SOUTH ASIA: Pakistan Alarmed by Indo-US Defence Deal

Alarm and dismay have been the general reaction in Pakistan to news of a framework agreement on defence cooperation signed between India, its long-standing rival in South Asia and the United States - which, only a year ago, accorded this country the status of ''major non-NATO ally''.

POLITICS-US: Familiar Debate Resumes in Wake of London Bombings

Thursday's London bombings that killed at least 49 people have rekindled a familiar debate in this country on the question first posed after the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the Pentagon: "Why do they hate us?"

POLITICS: India May Pay Price for Security Council Club Class

Within striking distance of gaining permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council, India is now making moves to stay ahead of other countries in the Group of Four (G-4) that have called for expanding the council's permanent membership from the present five to 11, say observers.

UNITED NATIONS: Security Council Reform Not Just a Question of Numbers

Rather than granting veto power to a greater number of countries, the United Nations Security Council needs "qualitative" reforms that would strip its five permanent members of that authority, if true multilateralism is to be achieved, say analysts in Latin America.

POLITICS: Spectres of Militarism, Nationalism Dog Independence Day

As U.S. citizens mark their annual celebration of patriotism, the Fourth of July holiday, they might do well to also ponder the spectre of two other "isms" that threaten the Republic's durability and strength raised by two important books published over the past year.

DEVELOPMENT: US Dragging Feet on Poverty Goals, Groups Charge

The United States, which has brushed aside international treaties relating to war criminals and prisoners of war, is being accused of consistently reneging on its longstanding commitments to help resolve some of the social and economic problems of the world's poorer nations.

RIGHTS-US: Terror Policies Draw Outrage at Home and Abroad

The George W. Bush administration's policies on indefinite detention and "extraordinary rendition" are coming under heavy fire from a number of institutions and organisations, including the United Nations, Amnesty International, and members of the U.S. Congress itself.

POLITICS: U.S. Image Abroad Still Sinking

Two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Washington's image in Europe, Canada and much of the Islamic world remains broadly negative, according to the latest in a series of surveys of public opinion in 16 countries sponsored by the Pew Global Attitudes Project (PGAP).

RIGHTS: U.S. Moral Authority in "Free Fall", Senators Warn

As Amnesty International urged the George W. Bush administration to "close Guantánamo and disclose the situation in the USA's shadowy network of detention centers around the globe", a subsidiary of Halliburton, the oil services group once led by U.S. Vice Pres. Dick Cheney, won a 30-million-dollar contract to help build a new permanent prison for terror suspects at the U.S. Navy's controversial detention center in Cuba.

POLITICS-US: Bush and Hawks Try Pre-Emptive Strike Vs. Iran Vote

A familiar clutch of hardline U.S. hawks who led the march to war against Iraq have tried to carry out yet another pre-emptive strike. But this time it wasn't military.

POLITICS-US: House Republicans Vote to Suspend U.N. Contributions

In a direct rebuff to the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, the House of Representatives Friday voted 221-184 to automatically suspend half of U.S. contributions to the United Nations unless it immediately implements a sweeping list of some 39 specific reform measures.

POLITICS: North Faulted for Cold-Shouldering South at Annual Meet

Jamaican Prime Minister Percival Patterson, who chairs the Group of 77 developing nations, arrived in the Qatari capital with a message to the industrial North.

POLITICS-US: U.N. Reform Task Force Opposes Withholding Dues

The United States must take a leadership role in enacting and financing sweeping reforms at the United Nations, but should not threaten the world body with withholding its dues in order to ensure compliance, according to the co-chairmen of a high-level bipartisan task force that released its own recommendations for U.N. reform here Wednesday.

POLITICS: ‘World’ Bodies Under Fire for Serving the Few, Not the Many

The world's multilateral institutions - which preside over the political and economic destinies of more than six billion people - have come under heavy fire at a meeting of 350-plus representatives of civil society and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) here.

POLITICS: Asia, Eastern Europe Head for Showdown Over new U.N. Chief

When U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was asked recently about his likely successor when he completes his second five-year term next year, the U.N. chief hinted at the possibility that an Asian might take over from him.

ENVIRONMENT: Africa’s Top Biosafety Envoy Shut Out of Canada Talks

Africa's chief negotiator for the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety has been denied entry into Canada to attend meetings to finalise key provisions regarding the international movement of genetically engineered organisms.

POLITICS-U.S.: Bolton Embarrassment Latest Setback for Bush Hawks

The failure of U.S. President George W. Bush's U.N. ambassador-designate to get the unanimous support of Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has dealt a new setback to the coalition of unilateralist hawks that led the drive to war with Iraq and is strongly opposed to diplomatic engagement with Iran and North Korea.

POLITICS-U.S.: Senate Committee Rebuffs Bush’s Pick for U.N. Envoy

The U.S. Senate's foreign relations committee, in a surprise move driven by a key Republican, voted Thursday to send the embattled nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador at the United Nations to the full Senate without a recommendation - a rebuff to President George W. Bush.

POLITICS-US: Bolton Ducks and Weaves as Dems Come Out Swinging

The man who famously said the United Nations headquarters could lose 10 stories and "it wouldn't make a bit of difference" appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today as U.S. President George W. Bush's nominee to be Washington's next ambassador to the very same world body.

POLITICS-US: Bolton Ducks and Weaves as Dems Come Out Swinging

The man who famously said the United Nations headquarters could lose 10 stories and "it wouldn't make a bit of difference" appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today as U.S. President George W. Bush's nominee to be Washington's next ambassador to the very same world body.

POLITICS-US: Bush’s U.N. Nominee Still Faces a Fight

While Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz now appears assured of a relatively smooth ride to the top of the World Bank, another controversial foreign-policy nominee of U.S. President George W. Bush, U.N. Ambassador-designate John Bolton, faces a far bumpier course in his bid for confirmation by the Senate.