Under the screen of anti-terrorism
A Human Rights Watch report slams Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf for imprisoning his critics under new anti-terrorism laws put in place since the declaration of martial law.
Pakistan's new caretaker government was sworn in today, with Mohammedmian Soomro as prime minister. Musharraf's political opponents have described members of the new government as the general's puppets.
Islamabad has freed Benazir Bhutto from house arrest.
In heavy fighting in the northwest of the valley of Swat, Pakistani forces killed forty militants.
Iranian transparency "improving" Keep up to date with the latest developments and sharpest perspectives in a world of strife and struggle.
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An International Atomic Energy Association report argues that Iran is "improving" in making its nuclear activities - past and present - more transparent to international scrutiny. Tehran remains, however, in violation of UN resolutions demanding the suspension of its uranium enrichment program.
Even though it has insisted that it will never allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons, Israel is quietly preparing for the possibility of a nuclear-armed Tehran.
Kirkuk blast
A suicide bomber drove his car into a police convoy in the city of Kirkuk, killing seven people. The northern oil-rich city is caught up in an ongoing dispute between Kurdish officials and the Iraqi central government.
Iraqi officials deny that there has been a sustained incursion by Turkish troops into northern Iraq.
Iraqi president Jalal Talibani has hit out at Arab countries for not establishing missions in Baghdad. While Iran maintains an embassy in Baghdad, Arab states have been reluctant to deal so extensively within the war-torn country.
Opium of the masses
A United Nations report says that the profits of opium cultivation fuel the Taliban insurgency and calls on NATO to tackle the problem of opium head-on. Opium is an estimated $4 billion export industry in impoverished Afghanistan.
An Islamist uprising in the Maldives?
The Hindu looks at the growth of a radical Islamist movement in the Maldives, where extremists behind the first ever Islamist terrorist strike in the country have rejected the mainstream Sunni order as heretical and forged ties with militants in India involved in recent attacks there.
Extradition for hook-handed cleric
A judge in the UK has ruled that Abu Hamza, the controversial London cleric, can be extradited to the United States for trial. He would face charges of supporting terrorism.
