More FBI privacy violations confirmed

The FBI acknowledged Wednesday it improperly accessed Americans' telephone records, credit reports and Internet traffic in 2006, the fourth straight year of privacy abuses resulting from investigations aimed at tracking terrorists and spies.

'If Fallon leaves ... military action against Iran'

An article in Esquire magazine's April issue predicts that if Fallon leaves his position at Central Command, "it may well mean that the president and vice president intend to take military action against Iran before the end of this year and don't want a commander standing in their way."

Did Hillary Clinton win or lose in Texas?

While Hillary prevailed over Barack Obama in the primary vote tally, by 51 per cent to 48, Senator Obama appeared to have the edge in this second election, winning about 52 per cent of caucus votes against 48 per cent for Senator Clinton, but those figures were based on just 36 per cent of returns, with no certainty when the rest might be tallied and reported.

Gaza conditions 'at 40-year low'

Gaza's humanitarian situation is at its worst since Israel occupied the territory in 1967, say UK-based human rights and development groups.

They include Amnesty International, Save the Children, Cafod, Care International and Christian Aid.

They criticise Israel's blockade on Gaza as illegal collective punishment which fails to deliver security.

Canada tosses CIA testimony obtained by waterboarding

The Canadian government is no longer using evidence gained from CIA interrogations of a top Al Qaeda detainee who was waterboarded.

According to documents obtained by NEWSWEEK, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the country's national-security agency, last month quietly withdrew statements by alleged Al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah from public papers outlining the case against two alleged terror "sleeper" operatives in Ottawa and Montreal.

Iraqi oil ministry to sign oil deals

The two-year deals, known as technical support agreements, or TSAs, are designed to develop five producing fields to add 500,000 barrels per day to the country's current 2.4 million barrels per day output.

CIA-Mossad plot against Iran

BOOK: The War on Islam

"The War on Islam"—4th, expanded edition, recipient of the Human Rights Foundation Gold Award—is now available at Amazon.com at a special prepublication price.

Ricin an unlikely weapon of mass destruction

Roger Von Bergendorff, remained in a coma in a Las Vegas-area hospital March 5, nearly two weeks after he apparently inhaled ricin powder, a biological toxin that later was found among his belongings. The FBI is investigating the case to determine how the potentially deadly substance came into Von Bergendorff's possession—and, more important, what he planned to do with it.

Due to its ease of manufacture and its potency, ricin often is cited as an ideal terrorist weapon. Ricin has been used in assassinations, but to deploy a true biological weapon of mass destruction takes the resources of a state.

The first time I was called a self-hating Jew

Washington's covert attempts to overturn an election

The attempt by western politicians and media to present this week's carnage in the Gaza Strip as a legitimate act of Israeli self-defence—or at best the latest phase of a wearisome conflict between two somehow equivalent sides—has reached Alice-in-Wonderland proportions.

India-Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline deal

The gas deal is worth USD 22 billion. Under the proposed accord, India would import 5 million tons of liquefied natural gas a year from Iran for 25 years. The U.S. is opposed to the deal.

Candidate McCain's skeleton closet

The mega prison of Palestine

Iraq war cost beyond human comprehension

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz championed the $60 billion figure, but added that much of the cost might well be covered by Iraqi oil revenues; the country was, after all, floating on a "sea of oil." ("To assume we're going to pay for it all is just wrong," he told a congressional hearing.) If economists Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes are right in their recent calculations and this will turn out to be more than a $3 trillion war (or even a $5-7 trillion one), then the Bush administration was at least $2,940,000,000,000 off in its calculations.

Amity Shlaes, a senior fellow in economic history at the Council on Foreign Relations, disagrees.

Here come the media attacks on Obama

US warplanes target Somali town

The attack on Monday, confirmed by the US, is the fourth US strike in Somalia in 14 months.

U.S. working on two agreements on Iraq ties

David Satterfield, the State Department's coordinator for Iraq, told Congress, "In addition to a status of forces agreement, we intend to establish a framework for a strong relationship with Iraq, reflecting our shared political, economic, cultural and security interests".

Rep. William Delahunt of Massachusetts, said he thought such a framework would require congressional approval—the planned status of forces agreement would contain an "authority to fight" that is not in most such deals.

Clinton hints at sharing ticket with Obama

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton hinted at the possibility of a Democratic "dream ticket" with Sen. Barack Obama.

Speaking on "The Early Show" on CBS, Clinton said "that may be where this is headed, but of course we have to decide who is on the top of the ticket."

Patience is the best Iran policy

With the IAEA now able to ascertain that the Iranian explanations about both the origin and use of its enrichment program are consistent with the information available to the IAEA, there no longer remains a technical justification for demanding the suspension of Iran's ongoing uranium enrichment activities.