Police clash with Kashmiri insurgents
Six suspected militants along with three policemen have been killed in Kashmir; another 18 policemen were injured. Two further suspected militants were killed during a daylight attack in the northern Baramulla district, in which five policemen were killed. Four more suspected militants were killed amid two gun battles with police late on Thursday in the Pulwama and Udhampur districts.
Six killed in Manipur militant violence
A Manipur Rifles infantryman and five other people have been killed amid fighting between Kuki Revolutionary Army militants and 7th Manipur Rifles battalion personnel at Gapizang in the Senapati district.
At least five more people are reported dead after nomadic Gujjars clashed with Meena tribals in Dausa district in India's Rajasthan state.
Musharraf's successors jostle for the top post
After weeks of political instability surrounding General Pervez Musharraf's sacking of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the exiled leader of the Pakistan People's Party and former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, comprises a vehement and influential contender for control of Pakistan. Still dominating civilian and military politics, however, Musharraf has a lot of bite left in him.
Meanwhile, a number of families of those still missing from the 1971 India-Pakistan war have travelled to Pakistan to search for missing Indian soldiers in Pakistan's prisons, as sanctioned by Musharraf.
Lebanese army resumes bombardment
Artillery shelling against the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon resumed on Friday, as fighting broke out between the army and Fatah al-Islam fighters. As tanks surrounded the camp, artillery struck the north and north-west entrances of the camp, gearing-up for a potential ground offensive to draw the 13-day standoff to a close. At least 12 people have been killed within the camp, along with two Lebanese soldiers.
Lebanon's parliamentary speaker has lambasted the United Nations' (UN) decision to establish a tribunal to try those suspected of killing former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, exclaiming that the decision ignores the national constitution and the necessity of consensus in the handling of proceedings.
Read Jamal's Propaganda for a Lebanese citizen's perspective on what's next for Lebanon.
IAEA concern at militant policy over Iran
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Mohamed ElBaradei has warned against "new crazies" advocacy of taking military action as a means of stemming Iran's nuclear programme.
The repair of a generation of hostility needs work within as well as between Washington and Tehran, says Sanam Vakil on openDemocracy.
May mayhem worst since Falluja
May was the deadliest month of combat in Iraq for US troops since the infamous battle for Falluja back in November 2004, the US sustaining 122 losses last month alone. It has also emerged that, in the midst of such violence, US troops have been empowered by their operational commander to seek local truces with Iraqi fighters.
In a major breech of security, detailed plans for the new US embassy in Baghdad currently under construction have appeared online.
The invasion of Iraq in March 2003, which saw the price of oil reach $35 a barrel, has ushered in a huge resource boom in Alberta, Canada, whose "oil sands" suddenly appear a profitable enterprise.
Suicide bombings favoured in "defense of Islam" in US
The Counterterrorism Blog examines the immigration ramifications of a recent Pew research poll related to the views held by Muslims in America, which reveals that a notable minority of Muslims living in the United States condone the use of suicide attacks in "defense of Islam".
Fiction writing has thus far seemingly failed to overcome personal revulsion in grappling with the ideological and political beliefs of perpetrators of terrorism, creating "identikit terrorists" riddled with stereotypical, outdated, haphazard trappings, devoid of societal or emotional conceptions which help spur on such acts, notes Pankaj Mishra.
AU come under fire in Darfur
African Union (AU) forces came under fire from former Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) fighters in Darfur on Wednesday, after a road accident in which one faction member was killed; no casualties were sustained, but 13 AU vehicles were seized.
Located on the border between Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), young combatants in the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) lead a life of strict adherence to the rules laid out by their commanders: they abstain from alcohol, cigarettes and casual sex, while marriage is strictly regulated, reports the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Tamils told to leave Colombo amid security crackdown
Sri Lankan authorities have taken the step of ejecting ethnic minority Tamils from the capital Colombo if they are found to be "without a valid reason" for staying, in an effort to stem attacks from the dissident Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
15 killed in southern Thailand
Ten government-hired paramilitary troops were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Thailand on Thursday, while five more people were killed when gunmen opened fire at a mosque in an area which had hitherto been under a military curfew owing to two prior bomb attacks.
