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Hillary Clinton faced anger during her visit to Pakistan after she attacked the failure of the government to tackle al-Qaeda. The US Secretary of State also faced angry questions about America's use of drone attacks inside Pakistan as she ended her three-day visit on Friday. Mrs Clinton was earlier forced to soften her criticism of Islamabad for its failure to capture of kill al-Qaeda's leaders.

On July 25, Najibullah Zazi, a lanky man in his mid-twenties, walked into the Beauty Supply Warehouse in Aurora, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. The visit was captured on a store video camera. Wearing a baseball cap and pushing a shopping cart, Zazi appeared to be just another suburban guy.Of course, not many suburban guys buy six bottles of Clairoxide hair bleach, as Zazi did on this shopping trip--or return a month later to buy a dozen bottles of "Ms. K Liquid," a peroxide-based product. Aware that these were hardly the typical purchases of a heavily bearded, dark-haired young...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani forces fought fierce battles with Taliban militants on Sunday, a day after launching a long-awaited offensive aimed at bringing the writ of state to lawless tribal lands on the Afghan border. The offensive on the global Islamist hub of South Waziristan follows a string of brazen militant attacks in different parts of the country, including an assault on army headquarters, in which more than 150 people were killed. About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al Qaeda members, after surrounding militant territory and...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers launched a ground offensive against al-Qaida and the Taliban's main stronghold along the Afghan border Saturday, officials said, in the country's toughest test yet against a strengthening insurgency. The United States has long pushed the government to carry out an assault in South Waziristan, and it comes after two weeks of militant attacks that have killed more than 175 people across the nuclear-armed country. That has ramped up pressure on the army to act. Pakistan has fought three unsuccessful campaigns since 2001 in the region, which is the nerve-center for...

Days before President Barack Obama told the United Nations that he hoped to push through a universal treaty to ban all nuclear weapons testing by the end of 2010, a top Indian scientist threw New Delhi's security establishment for an atomic loop. Kasturiranga Santhanam, the coordinator of India's 1998 nuclear tests, went public with allegations that India's much heralded Pokhran II test of a thermonuclear bomb 11 years ago was actually a fizzle. "We are totally naked vis-a-vis China, which has an inventory of 200 nuclear bombs, the vast majority of which are giant H-bombs of power equal to three...

A nuclear-armed Taliban? It may not be as far-fetched as it might first appear. The Taliban already control or have a significant presence in northwest Pakistan along a critical stretch of the Afghan border. Taliban units operate with relative impunity in the region surrounding Peshawar, Pakistan's major population, commercial and transportation center less than 100 miles from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. Dominance of Taliban and al-Qaida forces in the pivotal northwest region of Pakistan provides not only a sanctuary and training centers for attacks on Afghanistan, but it has become a base of operations to weaken any pro-Western sentiments among the...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Tehran and Islamabad should move in harmony to expand bilateral energy relations as Pakistan struggles to overcome a looming energy crisis, officials say. Islamabad and Tehran in June signed a bilateral deal for the proposed 1,724-mile Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline. Pakistan would receive 750 million cubic feet per day from the South Pars gas field in Iran to generate electricity under the terms of a 25-year deal. Mian Shaukat Masud, the president of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told a delegation from Tehran that Iran should increase energy exports to Pakistan, the...

Bangalore's hi-tech enclaves are an oasis of excellence With its economy growing at more than triple the speed of Britain's, India has become a global leader in information technology and other hi-tech products. But how has this been possible in a country where poverty is so widespread and where more than a third of people are still illiterate? In the words of Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen, "the danger of India moving in the direction of being half California and half sub-Saharan Africa is a real one." The contrast between hi-tech, silicon enclaves such as Bangalore and the primitive...

Impoverished areas of Africa and Asia face severe crop losses from climate change in 20 years Many of the world’s poorest regions could face severe crop losses in the next two decades because of climate change, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University’s Program on Food Security and the Environment (FSE). Their findings will be published in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal Science. “The majority of the world’s 1 billion poor depend on agriculture for their livelihoods,” said lead author David Lobell, a senior research scholar at FSE, which focuses on environmentally sustainable solutions to...

OK Freepers... Dice and slice...this breaking news. Pakistan has declared a State of Emergency.

Bill Roggio looks at the worsening situation in Pakistan and argues that only a determined effort against the Taliban and al-Qaeda has any hope of succeeding - and that this effort must be led by the Pakistani government itself, however difficult that would be to arrange.******************************EXCERPT*********************** The assassination attempt on former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan after eight years in exile to reenter politics, serves to highlight the continually deteriorating security situation inside the Pakistan. Al Qaeda, with the help of their Taliban allies, has carved out a mini state in the Northwest Frontier Province, and threaten...

