AFGHANISTAN

By Adrian Ash A dead, defunct currency says the world's money supply is about to unleash an awful inflation

Prince Harry, third in line to British throne,has been serving on the front line in Afghanistan with the British Army, the Ministry of Defense confirmed on Thursday.

Prince Harry of Great Britain has been serving with the British Army on the front lines in Afghanistan since December and has seen combat, the Ministry of Defense said on Thursday.

Pakistani army chief General Pervez Kayani is appointing a new head of military intelligence, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, the first major reshuffle in the military since President Pervez Musharraf quit the army. Musharraf, who seized power as a general in 1999, stepped down as army chief in November to become a civilian president of the country, which has been ruled by the military for more than half of the 60 years since its independence

The leaders of the two top parties in Pakistan's recent election meet on Thursday to discuss forming a coalition government that could force President Pervez Musharraf out of power. Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 military coup in the nuclear-armed country and has been one of Washington's top Muslim allies against al Qaeda, is vulnerable to a hostile parliament after his supporters were heavily defeated in Monday's election.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Monday he backed a brief pause in U.S. troop reductions from Iraq once an initial pullout of five combat brigades has been completed in July.

A suspected U.S. missile strike that killed up to 13 foreign militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan region this week had targeted second or third tier al Qaeda leaders, according to residents in the tribal area.

As President George W. Bush addresses lawmakers and the American people in his final State of the Union speech tonight, among his goals will be to boost the nation's economy, reauthorize education and anti-terrorism surveillance laws, maintain active support for war in Iraq and diversify the nation's energy supply.

An explosion killed a soldier from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in southern Afghanistan and wounded five others, the force said on Monday.

U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to the Middle East this week will evoke widespread hostility in a region where many view him as a war-monger pursuing U.S.-Israeli hegemony, not peace and democracy. In the Arab street, Bush is seen as the man whose invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq to wage war on terrorism brought chaos to the region and more recruits to al Qaeda.

Pakistan will not allow any country to conduct military operations on its territory, officials said on Monday, rejecting a report that said the United States was considering authorizing its forces to act in Pakistan. The New York Times said on Sunday the U.S. government was considering expanding the authority of the CIA and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in Pakistan....

Three British residents held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for suspected terrorists arrived in Britain on Wednesday after more than four years in captivity and two were promptly arrested, police said.

Pakistani lawyers and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif took to the streets on Thursday to demand President Pervez Musharraf reinstate sacked judges.

In retrospect, once all the Oscar-season fireworks are over, it's often possible to view the eventual winner as an exemplar of the prevailing zeitgeist. Chicago (2002) seemed to ride a growing wave of cynicism about the interplay between celebrity, the media and the justice system.

U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday stepped up pressure on lawmakers to pass his Iraq war funding request, while a senior Democrat said a deal might be possible.

President Bush asked Congress to approve billions of additional dollars to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on Thursday.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday he would end a state of emergency next month, bowing to domestic and international pressure to restore normal government ahead of general elections in January.

General Pervez Musharraf finally quit as Pakistan army chief on Wednesday, trading the post for a second five-year term as president and fulfilling a promise many Pakistanis doubted he would keep.

Gold gained more than $6 an ounce on Friday as bargain hunting intensified after the U.S. dollar tumbled to record lows against the euro on expectations the Federal Reserve will slash interest rates next month.

The Internet has become a key teaching tool for Islamist militants who are using it to educate recruits in cyber training camps, crime and security experts said on Wednesday.

Profits from opium cultivation are fuelling the insurgency in Afghanistan, the United Nations said on Friday, in a new call on NATO to crack down on the country's burgeoning drugs trade.