PAKISTAN

Suspected Taliban militants wearing army uniforms attacked the Pakistani army's headquarters on Saturday, killing six soldiers and triggering a battle in which four gunmen died, military officials said.

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan has recommended an increase of 40,000 troops as the minimum necessary to prevail, two sources familiar with his recommendations said on Thursday.

A suspected suicide car-bomber killed 49 people on Friday in the Pakistani city of Peshawar in an attack that the government said underscored the need for an all-out offensive against the Pakistani Taliban.

A request from the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan for additional troops has been transferred to President Barack Obama for review and has started working its way through the military chain of command, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

A prominent al Qaeda militant urged Uighurs in Xianjiang to make serious preparations for a holy war against oppressive China and called on fellow Muslims to offer support.

Pakistan's army on Wednesday expressed serious concern about a U.S. aid bill that critics say contains conditions that amount to a humiliating violation of sovereignty as parliament began a debate on the U.S. aid.

President Barack Obama told congressional leaders on Tuesday his decision on a new Afghan war strategy would not make everyone happy, while Republicans urged him to heed his military commander's call for more troops.

The Afghan Taliban pose no threat to the West but will continue their fight against occupying foreign forces, they said on Wednesday, the eighth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that removed them from power.

A recently disrupted bombing plot represented one of the most serious security threats to the United States since the September 11 attacks, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday vowed the United States would keep relentless pressure on al Qaeda and ensure extremist networks, which he called a principle threat, do not find safe havens overseas.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates blamed the Taliban's revival on a past failure to deploy enough troops to Afghanistan and said U.S. forces would not withdraw whatever the result of President Barack Obama's strategy review.

Nearly 2 million children under five die from lack of care in India every year, more than in any other country, said a new report released on Monday which blames poor public health spending and entrenched inequalities.

The new Pakistani Taliban chief released a new video clip Sunday on Pakistani television, vowing to retaliate against the U.S. and Pakistan.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday called for patience and discretion as President Barack Obama decides how to conduct the war in Afghanistan, urging advisers to speak candidly but privately on strategy.

The new chief of Pakistani Taliban militants who U.S. and Pakistani officials said might be dead has surfaced to meet journalists in his stronghold of South Waziristan.

A suicide bomber dressed as a paramilitary soldier attacked an office of the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) in the Pakistani capital on Monday, killing five staff members, government and U.N. officials said.

Indian warships detained a North Korean cargo ship for dropping anchor in Indian waters without permission, a navy spokesman said on Sunday.

The United Nations put off taking action Friday on a U.N. report that accuses both Israel and Palestinian militants of war crimes in Gaza, after U.S. pressure aimed at getting the peace process back on track.

The United States should provide information about top militants in Pakistan, a government minister said on Thursday, as Washington stepped up pressure on Islamabad to go after Taliban leaders.

The Afghan-born man at the center of a U.S. anti-terrorism probe pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to conspiring to set off a bomb in the United States, and a federal judge ordered him held without bail.

If President Barack Obama decides to send 30,000 to 40,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, he will be doing it against the advice of some advisers and leading Democrats in Congress.