KARACHI: Former Prime Minister of Pakistan and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto vowed on Friday to live in country to continue struggle for democracy to save Pakistan despite heavy loss of lives incurred as a result of assassination attempt made on her life through a suicide attack on caravan of PPP, which was moving towards Mazar-e-Quaid after return of Benazir to Pakistan on Thursday. The suicide attack PPP caravan at Shahra-e-Faisal near Karsaz on Thursday night left at least 139 people dead including three police officers and over 550 were injured. Addressing a press conference here, she thanked God Almighty...

Vigilante justice has become common in Bihar Pics: Prashant Ravi Vigilante justice appears to have become the order of the day in the lawless northern Indian state of Bihar.The latest incident in which 10 men suspected to be thieves were lynched by a group of villagers in Vaishali district on Thursday underscored the people's frustration with the police. The villagers said that they were fed up with rising theft for the last two months in spite of informing the police regularly. "But when the police did not take any action we started patrolling our village ourselves to catch the...

About 50 million people are affected in Bangladesh About 140 million people, mainly in developing countries, are being poisoned by arsenic in their drinking water, researchers believe. Speaking at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) annual meeting in London, scientists said this will lead to higher rates of cancer in the future. South and East Asia account for more than half of the known cases globally. Eating large amounts of rice grown in affected areas could also be a health risk, scientists said. "It's a global problem, present in 70 countries, probably more," said Peter Ravenscroft, a research associate in...

GAUHATI, India - Teeming monsoon rains have inundated wide swaths of northern India and neighboring Bangladesh, killing at least 166 people and washing away villages and farmland that 19 million people depend on, officials said Thursday. With rain-swollen rivers bursting their banks along the fertile plains south of the Himalayas, India sent soldiers to help evacuate people from some of the worst-hit areas. "I have not seen such flooding in the last 24 years. It's a sheet of water everywhere," said Santosh Mishra, a resident of the Gonda district in Uttar Pradesh, one of the areas soldiers were sent. Authorities...

The conversion is expected to be the largest in modern times Thousands of tribal and Dalit Hindus in India are to embrace the Buddhist faith at a huge gathering in Mumbai. The ceremony, which may be presided over by Tibet's exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, is billed as the largest religious conversion in modern India. The converts hope to escape the rigid caste system in which their status is the lowest. Right-wing Hindus have often opposed conversion, pushing some Indian states to restrict legal changes of faith. The organisers say the number of people to convert in Sunday's ceremony...

There has been a mass exodus of Hindi-speaking migrants (All pics by Subhamoy Bhattacharjee) Hindi-speaking migrants have started fleeing India's north-eastern state of Assam again after a week of massacres and bomb attacks left nine dead and more than 20 injured. Separatists of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) were blamed for the nearly 10 explosions in the third week of May, when attacks on migrants resumed in the northern districts of Dibrugarh and Sibsagar after a lull of three months. Then followed a spate of bombings stretching from the far northern district of Tinsukia to the western...

The warning has terrorised Christians in Charsadda Christians in north-west Pakistan are demanding government protection following threats of bomb attacks if they do not become Muslims. An unsigned letter received 10 days ago said they had to convert by Thursday. Militants have been carrying out a sustained campaign to prevent "anti-Islamic" activities in North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Last week they blew up a number of music and video shops in the towns of Charsadda and Tangi. Living in fear The Christian community, a tiny minority, received an anonymous letter demanding they convert or face the consequences. The government...

BSP supporters see their party set for government Enlarge Image India's low-caste Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has swept to a historic victory in assembly elections in the key northern state of Uttar Pradesh.With all but a handful of results declared, the BSP had won 202 of the 403 seats to allow it to form its own government, Indian media reports said. It is the first time since 1991 that any party in the state has done so. Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state and has long been its most politically influential. I thank people of all castes and...

BSP supporters see their party set for government Enlarge Image The low-caste Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is heading for victory in assembly elections in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, early trends suggest.Outgoing chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has admitted defeat to his rival, BSP leader Mayawati, and has said he will resign when results are confirmed. Trends show his party trailing with a possible clear majority for the BSP. Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state and has long been its most politically influential. But with caste and religion becoming the dominant factors in state politics in...

