The firepower available to terrorist groups, much of it procured under the benevolent gaze of the ISI, has placed the police at a tactical disadvantage during search operations. Coordination between security agencies is poor, because one agency's intelligence target is

Basnet's disenchantment grew this month when yet another army officer, charged with the killing of a 15-year-old schoolgirl, managed to evade arrest. Major Niranjan Basnet was expelled by the UN from the peacekeeping forces in Chad after his record became

For now, neither the government in Addis Ababa nor the ONLF seem to have the capacity to imagine a more peaceful future for the region.

As America experiences an increase in 'first-time' homelessness, activists bemoan city ordinances that keep charities from lending a helping hand, perpetuate laws that stigmatize the homeless and often lead to harassment, beatings, rapes and even human torching - much of

Hatoyama has promised to get serious about both issues in the months ahead, but then again, he has also promised to reduce the burden of the US military on Okinawa. Something will have to give.

And no one in Washington, he believes, wants the latter.

Hamas "is not really eager to surrender a very important card in their hand, Gaza" and the PA (Fatah) "is not really willing to acknowledge Hamas' legitimacy and presence on the Palestinian political scene."

The latest attempt at an ethical code for jihad published by the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group is not likely to be far-reaching enough to offer an alternative to the al-Qaida-Taliban style, Sean Underwood writes for ISN Security Watch.

Great uncertainty now also surrounds the 'purple' movement. Its identity is still to be consolidated. It almost hasn't had the time to be born, but already has to face its first big challenge: showing its maturity in such difficult times.

In Kazakhstan, though, many believe the anti-corruption drive, however well intentioned, has become a political and economic tool. "The KNB has today simply become a truncheon in the hands of the state to settle scores with inconvenient highly-placed officials and

But the ruling will surely create another opportunity for nationalist tit-for-tats between Serbia and Kosovo. It will also deepen the animosity between the ethnic Albanian majority and Kosovo Serbs, who still live in ethnically divided regions, where intermingling is rare

Moving the European Neigbourhood Policy to a new portfolio has made its adaptation to post-Lisbon institutions even more difficult, hindering the new EU High Representative in unleashing its potential.

IWPR local editor Abeer Mohammed and Iraq editor Neil Arun produced this report from Baghdad and Erbil. Iraq editor Charles McDermid and local editor Hemin Lihony contributed to this report from Sulaimaniyah.

The actual legal language [on EU integration] has never [required] Mladic and Hadzic in The Hague; it's always been full cooperation [with the tribunal]. I don't think they have demonstrated full cooperation yet. Of course if they do demonstrate that,

And three years after Romania's EU accession, the EU seems to agree: It still keeps tabs on the country via its Cooperation and Verification Mechanism because of the lack of faith in the country's flailing judiciary.

Raezer said that a lot of resources had been applied by the military to support their families, adding she hoped the research "will be the basis for more effective targeting of programs" and a greater effort to let families know

I wish you could hear, as I can right now, the sound of Ethiopian children laughing as they come out of school. Because that's how I know that aid works.

Thousands of albino people in East Africa remain under constant security or live completely in hiding to avoid being kidnapped by witchcraft practitioners, Jody Ray Bennett writes for ISN Security Watch.

A spate of recent international judicial actions is nipping at heels of the some of the world's most powerful states and suggesting that although a culture of impunity persists, getting off scot-free is little by little on the wane, Claudio

With material from news agencies