Obama accused of nuclear U-turn
Barack Obama has been accused of reneging on his disarmament pledges after it emerged the administration was planning to spend billions on upgrading nuclear bombs stored in Europe to make the weapons more reliable and accurate

Jolie and Hague: unlikely duo to tackle rape in war zones
KINSHASA (Congo): Several Hollywood actors through the years have tried to use their fame to change the world, or at least a government policy or two. And there has been no shortage of politicians who have sought to harness celebrity to push their policies.

Iran strike on US drone shows peace is fragile
LONDON: A mid-air incident in which Iranian warplanes fired at a US surveillance drone has brought home how nuclear tensions and increased military hardware in a confined area can lead to a clash that could

US warns Israel against strike on Iran
WASHINGTON: US military commanders have warned their Israeli counterparts that any action against Iran would severely limit the ability of American forces in the region to mount their own operations against the

UNHCR chief says agency lacks cash
THE UN’s high commissioner for refugees, António Guterres, has said that his agency has less than half the money it needs to look after hundreds of thousands of Africans driven from their homes by conflict and forgotten by the international community, and might have to start cutting its spending on education and repatriation.

Britain reluctant to tangle with Iran
BRITISH reluctance to be a conduit for a US military buildup in the Gulf seems to have taken Washington by surprise but it demonstrates the lessons of Iraq are deeply etched in London.

Obama exploiting Arab spring, says Assange
NEW YORK: The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has accused President Obama of seeking to exploit the Arab spring revolutions for political gain, claiming Obama’s vocal support for freedom of expression had not

Haqqani decision timing surprises observers
LONDON: It was one of the paradoxes of the dirty conflict underway along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border that the Obama administration was far more willing to obliterate leaders of the Haqqani network with drone

Assad’s isolation is growing
LONDON: The defection of Syria’s ambassador to Baghdad marks the second time in a week that Bashar al-Assad has been deserted by a top ally, suggesting that the isolation of the Allawite core of the regime is accelerating, and that the conflict is sliding inexorably into a primarily ethnic civil

Taliban cannot win war, says commander
LONDON, July 11: One of the Taliban’s most senior commanders has admitted the insurgents cannot win the war in Afghanistan and that capturing Kabul is “a very distant prospect”, obliging them to seek a settlement with other political forces in the country.

Crime writer channels Greeks’ rage into fiction
ATHENS: A serial killer is stalking the wealthy suburbs of Athens with an idiosyncratic choice of victims. They are all rich Greeks who have failed to pay their taxes, and their corpses have been left

US to set up new spy agency
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is to create a new spy service to focus on global strategic threats and the challenges posed by countries including Iran, North Korea and China. The move will bring to 17 the total number of intelligence organisations in the US