F ormer Indian intelligence official Bahukutumbi Ramam questions if the Islamabad has exaggerated the damage caused by floods in Pakistan to get aid.
He also discusses the possible presence of Indian nationals in the Somalian terrorist group al Shabaab.
Indrani Bagchi writes about this too, at The Times of India.
The Asian Human Rights Commission, in a release, says flood waters were selectively diverted away from an airbase being used by US forces.
The New York Times reports the Pakistani motive behind the arrest of a peacemaking Taliban leader.
‘…Pakistani officials are telling a very different story. They say they set out to capture Mr. Baradar, and used the C.I.A. to help them do it, because they wanted to shut down secret peace talks that Mr. Baradar had been conducting with the Afghan government that excluded Pakistan, the Taliban’s longtime backer.’
Algeria has invited India to partner in a project to build a trans-Saharan oil pipeline from Nigeria, reports India Abroad News Service in The Economic Times.
The Wall Street Journal explains how Wikileaks is keeping its funding secret.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was accused of rape recently in Sweden but authorities dropped the charges later.
The Washington Post reports a move by the US and Afghanistan to track the flow of cash through Kabul airport to prevent corruption.
North Korea, already on Twitter has now joined Facebook too, reports the Associated Press. At around the same time the Workers Party of Korea is holding a big meeting. The Wall Street Journal says ‘…some North Korea watchers think the meeting may reveal a bigger surprise: a step away from dictatorship to collective rule’.
Iran has shut down the operations of a cosmetics company and detained its workers, possibly because some of them are women.
Babak Deghanpisheh writes about the position of power Moqtada al Sadr has gained after the departure of US troops from Iraq, in Foreign Policy.
And Douglas Farah speculates about why Russia might be worried about the arrest and extradition of the Lord of War, Victor Bout to the US.
