North Korea nuclear talks ‘a lot of hoopla’ By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON – The highest-level North Korean to defect from the regime in Pyongyang responds with impatience bordering on anger when asked what he thinks Dear Leader Kim Jong-il will tell the Chinese or what the Chinese will tell him during Kim’s next journey to Beijing. “We do not need to care anything about his trip,” said Hwang Jang-Yop, once a secretary of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, of which Kim Jong-il is general secretary. “I do not care a bit about what they will say.” Hwang’s remark, in an … Continue reading Kim Jong-il is a Hoopla!

Bombs away in Thailand By Shawn W Crispin BANGKOK – A campaign of terror is underway in Thailand, with both sides to the political conflict pinning blame on the other for a series of grenade attacks that have targeted government offices, military installations and private businesses. Unknown assailants have launched more than a score of explosives attacks this month amid a heavy security force presence in the national capital. While early attacks were seemingly designed to avoid human casualties, more recent blasts have targeted populated areas and seriously injured soldiers and civilians. Some fear the surge in violence signals a … Continue reading Bombs in Thailand – who is responsible?

Night raids belie McChrystal’s new image By Gareth Porter WASHINGTON – has recently acquired the image of a master strategist of the population-sensitive counterinsurgency, reducing civilian casualties from air strikes and insisting that troops avoid firing when civilians might be hit during the recent offensive in Helmand Province. One recent press story even referred to a “McChrystal Doctrine” that focuses on “winning over civilians rather than killing insurgents”. But there is a glaring contradiction between McChrystal’s new counterinsurgency credentials and his actual policy toward the politically explosive issue of night raids on private homes by Special Operations Forces (SOF) units … Continue reading The McChrystal Doctrine?

The alienation of Hamid Karzai By M K Bhadrakumar It must have been the first time in the history of the United States that an incumbent president had to undertake a 26-hour plane journey abroad with repeated mid-air refueling to meet a foreign leader – all for a 30-minute pow-wow. The staggering message that came out of US President Barack Obama’s hurried mission to the presidential palace in Kabul to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai last Sunday afternoon is that his own AfPak diplomats have let him down badly. The US president is left with not a single functionary in … Continue reading Why is Hamid Karzai alienated?

dawn.com Two toads are on their way to a lake in a forest. – Reuters Photo Scientists find early dinosaur cousin PARIS: For ages, mankind has craved a tool that can provide early warning of that terrifying moment when the earth begins to shake.But if a scientific paper published on Wednesday is confirmed, we may at last have found one. The best hope yet of an earthquake predictor could lie in a small, brown, knobbly amphibian, it suggests. The male common toad (Bufo bufo) gave five days’ warning of the earthquake that ravaged the town of L’Aquila in central Italy … Continue reading Toad is a telltale for impending earthquakes

From NWFP to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa By Ismail Khan dawn.com People are seen in a busy market in Peshawar, March 31, 2010. — AP Govt tables 18th Amendment Bill in parliament PESHAWAR: It took 109 years to correct a historical wrong and what a journey it has been. It was in 1901, when the North-West Frontier Province was carved out of Punjab. The province was merged into what was called One Unit in 1955, with Lahore becoming the capital of the new administrative unit. Gen Yahya Khan dissolved the One Unit in July 1970 and restored the provinces of the NWFP, … Continue reading NWFP to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa!

US Marines offer war or peace to Afghan elders dawn.com Tribal leaders gather in the desert for a meeting with US Marines of 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, in Sistani, Helmand province, on March 28, 2010. – AFP Peace body chief shot dead near Peshawar SISTANI: The tribal elders gathered in the desert outside Marjah, the frontline of the US-led battle in southern Afghanistan to provide services and security after years of Taliban control. Around 20 sat in a circle, waiting for Lieutenant Colonel Brian Christmas, US Marine commander in northern Marjah who has – so far – kept American troops … Continue reading Marines offer war or peace to Afghan elders

Indian designers go back to their roots as retro-chic rules dawn.com Models presents a creation by Indian designer Tarun Tahiliani during the Wills India Fashion Week in New Delhi.–AFP Photo Media Gallery Travelling cinema Travelling cinema NEW DELHI: Raw silk, cotton, jute – India’s traditional fabrics are finding favour among top designers raring to break new ground in the highly competitive Indian fashion market.The tendency to ape Western cuts and style in recent years has seen the country’s own rich craftsmanship take a backseat. But a reversal in the trend was evident at this year’s Wills India Fashion Week, where … Continue reading Back to their roots as retro-chic rules!

Waking the Middle East up to animal rights A few activists are struggling to establish animal rights in the Middle East – but they face misunderstanding and prejudice Joseph Mayton guardian.co.uk A Palestinian youth drags a sheep to be slaughtered for Eid al-Adha in Ramallah. Photograph: Muhammed Muheisen/AP We were screaming through a Beirut suburb as bombs started to fall. Reaching the end of the road, the driver took a sharp left and came to a screeching stop as the two young Lebanese women quickly hopped out the vehicle, cages in hand and ran into the building. When they emerged … Continue reading Struggling to establish animal rights in the Middle East

The curse of public swearing From ‘fcuk’ to ‘fancy a quick Rank?’, coarseness is big business – but should we care about the rise of public profanity? Ryan Gilbey guardian.co.uk Schoolyard naughtiness … A French Connection shop sign. Photograph: David Sillitoe Last Sunday, I took my nine-year-old daughter swimming. There was a towel hanging up at the poolside, bearing the letters “fcuk“. “Isn’t that a rude word?” she grinned. “Almost,” I replied. After swimming, we passed a billboard advertising an exhibition by the photographer Rankin. The poster posed the rhetorical question: “Fancy a quick Rank?” Classy. And was I imagining … Continue reading Public swearing – but why?