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers have bombed a military base near the international airport north of Colombo, in the rebels' first ever aerial attack. Three people were killed and 16 injured when light aircraft dropped two bombs, officials said, hitting a parking area for planes and helicopter gunships. The international airport - which was not damaged - was closed briefly. Tiger rebels attacked the airport and base in 2001, killing 18 and wiping out half of the national airline fleet. A statement from the Tamil Tiger rebel group, carried by TamilNet, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Katunayake base, which...

The rally is intended to unify the region (Picture by Focusbangla) One of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's dreams came true when a South Asian car rally flagged off on Thursday from the south-east of Bangladesh.The rally - which organisers say is the first of its kind in the region - began from the resort town of Cox's Bazar. About 100 participants, including celebrities, sportsmen, government officials and journalists, packed 26 jeeps for the nearly 8,000km rally. They will travel through Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. 'Expand goodwill' The rally, which finishes in April, will take drivers...

The Maoists launched a co-ordinated assault Maoist rebels have attacked a security post in central India, killing 50 police officers, police say.The attack, one of the worst in decades of insurgency, happened in the rebel stronghold area of Dantewada, in Chhattisgarh state. The Maoists, who have fought a 30-year insurgency, say they are fighting for the rights of landless farmers and neglected tribes. Thousands have died in their campaigns in central and southern India. Co-ordinated assault The rebels attacked the security post - manned by 75 policemen - in Bijapur just before dawn on Thursday. Under cover of darkness,...

The talks are on Kashmir and security issues Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said the peace process between his country and India could "change the destiny of South Asia". He was speaking after the first of two days of talks between the two countries in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Mr Aziz said that negotiations with India could result in the resolution of all outstanding disputes. The talks come days after the regional rivals held discussions for the first time on fighting terrorism together. The nations began peace moves in 2004 but progress has been slow. 'Right direction' "The...

The role of Pakistan's judiciary is in the spotlight Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf's suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has opened a new debate on democracy, constitutionalism and the role of military in the country.The TV images of a president in military uniform chastising the country's top judge have had people in shock for the past four days. Meanwhile, a storm of protests has erupted all over the country, with the legal community boycotting the courts and opposition parties gearing up for a political conference to debate the issue. Members of the government insist the action is...

The question of Maoist weapons has become contentious The leader of Nepal's former Maoist rebels says they still have thousands of combatants not confined in camps and weapons not stored away in containers.The remarks by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who still uses his war name, Prachanda, appear to fly in the face of the registration and confinement process. The first stage of the process, being supervised by the United Nations, began in January and has just been completed Concern over public displays of weapons by the Maoists has risen recently. Under November's peace agreement, the Maoists' army moved into 28...

The rare Koran and the painting Police in the Indian city of Bangalore have seized a copy of the Koran they believe may have belonged to Mughal emperor Aurangzeb over 300 years ago.The book was discovered after a raid on a hotel in the city. Police arrested a man who was trying to sell it and an antique painting for more than $1m. The gold-embroidered Koran, written in Persian, has more than 1,000 pages. Experts are checking if a signature on the back belongs to Aurangzeb, who ruled India from 1658 to 1707. 'Fragrant' The Mughal ruler was a...

Balthazar Napolean de Bourbon, a jovial Indian lawyer and part-time farmer settled in Bhopal, has been told that he is the first in line to the lost French throne. According to media reports, "Bourbon may soon make his first trip to Paris, after he was visited by a relative of Prince Philip, who told him that he is the first in line to the lost French throne." This Indian father of three is being feted as the long-lost descendant of the Bourbon kings who ruled France from the 16th century to the French revolution. A distant cousin of Louis XVI...

Summary: Controversies over the war in Iraq and U.S. unilateralism have overshadowed a more pragmatic and multilateral component of the Bush administration's grand strategy: its attempt to reconfigure U.S. foreign policy and international institutions in order to account for shifts in the global distribution of power and the emergence of states such as China and India. This unheralded move is well intentioned and well advised, and Washington should redouble its efforts.

The foreign ministers of India, Russia and China were meeting Wednesday in the Indian capital in a bid to strengthen relations and to explore cooperation on issues such as counterterrorism and energy security, Indian officials said. The meeting between India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and their Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing is part of efforts by the three countries to forge a trilateral forum to work more closely on regional security issues, the officials said. "This will be the second stand-alone meeting of its kind," said Navtej Sarna, external affairs ministry spokesman. The foreign ministers...

The king (left) is spending five days in India India and Bhutan are due to update their friendship treaty to give the Himalayan kingdom greater control over many areas of governance. The revised 57-year-old agreement will allow Bhutan more freedom in areas of foreign policy and military purchases. The Bhutanese monarch, Jigme Khesar Namgyel, will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi to sign the treaty. In 2008 Bhutan becomes a parliamentary democracy with a new constitution. The meeting is part of a six-day visit by the Bhutanese monarch to India. After taking over from his father, King...

