RIGHTS-US: Hunger Strike Spreads at Guantanamo Camp

A hunger strike started in June by terror suspects imprisoned by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Gitmo) - and reportedly settled - has been restarted and is growing, with 15 detainees hospitalised and 13 being fed through tubes.

POLITICS: China’s Nuclear Policy in Iran, N. Korea Gets Critical

As North Korea ups the stakes in a poker game of nuclear negotiations and Iran faces a showdown at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this week, China's policy of avoiding clear-cut choices over support for countries, considered international outlaws by the United States, is reaching a critical point.

POLITICS-U.S: Trans-Atlantic Group Calls for Nuclear Deal With Iran

Ahead of a crucial International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting, next week, a group of some 50 prominent experts and former foreign-policy officials from the United States and Europe have mooted a deal with Iran on it's controversial nuclear programme.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Iraq War Critic Deported to US

The Australian government deported, Thursday, Scott Parkin, a soft-spoken peace and environmental activist, of the Texas-based Houston Global Awareness Collective, for participation in non-violence and civil disobedience workshops in this country.

POLITICS: New Zealand Polls Stir up Maori Issues

Boosted by its pledge to reverse support for Maori indigenous rights, the conservative New Zealand National Party is optimistic that it will be able to form a minority government, after next Saturday's general elections.

POLITICS-US: Will Katrina Bring An Isolationist Revival?

It was Jim Hoagland, the Washington's Post's liberal hawk par excellence, who first pondered the possible foreign policy consequences of Hurricane Katrina and the destruction of New Orleans.

POLITICS: India in Tri-continental Trapeze Act

As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives in New York via Paris, for a United Nations summit and for meetings with United States President George W. Bush and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, India is attempting a difficult balancing act involving its relations with Washington, Tehran, Paris and Islamabad.

POLITICS: China Soothes US Concerns

As President Hu Jintao prepares to visit the United States this week, Beijing has been working overtime to assuage U.S. concerns over China's growing military power, leverage in the global economy and regional clout.

POLITICS-US: Pentagon Foresees Pre-emptive Nuclear Strikes

Amid increasing tension between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme, and growing concern about overstretched U.S. ground forces, the George W. Bush administration is moving steadily toward adopting the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states as an integral part of its global military strategy.

RIGHTS-US: Gitmo Cases May Go to Civilian Courts

Media coverage of Hurricane Katrina has all but drowned out what may well be two of the most consequential human rights court decisions in recent U.S. history.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Image Makeover Works for Koizumi

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's election strategy of projecting his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as revamped and run by young, forward-looking men and women seems to have paid off, as it secured an absolute majority of 296 seats in the 480- member lower house of parliament.

/CORRECTED REPEAT/POLITICS-US: A Hyperpower With Feet of Mud

The United States may not quite yet be perceived as the "pitiful, helpless giant" that haunted the dreams of Richard Nixon 35 years ago, but it's getting close.

POLITICS-US: Anti-Terror Strategy in Doubt on 9/11 Anniversary

If U.S. President George W. Bush was counting on Sunday's "Freedom Walk" and country music festival at the Pentagon to revive the patriotic spirit (and rally his sagging approval ratings) that followed the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on their fourth anniversary, he is likely to be very disappointed.

POLITICS-CHINA: Seeking Oil in Troubled Waters

Amid global shortages and price rises, what China is paying for its imported oil could involve much more than just cash.

POLITICS: India Foxed as Pakistan Plays the Israel Card

Pakistan has stunned the world-and its subcontinental neighbour and rival India-by making an overture to Israel, which it long shunned and condemned as a 'Zionist' state.

SOUTH-ASIA: Indo-Pakistan Rivalry in Afghanistan Intensifies

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's fervent wish for improved regional cooperation among India, Pakistan and his own country, expressed during the Indo-Afghan summit at the beginning of the week, may be doomed to remain just that, given the state of sub-continental rivalry.

POLITICS: Anger at Washington Simmers on Eve of UN Meet

A bid by the George W. Bush administration to introduce massive changes in the draft document to be signed by world leaders at a major United Nations summit this month is causing a deep sense of anger and frustration among many who hoped the event would solidify international efforts for peace and development.

POLITICS-US: Democrats Fumble Iraq Policy

While Republicans voice growing unease over U.S. President George W. Bush's vow to "stay the course" in Iraq, Democrats remain deeply divided about their position on a conflict that most of them privately describe as a major foreign policy disaster.

POLITICS-US: Realists Rule?

Is realism finally, definitively, back in the driver's seat of U.S. foreign policy?

POLITICS-US: Why Casey Sheehan Was Killed

For nearly two weeks, Cindy Sheehan has been camped outside George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, demanding a meeting with the U.S. president.

POLITICS-US: Has the “Tipping Point” on Iraq Been Reached?

Has the U.S. public lost so much confidence in the George W. Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war that its current strategy - to the extent one actually exists - is unsustainable?