A bittersweet victory
Iraq's football team triumphed over South Korea today in the semi-final of the Asian Cup, prompting celebrations across the strife-torn country. The national elation was marred by two suicide bombings in Baghdad that have left at least 50 people dead.
Grand jirga to mend fences?
Afghan and Pakistani presidents Hamid Karzai and Pervez Musharraf will address a grand jirga meeting of tribal leaders from both countries next month, in a bid to ensure the cooperation of increasingly disgruntled locals in fighting against the Taliban and bringing peace to the troubled border regions.
Four rockets hit the city of Bannu in the Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, killing nine people and injuring 35 as violence escalates in the restive region in the wake of the Lal Masjid siege.
A leading "pro-Taliban" tribesman blew himself up after he was cornered by Pakistani security forces. Abdullah Mehsud was also a former Guantanamo inmate.
The Lal Masjid siege has intensified Pakistan's spiral of violence and emboldened the Islamists, says Maruf Khwaja on openDemocracy.
Bush links 9/11 al-Qaida with Iraqi radicals
In another stab at retrospective justification, President George W Bush attempted to links contemporary Iraq-based radicals al-Qaida in Mesopotamia with the 9/11 bombers. Casting an eye at the Democrats, Bush contended that "those who justify withdrawing our troops from Iraq by denying the threat of Al Qaeda in Iraq and its ties to Osama bin Laden ignore the clear consequences of such a retreat". Most analysts argue that al-Qaida in Mesopotamia is a relatively young organisation that has only grown in status and size since the invasion of Iraq.
Another capital sentence for Mumbai bombers
Mohammed Farooq Pawale became the eleventh man sentenced to death in connection with the series of bombings in Mumbai in 1993 that killed 257 people. An anti-terrorism court has convicted 100 people in connection to the blasts after a 14-year trial ended last year.
Malaysia's identity crisis
As Malaysia nears the anniversary of its 50th year of independence, comments made by its deputy prime minister have sparked a bitter debate over the nature of the diverse state. Deputy PM Najib Razak insisted recently that the country was in no way a "secular state" but had always been an "Islamic state", much to the consternation of Malaysia's sizable Hindu, Christian and Buddhist minorities.
US Muslim charity on trial
The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Muslim US-based charity, has gone on trial in Texas for its alleged support for terrorist groups. Five of its senior stuff allegedly supplied Hamas with $36 million.
Lawyers protest Hicks' trial
The Law Council of Australia has condemned the trial in Guantanamo Bay of Australian citizen David Hicks as a farce that has diminished Australia's international standing and moral authority.
Taliban mining Helmand province
Locals in the southern Afghan province of Helmand report that the Taliban have planted hundreds of mines along commonly used roads and pathways.
Privatising intelligence gathering
Though the use of private soldiers and mercenaries in Iraq has been well-documented, more and more evidencing is surfacing of the common use of intelligence gathered by "private spies" and agents of corporations contracted by the Iraqi and US authorities.
The Islamic optimist
Malise Ruthven profiles the controversial and divisive "European Islam" of Tariq Ramadan in the New York Review of Books.
India approves US nuclear deal
The Indian cabinet has approved the technical details of a civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the US, moving a step closer to cementing the cornerstone in an emerging strategic alliance between the two powers.
