Pakistan accepts $5m flood aid from India
August 21, 2010
Pakistan has accepted $5m (£3.2m) in aid from its rival and neighbour India, as donors pledged more money for the flood-hit country.
Abdullah Haroon, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador, welcomed the offer saying the disaster transcended any differences the two countries had.
Pakistan floods: Rescuers aim to reach stranded victims
August 3, 2010
Rescue teams in northern Pakistan are battling to reach tens of thousands of people still cut off by floodwaters.
Aid agencies said entire villages had been washed away in the region’s worst flooding for 80 years.
Koh-i-Noor diamond ’staying put’ in UK says Cameron
July 29, 2010
David Cameron has rejected calls for the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond, which has been part of the Crown Jewels for 150 years, to be returned to India.
The diamond, which was mined in India, was seized by the East India Company in 1849 and presented to Queen Victoria.
Bangladesh indicts Jamaat-e-Islami four on war crimes
July 26, 2010
Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal, which is investigating the country’s 1971 liberation struggle against Pakistan, has issued its first arrest warrants.
Court officials told the BBC the war crimes indictments targeted four leaders of Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami, already in custody.
Pakistan drone attack ‘kills 16 militants’
July 24, 2010
Missiles fired by a US drone aircraft have killed at least 16 militants in north-west Pakistan, officials say.
At least five missiles hit a compound used by insurgents in South Waziristan near the Afghan border, the Pakistani security officials said.
Dozens die in West Bengal train crash
July 19, 2010
A train crash in eastern India has killed at least 60 people and injured another 120, officials say.
A speeding passenger express hit another train waiting at a station in the town of Sainthia, West Bengal state, early on Monday.
Amnesty warns of healthcare crisis in North Korea
July 15, 2010
North Korea is failing to provide the most basic healthcare needs for its people, Amnesty International warns.
An investigation by the human rights watchdog found barely functioning hospitals, poor hygiene and epidemics made worse by widespread malnutrition.
Many people were also too poor to pay for treatment, the report citing North Koreans and health workers said.
Sri Lanka minister begins ‘fast’ outside UN office
July 8, 2010
A Sri Lankan minister says he has begun a hunger strike outside the UN’s Colombo offices demanding that it stop its probe into alleged war crimes.
Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa’s announcement follows two days of demonstrations outside the office by protesters angry over the inquiry.
Norway ‘al-Qaeda’ bomb plot: Three arrested in Oslo
July 8, 2010
Three people have been arrested in Norway on suspicion of preparing terrorist attacks.
Unnamed Norwegian and US officials told the AP news agency that the men were members of al-Qaeda and had been under surveillance for a year.
They said it was not clear whether the men had selected a target, but they were attempting to make peroxide bombs.
The BBC’s security correspondent says Norway may have been targeted because it has troops in Afghanistan.
Norwegian police are due to hold a news conference.
On Wednesday, US prosecutors charged five men in New York over a plot to bomb the underground system. The plot was foiled in September.
Source: bbc.co.uk/
Gen Petraeus formally takes over Afghanistan campaign
July 6, 2010
US Gen David Petraeus has formally taken command of the 130,000-strong international force battling insurgents in Afghanistan.
The general, whose strategy in Iraq won praise and reduced violence, took over at a modest military ceremony in Kabul.