India could overtake Britain and have the world's fifth largest economy within a decade as the country's growth accelerates, a new report says. If trends continue, India's economy may then surpass the US and be second only to China's by mid-century, the report by investment bank Goldman Sachs says. Manufacturing has helped to drive India's economy The report says India's programme of reforms has brought increased competition and efficiency. But there will be a heavy cost as India demands more and more energy. Boom time Everywhere you turn in India's cities are signs of economic boom. The implications of...

Determined to move forward with its strategic relationship with India, a top US state department official will be visiting India in November with a large delegation to fulfil the direction given by their political leadership. 'We have a blueprint and a framework in the July 18, 2005 and March 2, 2006 joint statements of President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,' undersecretary of state Nick Burns, told the Indian media Friday announcing his plans to visit New Delhi. Describing the India-US civilian nuclear deal as the 'symbolic centre of the new strategic relationship' he said it was Washington's 'top concern,...

Thousands of people have been attending mass ceremonies in India at which hundreds of low-caste Hindus (Dalits) converted to Buddhism and Christianity. The events in the central city of Nagpur are part of a protest against the injustices of India's caste system. By converting, Dalits - once known as Untouchables - can escape the prejudice and discrimination they normally face. The ceremonies mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption of Buddhism by the scholar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. He was the first prominent Dalit to urge low-caste Indians to embrace Buddhism. As the chief architect of India's constitution, he wrote...

Four Russian mountaineers have gone missing in Pakistan on the world's second highest mountain, K2.

slamabad, July 10 (IANS) The failure of Agni-III reflected 'incompetence' of the Indian missile designers and planners, said an eminent Pakistani scientist. They would need to go back to the drawing board and take two to three years, unless 'they borrow something from abroad,' said Samar Mubarikmund, chairman of Pakistan's National Engineering and Science Commission (Nescom). Claiming that Israel was involved in developing India's missile programme, Mubarikmund said Pakistan, which had an 'indigenous' programme of its own, retained superiority over all others in the South Asian region. Mubarikmund told The News Sunday that the circumstances narrated by the Indians for...

Pakistani authorities say they have arrested 20 people, including Afghans and Turkish nationals, on suspicion of being linked to al-Qaeda. Fifteen men said to be Afghans were arrested after raids in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan. Separately, four Turks and an Afghan national were arrested from the town of Zhob in Balochistan. They were detained after they were found to be travelling without proper documents, officials say. "They are all foreigners and might have links to al-Qaeda," the Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed intelligence official in Quetta as saying.

The Indian government is experimenting with new ways of fighting back against Maoist fighters, who now operate in almost half of the country's 28 states. In the past year, the Chhattisgarh state government has introduced new anti-terrorism training for the police - and is backing a civil militia called Salwa Judum. The BBC's Jill McGivering spent three days travelling with Maoist fighters in the jungles of Chhattisgarh. Villagers train to counter Maoists Villagers joined the civil militia to defend themselves from Maoists Driving through Chhattisgarh at dawn, we saw a group of villagers by the road, shouldering sticks as...

The Myanmarese news website 'Mizzima News' reported that Indian troops have moved into the Indo-Burmese border region of Moreh. India and Myanmar have had a very good military relationship with Myanmar helping India with tackling border insurgencies. About 50 Indian military trucks believed to be carrying weapons crossed the border into Burma last Thursday, according to eyewitnesses. "Five trucks full of soldiers followed the 50 trucks," a resident in Moreh said. The backs of the trucks were reportedly covered with plastic sheets. The Burmese embassy in India refused to comment on what the trucks were carrying. Security was tightened in...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - British paratroopers have pushed deeper and faster during Operation Mountain Thrust than had been anticipated, a senior British officer confirmed Monday, and Canadian and U.S. forces who are part of the same mission have met all the goals set for them so far. Responding to triumphal stories in Sunday's British media about the Parachute Regiment's "lightning push" 100 kilometres north into territory that had been "lawless" for 30 years, the officer said: "They have had a good start. They are slightly ahead of the time line, but this is an asymmetric counter-insurgency operation where everyone is not...

Asia Rising Donald Rumsfeld infamously made a distinction between Old Europe and New Europe. He has been scored ever since for his sweeping and impolitic language, but he wasn't sweeping enough: In geopolitical terms, all of Europe is old, the world's most tourist-friendly museum piece. For the future of high-stakes U.S. diplomacy and of great-power politics, look no further than Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the U.S. It is Asia that should occupy an outsized place in our strategic thinking, and it is Europe that should be the relative afterthought, not the other way around. The media and foreign-policy...

