Afghanistan

A new United Nations report published Monday reveals evidence of the "systematic" torture and mistreatment of detainees in Afghan detention facilities, including of children, showing more reforms are needed to build a fairer detention system in Afghanistan.

The defence secretary, Liam Fox, has admitted there were 40 meetings over the last 16 months with personal friend Adam Werritty while on state duty.

News of the murder of prominent Syrian Kurdish activist Mishaal al-Tammo comes on the back of several high-profile assassinations and attempts on the lives of public figures around the world in the last 12 months.

Friday 7 October marks the 10th anniversary of the foreign troop's intervention in Afghanistan and recent polls show that 66 per cent of women said they feel safer now than they did 10 years ago and 72 per cent believe their lives are better now than they were 10 years ago. However, 87 per cent of all women in Afghanistan suffer domestic abuse, proving that there is still a long way to go before Afghan women can truly feel protected.

After 10 years of foreign military presence, the future of Afghanistan looks gloomy, with a weak and struggling government accused of corruption and an increase in violent insurgency as the promised withdrawal in 2014 looms.

Hundreds of people have marched through the streets of the Afghan capital Kabul, demanding the immediate withdrawal of foreign military forces a day before the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion.

As the relationship between Afghanistan continues to erode, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has arrived in India for talks over strategic security agreements and development aid prompting allegations Afghan is taunting Pakistan by seeking rapprochement with its regional competitor.

Pakistan is still hitting back at allegations from Afghan officials that its intelligence agency masterminded the assassination of Kabul's chief peace negotiator with the Taliban, threatening the region's stability and pointing the finger at their neighbour rather than looking at the lack of efficiency of domestic forces.

As high profile Al-Qaeda leader Awlaki was killed in a strike on his convoy directed by the CIA and carried out with the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command's firepower, Obama it seems wants to prove he is in control when it comes to the war against terror, leaving little room for the republicans to attack him on the subject during the next presidential campaign.

The news that Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed in Yemen, courtesy of a U.S. drone attack, must surely round off a pretty poor week in an even worse year for the followers of Al-Qaeda.

Despite accusations by the U.S., the Afghan Taliban Haqqani terrorist network has denied being supported by Pakistan, according to CCN, raising questions over American accusations towards the Pakistani government's involvement with Pakistani terrorist groups.

Singer Cheryl Cole confesses her love for a pair of monochrome shoes; however, she is aware that they are not able to step out together.

he war of words between Washington and Islamabad has reached a new high after the U.S. claimed that the Pakistan's spy service is backing violence against U.S. targets in Afghanistan and put the spotlight on the Pakistani government.

With Muammar Gaddafi out of the picture, many thought, that the long and sometimes very provocative speeches, at the UN would be history. Iranian president Ahmadinejad however showed Thursday September 23 that he still had some fire left, positioning himself as the voice of the oppressed.

Today is Peace Day, a day "for wide-scale community action and a day for UN agencies and aid organisations to safely carry out life-saving work" and is a project brought to life by the Peace One Day organisation, supported by stars such as Jude law or Angelina Jolie and created by Jeremy Gilley.

Fresh off her return from a morale boosting trip for soldiers in Afghanistan, Cheryl Cole cant seem to get over a certain young corporal.

As the date set for the Palestinian UN statehood bid approaches, tensions between the supporters and opponents to the planned request are mounting, and with the U.S publicly opposing the bid, Obama's image in the Muslim world is set to dwindle even more.

The former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed in a suicide bomb attack while at his home close to the American embassy in Kabul, along with four other officials, reports say.

With a new attack in Afghanistan, this time directly targeting the U.S. compound, the blame game between Pakistan and America seems to have resumed.

As a UN list proves, children are still being recruited and used in warfare while schools are repeatedly being attacked and closed with a UN official saying this was "another tragic year" for the world's youngsters.

Ten years after 9/11 many analysts still insist the U.S. response to the attacks by waging a war on terror and invading Iraq and Afghanistan is yet another illustration of the country's struggle to operate outside of the cold war mentality which saw it become the hegemon.

A day after the United States observed the tenth anniversary of 9/11, a taped message from Osama bin Laden surfaced, four months after his death.

Following 9/11 and despite Al-Qaeda claiming the attacks, conspiracy theories emerged rapidly, with many blaming a Zionist enterprise. While many claim a Zionist involvement, very few seem able to explain how Bin Laden, a symbol of the fight against the West and the infidels for many Islamist extremists, apparently worked hand in hand with the Jewish lobby groups to prepare the attacks.

As the tenth anniversary of the Al-Qaeda-led 9/11 attacks on New York took place yesterday, both President Obama and former President George Bush addressed the crowds as ceremonies were held at various locations.

The "war on terror" declared by the U.S. and its allies ten years ago, following the Al-Qaeda-led 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, has failed to deliver peace but instead led to a resurgence of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the British Science Association's annual Festival of Science was told yesterday.

With the tenth anniversary 9/11 fast approaching, U.S. counter-terrorism officials say the threat of a car or truck bomb attack in New York or Washington is "specific, credible but unconfirmed."

A decade after the attacks on New York and Washington, has the American and British "war on terror" made either the Western or the Islamic world signficantly safer place, or has it simply bred resentment on all sides?

As the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches and details of the U.S. employing controversial measures in Guantanamo Bay to obtain information on Bin Laden, the former head of the MI5, Britain's domestic intelligence service, said the use of torture is "wrong and never justified".

NATO has temporarily stopped transferring detainees to a number of Afghan jails after a new report, yet to be published, uncovered accusations of torture and abuse NATO and United Nations officials said Tuesday.

A spokesman for Tripoli's new military council says National Transitional (NTC) have found Muammar Gaddafi and know where he is hiding, warning he will soon be captured or killed, the Associated Press reported.