Operations against Taliban Till their Elimination: Pakistani PM
Pakistan was not fighting a "normal war" but conducting a "guerilla" operation against the Taliban in the country's troubled northwest and this would continue till the militants were eliminated, PM Yousuf Raza Gilani declared Saturday. Read On

Pakistani Troops Destroy Taliban Headquarters, Kill 55 Militants
Pakistani troops Saturday destroyed the headquarters of the Taliban in the restive Swat valley and killed some 55 militants, as a humanitarian crisis intensified with thousands of civilians stranded in the battlefield.
Read On

Tough Battle Ahead against Taliban:
Pakistani Editorial
A tough battle lies ahead against the Taliban, an editorial in a leading English daily said Saturday, while another called for devising a long-term strategy to complement the military action against the militants. A third editorial termed a "good development" the religious reaction that had emerged against the Taliban in large parts of Pakistan. Read On

Pakistan is Al Qaeda's Global Base
by Arun Kumar
Pakistan has become the nerve centre of Al Qaeda's global operations to plan attacks around the world even while the Pakistani Taliban are planning a "surge" of their own, according to a top American military commander. Read On
► Pakistan has Moved Troops
    from Indian Border: Zardari  

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Pakistan's Nukes Safe,
Need Help in War Against Terror: Zardari
Seeking to reassure the US that Pakistan had full control of its nuclear weapons and that a military operation against extremists would continue till normalcy was restored, President Asif Ali Zardari also made a forceful plea for international help in the war against terror. Read On

Nepal Prime Minister Offers Olive Branch to India
by Sudeshna Sarkar
After blaming India for the failure to sack the army chief and accusing it of interfering in his country's internal matters, Nepal's caretaker Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda Friday held out the olive branch to New Delhi, saying his government had no bias against it. Read On

A Million People Displaced in Pakistan, says UN
UN humanitarian agencies said Friday that the recent outbreak of violence in the northwest of Pakistan would lead to a total of one million people eventually being displaced. In the last few days, the UNHCR said between 150,000 and 200,000 people reached safer zones, escaping the renewed violence. Another 300,000 are said to be on the move. Read On

Zardari Assures on Nukes,
Vows Fight Against Militants by Arun Kumar
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has sought to reassure America that his government has full control of its nuclear weapons and a just launched operation against extremists would continue until normalcy was restored. Read On

Canadian Sikh Woman MP in More Trouble 
by Gurmukh Singh
Even as embattled Indian-origin Sikh woman MP Ruby Dhalla Thursday demanded a parliamentary probe into charges by two nannies that they were mistreated and underpaid at her home, another caretaker complained she too was underpaid by the family. Read On

• Obama Hikes NASA Budget,
  Orders Review of Space Plans

Two Billion People May Get Swine Flu: WHO 
A third of the world could potentially become infected with the new H1N1 influenza virus, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said Thursday. "Looking at past pandemics, a third of the world's population could be infected," Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's head of health security, said.  Read On

Congress, BJP are Haunted by Past Misdeeds 
by Amulya Ganguli
Rahul Gandhi's excessive enthusiasm for winning new friends for the Congress has landed his party in some trouble. Several constituents of the United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress have not been amused by this search for partners since it suggests that the party no longer has much faith in the alliance. Read On

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Our Allies will Decide on Congress After Polls: Karat
Appearing to soften his stand on allying with the Congress, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat has said that a decision on this issue will be taken jointly by Third Front partners after the Lok Sabha elections. Read On

India Worried Over Sri Lanka But has Limitations: PM
India was "deeply concerned" over the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka but there were limits to what it could do to end the killings there, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday.  Speaking extensively on Sri Lanka during a press conference while on a campaign tour, he said that "all Indians" felt that "the Tamil people have been badly treated" in the island nation. Read On

Varun Gandhi Exhorts Voters
to Rise against Mayawati
A day after a court panel recommended revocation of the National Security Act (NSA) provisions against him, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi asked voters in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit parliamentary constituency to rise against the "anti-poor" Mayawati government. Read On

Nine Dead in Bengal Post-Poll Clashes,
Nandigram Flares Up
Nine people, including a toddler and a teenager, were killed and several wounded as Left activists fought pitched battles with opposition supporters using bombs, firearms and sharp weapons in several districts of West Bengal in spiraling post-poll violence. Read On

• Tatas, SBI, Infosys
  Among World's Top 50 Reputed Firms  

Court Panel Calls for Revocation of NSA
Against Varun Gandhi 
In a setback to the Uttar Pradesh government, the special advisory board of the Allahabad High Court Friday recommended withdrawal of the stringent National Security Act (NSA) invoked against the BJP's Varun Gandhi for his inflammatory communal utterances. The Mayawati government has decided to move the Supreme Court. Read On

Nitish Kumar at Center of Political Tug-of-War  
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar continued to be wooed by all sides with a week left for judgement day. BJP leader L.K. Advani swore by "Nitish's friendship" and the Congress, under attack from its allies, said it was not going to "make a hero" of Kumar 3 days after party leader Rahul Gandhi praised the Bihar leader. Read On

Will Left Support UPA?
Congress Says Yes, Left Says No by Manish Chand
Despite an outright rejection of its overtures, the Congress is confident that the estranged Left will be left with no choice but to support the UPA over a "communal force" like the BJP and feels that differences over foreign policy and the India-US nuclear deal can be "managed". But the Communists, who are trying hard to install a non-Congress, non-BJP Third Front government, have made it clear that they are not ready to enter the door left open for them. Read On
► CPI-M Again Attacks Manmohan on Foreign Policy

Despite Economic Boom,
India's Job Growth has Shrunk
Raising questions over the government's slogan of inclusive growth, an official report Friday said the rate at which new jobs were added to India's labor force had declined between 1993 and 2005 despite an economic boom. The annual growth rate of employment declined to 1.85 percent from 2.03 percent between 1993 and 2005 despite higher aggregate growth, said the report released here by the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector. Read On