Asia

Mumbai rocked, Pakistan suspected

Terror returned to Mumbai on Wednesday nearly three years after the massive assault on the city that left 164 people dead. The latest attack was a relatively smaller incident, with three bomb blasts killing 21 people. The significance is no minor matter though, for while no group has claimed responsibility, […]

Makkah realtors cash in on ‘jinn’ rumors

By BADEA ABU AL-NAJA | ARAB NEWS MAKKAH: There are widespread rumors among Makkawis claiming some abandoned buildings and estates are possessed by jinns. According to the widely circulated gossip, residents of these buildings located in various districts of the holy city, especially on the outskirts, say they vacated their […]

Why the US won’t leave Afghanistan

Surge, bribe and run? Or surge, bribe and stay? How US military bases and the energy war play out in Afghanistan. Among multiple layers of deception and newspeak, the official Washington spin on the strategic quagmire in Afghanistan simply does not hold. No more than “50-75 ‘al-Qaeda types’ in Afghanistan”, […]

Pakistan bristles at failed label

Pakistan may be taking a deleterious turn, especially as the United States plans to pull out of Afghanistan by 2012 and threatens to withdraw military aid from the country, but its media has reacted indignantly to claims that put it on the same scale as the poorest African countries. Foreign […]

Ahmedi community slams govt over killing of minority member

Staff Report LAHORE: Representatives of the Ahmedi community and human rights activists have slammed the government over religiously motivated killing of an Ahmedi advocate, Malik Mabroor Ahmad, while demanding immediate action against the culprits. Jama’at Ahmadiyya Pakistan spokesperson Saleem ud Din stated on Tuesday that the well-known Ahmedi lawyer was assassinated in a religiously motivated attack […]

In Indonesia, civil society is keeping tolerance alive

By Testriono, The Daily Star Recent cases of religious intolerance in Indonesia have led some observers to worry that U.S. President Barack Obama’s praise of religious tolerance in Indonesia during his visit in November 2010 was exaggerated. Public statements and decrees from Indonesian government officials have discredited religious minority groups […]

Pakistan ‘punished’ in Pipelineistan

Before the end of 2011, Pakistan will start working on its stretch of the IP (Iran-Pakistan) gas pipeline – according to Asim Hussain, Pakistan’s federal minister for petroleum and natural resources. The 1,092 kilometers of pipeline on the Iranian side are already in place. IP, also known as “the peace […]

President’s brother shot dead in Kandahar

Taliban claims responsibility for death of Ahmed Wali Karzai, considered the ‘super governor’ of southern Afghanistan. Ahmed Wali Karzai, half brother to the Afghan president and one of the most powerful men in the country, has been killed by one of his own bodyguards, according to a member of his security team. […]

US raises Iran rhetoric

By PHIL STEWART | REUTERS BAGHDAD: The United States will take unilateral action when needed to deal with the threat to American troops in Iraq from militias armed by Iran, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said on Monday. US forces officially ended combat operations in Iraq last August but […]