Indian Official Defends Deal With U.S. WASHINGTON (AP) -- A landmark civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States would not boost India's nuclear weapons arsenal, India's foreign secretary said Thursday.In often strong words, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran attacked the criticism that has surrounded a pact critics say would weaken efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. He told an audience at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, that India's record on nuclear issues has long been one of restraint and responsibility.''India cannot be a partner and a target at the same time,'' Saran said.

  Nuclear Overview  Historical Overview India's nuclear program was conceived in the pre-independence era by a small group of influential scientists who grasped the significance of nuclear energy and persuaded political leaders from the Indian National Congress to invest resources in the nuclear sector. In the aftermath of independence in August 1947, the Congress government led by Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru launched an ambitious dual-use, three-stage nuclear program to exploit India's abundant natural thorium reserves. The primary focus of the program was the production of inexpensive electricity. However, the decision to develop the complete nuclear fuel cycle--from ore...

India-US nuke deal takes a Russian spin TIMES NEWS NETWORK Washington/New Delhi/ Mumbai: Within 24 hours of Russia’s decision to supply 60 tonnes of enriched uranium to two atomic power plants at Tarapur, the Bush administration on Wednesday cautioned the Putin government against the move, saying Washington would prefer Moscow to wait till New Delhi honoured its obligations under the Indo-US nuclear deal. However, dismissing US reservations and defending the offer made by Russia — a member of the 45-country Nuclear Suppliers’ Group — India said the move did not violate NSG guidelines. “Russia has approached NSG under the Safety...

WANA: Tribal clerics announced the enforcement of Sharia (Islamic law) in South Waziristan on Friday, saying that feuds and tribal enmities would now be resolved through Islamic laws instead of the tribal jirga. Eyewitnesses and tribal elders told Daily Times that the announcement was made during Friday prayer sermons in Wana and other towns of South Waziristan. “We are glad to announce that an Islamic judge will decide cases from now on and not the jirga,” a cleric in Wana was quoted as announcing. The announcement was made following letters from local Taliban commanders to all prayer leaders asking them...

India is a country that had me at hello. Call me biased, but I have a soft spot for countries of one billion people, speaking a hundred different languages and practicing a variety of religions, whose people hold regular free and fair elections and, despite massive poverty, still produce generations of doctors and engineers who help to make the world a more productive and peaceful place. Sure, as today's bombings in India illustrate, it has its problems — but it is not Iraq. It is a beacon of tolerance and stability.

Hotel blast 'not bomb': Pakistan At least seven people were hurt in the hotel explosion Pakistan's government has insisted an explosion at a hotel in Islamabad was not a terrorist attack but was probably caused by a short-circuit. At least seven people were hurt, including a US diplomat, when the explosion shattered the ground floor of the Marriott hotel on Thursday night. An interior ministry spokesman said there was no evidence of sabotage. However, a risk unit that advises the US State Department said it was "an improvised explosive device" The blast blew out nearly all the windows of the...

BEIJING, March. 7 -- The motivation of US President George W. Bush's whirlwind visit to Afghanistan, India and Pakistan between March 1-5 boils down to three elements: Promoting regional balance, countering terrorism and preventing nuclear proliferation. Regional balance has double connotations. First, US-led strategic interest in Asia; second, balance in the South Asian subcontinent itself. The United States attaches special importance to India's role in "maintaining regional strategic balance," which is a component vital to "Asian strategic stability" in the eyes of the Bush administration. India enjoys a unique geo-political position, which is favoured by the United States in its...

United States President George W Bush looked cheerful as he was accorded a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday morning. Bush exchanged more than the usual two words of greeting with Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Kamal Nath during the introductions to Dr Singh's ministers. A visibly elated Bush later told reporters, "I have been to many capitals around the world. I have never seen a reception as well organised and as grand as the reception we just received."

Bangladesh: Osama's New Haven By Chris Blackburn FrontPageMagazine.com | December 29, 2005 In the present debate over terrorism threats, Bangladesh is generally not the first country that comes to mind as a hotspot of al-Qaeda activity. But perhaps it should. The second largest Muslim democracy, Bangladesh is today the site of al-Qaeda-run training camps financed by Middle Eastern charities and organisations, including backing from rogue elements within the Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. Just as important, it is a laboratory for the disastrous consequences of Islamist participation in the democratic process. Bangladesh’s geography makes it an optimal location for a terrorist network....