Sanjay Suri

with Mel Frykberg LONDON – Medical reports seen by IPS appear to confirm the testimony of IPS Gaza correspondent Mohammed Omer of physical abuse at the hands of Israelis last month. Omer said he was physically and mentally abused at the Allenby crossing into Gaza while on his way back from a European tour. In … Continue reading “Israeli Claims Over Abused Journalist Challenged”

LONDON – The annual report of Amnesty International (AI) released Wednesday holds the United States responsible for setting world standards on human rights — and then failing in that task. "As the world’s most powerful state, the USA sets the standard for government behavior globally," but the US has "distinguished itself in recent years through … Continue reading “Amnesty: US Sets Standards, Fails to Meet Them”

LONDON – More than three years after London saw its biggest ever rally to prevent the war in Iraq, the group Stop the War is launching a new campaign to pull coalition forces out of Iraq. That rally in 2003 failed to stop the war, as the massively backed coalition had set out to do. … Continue reading “UK: Once Again, Stop the War”

LONDON (IPS) – The signs have been emerging thicker and faster of late that the British want to pull out of Iraq altogether, but on Friday a British general set a timeline, and Prime Minister Tony Blair as good as agreed. General Sir Richard Dannatt said in an interview published Friday in the Daily Mail … Continue reading “Iraq: Little Brother Poses a Problem”

LONDON – There have been critics enough of the U.S.-led military actions under way in Afghanistan, but now military commanders too have begun to question just what they are doing in Afghanistan. Most prominently, an officer who was an aide to the British forces in Helmand, the southern district of Afghanistan that has witnessed the … Continue reading “UK Officer: Afghanistan Policy ‘Barking Mad’”

LONDON – The appearance of an English-language service from al-Jazeera television will mark more than expansion of a company; it will come as one of the biggest challenges yet to the dominance of Western news providers, academics say. "The forthcoming launch of al-Jazeera International, the English-language edition of the pan-Arabic news network, is likely to … Continue reading “Watch That Box for al-Jazeera, and More”

LONDON – The Taliban have regained control over the southern half of Afghanistan and their frontline is advancing daily, a group closely monitoring the Afghan situation said in a report Tuesday. The report on the reconstruction of Afghanistan marking the fifth anniversary of 9/11 is based on extensive field research in the critical provinces of … Continue reading “Report: Taliban Taking
Over Again”

LONDON – The suspects in the bomb-plot case in Britain are a long way from being convicted, but Muslim leaders are blaming government policy for provoking youths to consider terrorist ways. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his ministers have flatly dismissed suggestions that British intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan was provocation for the July … Continue reading “UK Foreign Policy Hangs Above Terror Threat”

LONDON – Many Muslims in Britain are beginning to doubt the alleged plot to blow up aircraft flying to the United States from Britain. The arrest of 24 people last week was followed by the cancellation and diversion of hundreds of flights at British airports. The plot story became leading global news, but most of … Continue reading “UK Muslim Leaders Begin to Doubt the Plot”