David Petraeus has one of the most difficult jobs in the world.

After the resignation of his predecessor in June, Petraeus has taken on the role of Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

So who is this man that President Obama has so much faith in, why was he given this role, and what is his strategy?

The war in Afghanistan began in 2001 in response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

On Friday, a year after its completion, a historic and controversial draft report by the United Nations was leaked to the media before its scheduled release today.

It is believed that the authors feared that top UN officials were going to have it changed to avoid potentially harmful consequences from one of its findings.

American news reports quite often talk of things like sufficient votes in Congress, Senators blocking a reform bill, or a power shift in the House of Representatives.

But who are these shadowy characters and institutions?

Together they are the United States Congress – the centre of American power and a political force that is largely unknown or misunderstood.

Simply put, the congress makes laws while the White House runs the country.

While Australia negotiates its way to an election result, spare a thought for Iraq. On 7 March this year, Iraqis held their second parliamentary elections since the invasion in 2003.

No party won a clear majority, and to this day – nearly six months on – the various parties are still haggling over who will be the next government.

On Saturday, Australians will vote in their country’s federal election in what is shaping up to be an extremely tight race.

However, the contest itself – perhaps due to its closeness – has been both a dramatic and dull affair.

After gaining a new prime minister only two months ago, the election debate eventually stumbled towards things like broadband, a mining tax, parental leave and immigration, but without offering anything particularly impressive.

It's not every week that models and actresses give evidence in a war crimes trial. But this week, model Naomi Campbell and actress Mia Farrow testified at the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor.

The trial, which began in January 2008, concerns a series of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the West African country of Sierra Leone during their brutal civil war in the 1990s.

In June, award-winning American film director Oliver Stone released his latest documentary South of the Border into American cinemas.

The film looks at the phenomenal, yet relatively unknown revolution taking place in South and Central America.

There, a collection of presidents have rallied behind one main cause – to make their countries strong and prosperous by economically and socially empowering their people.

On Monday, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that a UN inquiry will be conducted into Israel’s deadly attack on the Gaza aid flotilla in May.

It has been hailed as an “unprecedented development” by Ban after Israel agreed for the first time ever to cooperate with a UN inquiry into its military actions.

Last week, Kaing Guek Eav, known as Comrade Duch, was convicted and sentenced at the Cambodia Tribunal for the role he played in the brutal five-year reign of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s.

He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing the murder of 14,000 people.

His sentence of 35 years (reduced to 19 due to time already served) has been mocked, given he’ll now only serve half a day for each victim. Others criticise the tribunal itself for being slow, costly and possibly unwarranted.

The American political scene has never been short of colourful characters, from allegations of cross-dressing and marital affairs, to George Bush and Sarah Palin.

Carrying on this tradition is a new force brewing in America, fronted by Sarah Palin, known as the Tea Party movement.

Linked to the Republican right-wing but even more conservative in nature, the Tea Party has attracted a huge amount of media attention and has become a vocal source of opposition.