappointment with his presidency, even as her supporters ride the jubilation that greeted her award.

POLITICS-U.S.: Bush’s Muslim Troubles

U.S. President George W. Bush's latest gesture to persuade Muslims both here and abroad that the United States is not seeking a ''clash of civilisations'' has not gone over well with its intended audience.

IRAQ: U.S. Says ‘Missing’ Money in Iraqi Hands, Critics Still Wary

The U.S. Treasury Department says hundreds of millions of dollars in seized Iraqi assets previously unaccounted for by the U.S.-led occupying force in Iraq were used to pay the country's civil servants, hire a police force and buy security equipment.

POLITICS-U.S.: Bush Falls From Favour Abroad, Too

If U.S. President George W. Bush was surprised on his recent trip to Indonesia by the negative image the country's Muslim leaders had of his administration, he is unlikely to be reassured by two new surveys from Latin America and Europe.

IRAQ: ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’

After the single deadliest day in Baghdad since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, the coalition forces find themselves in a quandary.