Afghanistan

The Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan has promised to supply natural gas for the proposed Nabucco pipeline -- a project that could allow European Union (EU) countries to rely less on Russian energy in the future.

The Dutch government said on Thursday it will cut 10,000 defence ministry jobs as part of austerity measures to reduce the budget deficit.

France is verifying the authenticity of a broadcast message by an al-Qaeda off-shoot demanding troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in return for the safety of their nationals kidnapped in Niger. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) also suggested direct negotiations with al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden over hostages' issue. Five French nationals along with two Africans, all employees of French firms Areva and Vinci operating in the mining town of Arlit in Niger were kidnapped on September 16.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is likely to be detained for questioning over his alleged connection to a rape case. The Director of Prosecution, Marianne Ny, has requested the District Court of Stockholm to detain Assange, claiming that they have not been able to meet with him to accomplish the interrogations.

President Obama, last Saturday in Japan, reiterated his administration’s commitment to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to get the new START Treaty approved by the lame-duck U.S. Senate before the year is out.

Storied Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who faces trial in the U.S. for plotting to kill Americans by making weapons available to terror outfits, was extradited to the U.S. on Tuesday, almost three months after a Thai court overturned his plea contesting an earlier extradition verdict.

The Obama administration is to present a transition plan for Afghanistan at the upcoming NATO summit in Lisbon. A gradual reduction of troops is to begin in July next year and all combat operations will end in 2014 as scheduled. The plan is also expected to suggest stepping up the efforts to build up the Afghan security forces.

President Barack Obama's 10-day Asian tour has been dubbed a failure by media owing to key failures in binding together the much-awaited free trade pact with South Korea and the inability to persuade a majority of the G-20 nations to support the U.S. position on current account imbalances.

Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan rise as both sides prepare themselves to contest each other over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Taliban fighters attacked a NATO military base in Eastern Afghanistan in the early hours of Saturday. Eight insurgents, including two with suicide vests on, were killed in a gun battle with the Afghan and International forces. This is the second such attack on NATO bases in the past six months.

The suicide concoction of fiat currency, debt, military empire, and delusion has been painless for those in power, but painful for the working middle class of this country.

Most of the people in Pakistan view the US as an enemy and see a significant threat from India though extremist groups are active in the country, said a poll from Pew Research Centre