Al Qaeda Bosses, Fighters Quitting Pakistan: NYT
Dozens of Al Qaeda fighters and a handful of the terrorist outfit's leaders are leaving their main haven in Pakistan's tribal areas for Somalia and Yemen, the New York Times reported Friday. Read On

Advice for Obama:
Visit India for 'Jai Ho' US Policy 
David Rothkopf, the head of a Washington think tank has some unusual advice for President Barack Obama: visit India and see why 'Jai Ho' should be the key words of the US' long- term foreign policy. He has been so impressed with India despite its dichotomies that he says Obama could profit more by a trip to India than the headline-grabbing Egypt visit. Read On

World Bank Fears Sharper Contraction,
IMF Predicts Faster Recovery
The World Bank estimates the global economy will contract in 2009 by "close to three percent", a far bleaker assessment than its March estimate of a 1.7 percent contraction. But the International Monetary Fund (IMF) differed, predicting a global recovery in 2010 may expand at a 2.4 percent clip. Read On

US House Links Aid to Pakistan
with Fight Against Terrorism by Arun Kumar
The US House of Representatives has passed a bill proposing to triple US non-military aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year but linking military assistance to Islamabad demonstrating a sustained commitment to combating terrorist groups. Read On

Obama Writes to 'Absolutely Critical Country' India by Arun Kumar
Underscoring the importance of working closely with India, "an absolutely critical country" in the region, US President Barack Obama has despatched a personal letter to New Delhi through a top envoy. "We consider India an absolutely critical country in the region," the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said Wednesday disclosing the despatch of the "presidential letter" through US Undersecretary of State William Burns. Read On

• Bin Laden Still in Pakistan: CIA Chief  
• WHO Raises Swine Flu Alert
  to Highest Pandemic Level 

Pakistan-born Student Found Guilty
of Supporting LeT by Arun Kumar
A Pakistan-born student of Georgia Tech in Atlanta has been found guilty of conspiring to support terrorist groups including Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan based outfit blamed for the Nov 26 Mumbai attacks. Syed Haris Ahmed, who provided videos of important places in Washington to LeT and Al Qaeda operatives, now faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Wednesday Read On

Manmohan Offering 'Badly Needed' Olive Branch: Pakistani Media  
Indian PM Manmohan Singh has offered a "badly needed" olive branch to restore sub-continental peace by offering to walk half the way to resume the dialogue with Pakistan, an editorial in a leading English daily said Thursday, while another hoped Islamabad would "be able to meet" New Delhi at that point. Read On

Taliban Offences Enraging Pakistanis: Holbrooke
by Arun Kumar
Taliban offences in Pakistan are dramatically changing the attitude of the government and people there, says US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke. Read On

• India a Major Foreign Policy Priority: US 

Climate Change
Could Displace 25 Million by 2010
by Joydeep Gupta
By next year - that's how soon around 25-50 million people will be displaced by climate change as it unleashes more natural disasters and affects farm output, says a senior UN researcher. Northern India will be among the worst affected. Read On

For India Inc, Worst is Over
but Recovery Yet to Start
"The consensus opinion is that the worst is behind us. But it does not mean the recovery has started. It means that we are at the bottom. So it will take some time for the recovery. Probably, the growth will pick up in 2010," Infosys Technologies chief executive S. Gopalakrishnan told reporters ... Read On

• Higher Industrial Output No Help,
  Sensex Down 173 Points 

State Police to Take Over Law and Order Duties
in Kashmir: Chidambaram 
Jammu and Kashmir Police would be given "primary responsibility" to maintain law and order with paramilitary forces like the Central Reserve Police Force, under fire over the alleged rape and murder of two Kashmiri women, acting only in an auxiliary capacity, union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Friday. Read On
► Troop Reduction in Kashmir
    after Assessing Summer Trends: Army Chief 

US Backs Resumption of India-Pakistan Dialogue, says N-deal on Track
Making a strong pitch for resuming the stalled India-Pakistan dialogue, the US Thursday said it has been pressing Islamabad hard to take "firm and urgent action" against extremists and to bring the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks to justice. Read On

Sonia in Rae Bareli,
Talks Development, Assembly Polls
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, on a visit to her Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Thursday said that development would top the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's agenda for the next five years and also urged party workers to gear up for the next assembly elections. Read On

• Scientist goes Missing from Atomic Plant in Karnataka
• Speaking Out in Anger:
  Empower Students, Don't Ban Jeans  

Kashmir Police Should Slowly Replace Central Forces: Chidambaram
Visiting Jammu and Kashmir in the backdrop of heightened tension over the rape and murder of two women, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram Thursday said a strategy should be worked out for "gradual substitution" of central paramilitary forces by the state police for security and law and order duties. Read On

Manmohan to Meet Zardari in Russia 
by Manish Chand
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is set to meet Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg next week. Their first meeting since the Mumbai terror attacks, however, will be more of an ice-breaker and is unlikely to lead to an immediate resumption of stalled dialogue between the two countries. Read On

• Sensex Goes Down 55 Points on Profit Booking
• Karnataka Minister Donates
  Rs.450 Million Gold Crown to Tirupati  
• India's 'Renaissance Man' Kalam Honored in UK

No Money, No Climate Change Inspection: India
by Joydeep Gupta
India will not let the international community check on what it's doing to combat climate change unless industrialized countries provide adequate financing and transfer green technologies, say government delegates. The issue of how to treat intellectual property rights (IPR) of green technologies and who is going to pay the incremental cost of moving to them has been a bone of contention at climate treaty meets for years, and has reared its head again. Read On

Raped Dalit Woman Struggles for Justice in Orissa
A month after a Dalit woman in Orissa was allegedly gang raped by four men, including a former leader of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the police have arrested only one of the accused. Opposition parties claim that a minister is shielding them and are demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Read On

• Post Mumbai, Indian Navy to Study Foreign Practices
  for Coastal Security
• IAF Aircraft's Wreckage with 13 Bodies Located
• NCP Suspends MP Accused of Murder