RIGHTS: U.S. Wants Another U.N. Exemption from War Crimes Law

The United States is pushing for a new U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at exempting its troops from prosecution for war crimes when they serve in any U.N. peacekeeping operations.

POLITICS-U.S.: Pentagon’s Feith Again at Centre of Disaster

Although it will take weeks, if not months, to sort out precisely who was responsible for what increasingly appears to have been the systemic abuse by U.S. soldiers of Iraqi detainees, it should be no surprise if Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Douglas Feith is found to have played an important role.

POLITICS: U.S. Faulted for Short-Circuiting Global Treaties

The United States, which preaches the virtues of good governance and rule of law to the outside world, is notoriously remiss in either signing, ratifying or adhering to major international treaties, according to U.S. academics, constitutional lawyers and human rights activists.

POLITICS-U.S.: Imperial Dreams Sink in Iraqi Quagmire

The coalition of Bush administration hawks that was empowered by the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon agreed on three main strategic objectives.

HEALTH: AIDS, Africa Groups Suspicious of Latest Bush Move

Africa and AIDS activists say they are wary of the Bush administration's pledge to expedite its approval process for low-cost, generic anti-retroviral drugs by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their use in Bush's 15 billion-dollar anti-AIDS initiative for Africa and the Caribbean.

POLITICS: U.S.-Funded Peacekeeping Force Gets Mixed Reviews

A U.S. proposal to create a 75,000-strong standby peacekeeping force composed primarily of foreign troops is receiving mixed reviews from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and peace activists.

POLITICS-U.S.: Evidence Grows of More Widespread Abuse

The Bush administration's contention that the sexual humiliation and physical abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison as depicted in photographs first disclosed two weeks ago were the work of just a ''few bad apples'' from a poorly trained military police unit is fast becoming untenable.

HEALTH-U.S.: Signing of Tobacco Treaty Clouded by History

The good news of the Bush administration signing the tobacco control treaty is clouded by the fact that officials might not be serious about transforming that commitment into law, according to U.S. public health groups.

POLITICS: U.N. Warned of Death Trap in Iraq

As the United Nations prepares to organise elections and help create a new interim government in Iraq starting in July, scepticism is growing about the wisdom of risking U.N. lives in a country swirling in violence and chaos..

POLITICS-U.S.: Perhaps Not So Exceptional After All

To understand the impact in the United States of the photos of U.S. military personnel abusing Iraqi prisoners, it is necessary to recall what then-Secretary of State Elihu Root said in 1899, as the country first emerged as a global power in the Spanish-American War.

RIGHTS: Iraq Scandal Opens U.S. to Charges of Double Standards

According to a joke circulating in Washington political circles, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's notorious torture chamber in the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad - once held up as a symbol of barbarity - was never shut down.

ENVIRONMENT-U.S.: Plan Points Way to Greenhouse Gas Cuts

As a five-year drought threatens water supplies in America's west, a new report sets out how the United States could do its part to curb global warming.

POLITICS-U.S.: Ex-Diplomats Protest Bush’s Alignment with Sharon

Some 60 former U.S. diplomats and other government officials who served overseas have signed a letter to President George W Bush protesting his support for the Israeli government's position in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

IRAQ: U.S. On the Brink

One year after President George W Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq, the United States appears to be teetering on the brink of strategic defeat in its Mesopotamian adventure.

POLITICS-US: Congress Ignores ‘Dirty War’ Past of New Iraq Envoy

John Negroponte, the Bush administration's nominee to become Washington's first ambassador to Iraq since last year's invasion, was talking about how much ''sovereignty'' the country's new government will enjoy after Jun. 30, when U.S. military forces will remain in control of security.

POLITICS: U.N. Ambivalent Over its Ability to Salvage Iraq

As violence continues to escalate in Iraq, killing dozens of soldiers and hundreds of civilians, the United Nations remains ambivalent about its own ability to help salvage a country on the brink of disaster.

POLITICS: U.S., Iraqi Views of Occupation Converging

One year after President George W Bush declared an end to ''major hostilities'' in Iraq, public opinion there and in the United States is beginning to converge, as people in both countries increasingly agree that the U.S. invasion and occupation might not have been such a good idea after all.

RIGHTS-U.S.: ‘Enemy Combatants’ Finally Before Supreme Court

After two years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court is finally set to decide whether the executive branch of the U.S. government may detain alleged ''enemy combatants'' indefinitely without any judicial review of their status.

RIGHT-U.S.: Women’s March Goes Global

Women from Albania to Zambia joined hundreds of thousands of men and women from the United States on Sunday to charge that the Bush administration's assault on women's reproductive health rights is costing lives worldwide.

POLITICS-IRAQ: Starting From Square One, One Year Later

One year after invading U.S. and British forces consolidated their control over Iraq, the administration of President George W Bush appears to be back at Square One, if not in negative territory, over how to ensure that control in the short to medium term.

POLITICS-U.S.: Majority Still Believe in Iraq’s WMD, al-Qaeda Ties

U.S. public perceptions about former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's alleged ties to al-Qaeda and stocks of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) continues to lag far behind the testimony of experts, boosting chances that President George W Bush will be re-elected, according to a survey and analysis released Thursday.