RIGHTS: U.S. Names Bagram Prisoners, Withholds Details

After years of stonewalling, the U.S. Defence Department has released the names of people imprisoned at the notorious Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

RIGHTS: Defenders Under Sustained Attack Worldwide

Abusive governments around the world escalated their attacks against local human rights defenders and other independent monitors during 2009, according to the 2010 edition of Human Rights Watch's annual 'World Report' released here Wednesday.

KENYA: Deportation Protest Leads to Widespread Arrests

Organisers of a protest march against the expulsion of Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah El Faisal say Kenyan police have arrested up to 400 people and are interrogating them to prove their nationality and try to uncover links to terrorism.

RIGHTS: British Govt to Release Documents on Gitmo Case

After months of denial, the British government has agreed to release secret documents that lawyers say could prove that MI5 agents were present during the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's torture of a British resident held by the U.S. government for eight years.

CANADA: Hunt for Oil Patch Bomber Takes New Twist

Looking increasingly desperate after a 15-month-long hunt for a saboteur who has blown up six natural gas installations in northern Canada, police arrested an outspoken oil industry critic and then set him free a day later without pressing charges.

POLITICS: U.S. Citizens View Obama as Strong on Security

Opinion polls by two major U.S. television networks show that the majority of the country's citizens have faith in President Barack Obama's ability to protect them from "future acts of terrorism".

U.S.: World’s Most Controversial Prison Enters Ninth Year

As the world marked the beginning of the ninth year of detention at the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on Monday, a leading legal advocacy group filed suit against the Library of Congress for firing Guantanamo's former chief prosecutor for writing articles criticising the use of military commissions to try suspected terrorists.

RIGHTS-US: Afghan Prisoners Challenge Indefinite Detention

While the unsuccessful attempt to bring down a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas day captured the headlines and put major political roadblocks in the path of prisoner release from Guantanamo Bay, the courts – far more quietly - continued to play a major role in influencing the detention issue.

RIGHTS: Groups Protest “Profiling” at U.S. Airports

Civil liberties advocates and organisations representing Muslims believe the Barack Obama administration's decision to require extra scrutiny for travelers to the U.S. from 14 predominantly Islamic countries will lead to practices that are discriminatory and ineffective.

MEDIA-US: Afghanistan Dominated TV Foreign News in 2009

Afghanistan and the U.S. military escalation in the civil war there dominated foreign-related news coverage by the three major U.S. television networks in 2009, according to the latest annual review by the authoritative Tyndall Report.

YEMEN: U.S. Poised to Increase Aid

In the wake of a botched Christmas Day airliner bombing claimed by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the direction of what used to be called the "global war on terror" settled on Yemen this week, with the United States slated to escalate economic and military assistance to the country's beleaguered government.

POLITICS: Russia, China Sustain Military Toehold in Yemen

Russia has stolen a march over the United States in the multi-million-dollar arms market in cash-strapped Yemen, whose weapons purchases are being funded mostly by neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

RIGHTS-US: Yemeni Detainees Caught in Bomb Backlash

In the wake of the failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas day, legal experts and human rights advocates are pushing back against calls from politicians to halt the planned release of prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to their home country, Yemen.

POLITICS: U.S. Arms Feed Yemen’s Gun Culture

When Yemen refused to vote in support of a U.S.-sponsored Security Council resolution against Iraq during the 1990-1991 Gulf War, a visibly angry U.S. delegate turned to the Yemeni diplomat and said: "That will be the last time you will ever vote against a U.S. resolution."

U.S.: Digging Out or Digging Deeper?

As 2009 draws to a close, the big question here is whether President Barack Obama is succeeding in digging out of the hole – international as well as financial - that he inherited from George W. Bush or digging deeper into it.

LEBANON: Hip-hop Kindles Hopes in Destroyed Refugee Camp

The hip-hop beats ringing through the muddy, unlit streets of this burnt-out Palestinian refugee camp seem incongruous. But the rhymes are camp-grown - and courageous.

U.S.: Aborted Bombing Puts Yemen in the Limelight

The attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner by a Nigerian allegedly associated with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has propelled long-neglected Yemen into the media spotlight here.

Q&A: Law and Order May Not Improve in 2010

For women in Pakistan's North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), 2009 has been particularly hard.

US-LEBANON: Hard Line on Hezbollah Clashes with Political Reality

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman visited Washington last week, for his first visit with President Barack Obama. The meeting was a quick one, tucked in amongst the myriad of domestic issues that are demanding Obama's attention.

RIGHTS-EGYPT: Bloggers Name and Shame Torturers

People might expect fresh-faced Noha Atef to spend a lot of time writing blogs and perusing social networking sites, but they are often surprised by the content of her posts and tweets. The 25-year-old Egyptian journalist uses the Internet to expose police abuse and torture in her home country.

US-PAKISTAN: Civilian Surge Expected in New Aid Plans

U.S. plans to substantially increase non-military aid to Pakistan to help curb Islamist extremism there will initially require a marked rise in the number of U.S.-based experts working in the country, according to a State Department "Strategy Report" released to Congress earlier this week.