US Sends Aides to Press Govt on Times Square Inquiry
18 May 2010
, The New York Times, 17 May 2010
EXCERPT: "The White House is dispatching two senior national security aides to Pakistan this week to press the government there to intensify efforts to investigate the failed Times Square bomb plot and prevent others like it, administration officials said Monday. Gen. James L. Jones, the national security adviser, and Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, left...
Read the post »
Zardari Pardons Minister after Court Dismisses Appeal
18 May 2010
Pakistan President Pardons Minister Rehman Malik, BBC News, 18 May 2010
EXCERPT: "Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has issued a pardon for the country's interior minister, Rehman Malik, who was convicted of corruption in 2004. The pardon came after the Lahore High Court dismissed Mr Malik's attempt to challenge the conviction. The president used 'discretionary powers' which allow him to pardon anyone convicted...
Read the post »
Drones the "Preferred Option" by the US
18 May 2010
Special Report: How the White House Learned to Love the Drone, Reuters, 18 May 2010
EXCERPT: "[...] Killing wanted militants is simply 'easier' than capturing them, said an official, who like most interviewed for this story support the stepped-up program and asked not to be identified. Another official added: 'It is increasingly the preferred option.' [...] By some accounts, the growing reliance on drone strikes is partly...
Read the post »
Aid Program for IDPs Under Threat: UN
18 May 2010
UN: Aid Program in Pakistan Under Threat, VOA News, 17 May 2010
EXCERPT: "Last year, more than three million people fled fighting in South Waziristan and other areas in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Most of these internally displaced people since have gone home. The United Nations estimates more than one million people remain displaced. U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan Martin Mogwanja says people...
Read the post »
Torture Risk Halts UK Deportation of Qaeda Operative
18 May 2010
Two Pakistani Students Pose "Serious Threat" but Can Stay in UK, The Guardian, 18 May 2010
EXCERPT: "Britain's counter-terrorism strategy was thrown into turmoil today when a judge ruled that two Pakistani students posed a serious threat to national security but could not be deported because of the risk that they would be tortured or killed in their own country. A special immigration court ruled that Abid Naseer was...
Read the post »