PAKISTAN

If it were in a position to do so, Al Qaeda would use Pakistan's nuclear weapons in its fight against the United States, a top leader of the group said in remarks aired Sunday.

About 40,000 Pakistanis are on the move even before a military offensive begins in the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan, U.N. officials said on Monday, and are headed for communities already stretched to the limit.

About 40,000 Pakistanis are on the move even before a military offensive begins in the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan, U.N. officials said on Monday, and are headed for communities already stretched to the limit.

A hunt by investors for a bright spot in the global economic downturn has led to the farm.

New York Times reporter David Rohde escaped from the Taliban Friday night, the paper reported, after seven months of captivity where the U.S. government and media outlets voluntarily decided not to report on the matter.

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to sign a $106 billion war bill into law in near future.

China's inland provinces are starting to feel the pinch of the global economic downturn companies and officials said at the 20th China Harbin International Economy and Trade Fair

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had sought more time to act against anti-India militants because Islamabad's fight with the Taliban had entered a crucial phase.

Leaders of emerging world powers discussed reducing their reliance on the United States, as well as boosting security and trade at two summits on Tuesday hosted by Russia but excluding the West.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, holding his first meeting with Pakistan's leader since last year's attacks on Mumbai, asked him to ensure militants could not operate from Pakistani territory.

The world's biggest emerging market powers will seek to craft a united front on repairing the global financial system when they meet for the first formal BRIC summit on Tuesday.

A veteran commander of top-secret special operations takes charge of the nearly 90,000 U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan Monday, promising to limit the civilian deaths that have cost Western troops Afghan support.

Pakistan has ordered the military to carry out an offensive against Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and his fighters, a provincial governor said on Sunday.

SingTel, Southeast Asia's largest telco, on Sunday launched in Singapore a service that lets mobile subscribers download music files and videos which it hopes to introduce to other parts of Asia.

Pakistan will increase defense spending by 15.3 percent in the 2009/10 fiscal year as it battles Taliban insurgents in the northwest on the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said on Saturday the Taliban wanted to take over the country and vowed to fight against militancy to the end.

India represents a sixth of humanity and its giant economy may help reshape global business, but its place in the world is still hindered by the country's struggles to find stability in its own dangerous neighbourhood.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved tripling U.S. aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for each of the next five years in a key part of a strategy to combat extremism with economic and social development.

A prominent anti-Taliban Muslim cleric who condemned suicide bombings was killed on Friday in a suicide attack in the Pakistani city of Lahore, police said.

U.S. intelligence Chief Leon Panetta said on Thursday he believes that al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is still hiding in Pakistan and the CIA hopes to find him through joint operations with Pakistani forces.

A plaque on the wall of the guard booth at the gate of the Pearl Continental Hotel in the Pakistani city of Peshawar reads: This hotel is protected by latest security system.