China and Afghanistan sign landmark deals

China's domestic security chief signs economic agreements and pledges to help "train, fund and equip Afghan police".

23 September 2012 Last updated at 16:05 ET

Anti-Islam film: US condemns Pakistan minister's bounty

The US state department has condemned a Pakistani minister's offer of $100,000 (£61,600) for the death of the American maker of an anti-Islam film.

It said the step was "inflammatory and inappropriate".

Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour made the offer after a wave of protests against the film across Pakistan and the wider Muslim world.

Dozens have died in clashes between police and protesters in Pakistan and countries such as Tunisia and Sudan.

Sunday saw a fresh round of protests over the film in Pakistan, Nigeria, Greece and Turkey.

Pakistani minister offers bounty for anti-Islam filmmaker

Pakistan’s government on Sunday sought to distance itself from a cabinet minister’s offer of a $100,000 reward for killing the maker of an anti-Islam film that has triggered protests across the Muslim world.

 

India hit by national strike over economic reforms

BHUBANESWAR/NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) - Schools, businesses and government offices were shut in many parts of India on Thursday as protesters blocked roads and trains as part of a one-day nationwide strike against sweeping economic reforms announced by the government last week.
The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and smaller parties from both the political left and right called the strike to protest against a 14 percent increase in heavily subsidized diesel prices, and a government decision that opens the door to foreign supermarket chains investing in India.
The measures, part of a package of economic reforms aimed at boosting a sharply slowing economy, have triggered a political firestorm. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's biggest ally, the Trinamool Congress party, said it would pull out of the coalition on Friday unless the reforms were reversed, raising the risk of an early election.

Afghanistan bans Pakistani newspapers, cites propaganda

By NBC News and news services September 24, 2012, 4:35 pm NBCNews.com Roberto Schmidt / Pool / EPA Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, right, meets Mahmood Khan Achakzai, a Pakistani politician and leader of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, at the presidential palace in Kabul on Saturday. Afghanistan has set in motion plans to ban the entry of all newspapers from Pakistan. Afghanistan has banned all Pakistani newspapers over what security officials say is anti-government propaganda aimed at Kabul, the Ministry of Interior said on Saturday, in a move likely to worsen already tense cross-border ties. The deputy interior minister in Afghanistan is ordering the Zone One border police commander to stop all the Pakistani newspapers coming from Pakistan through Torkham borders. The statement says the Pakistani newspapers are an easy source for the Taliban to convey their message, which can change the minds of Afghans. The main provinces where the papers are distributed are the Nangarhar, Kunar and Noristan provinces.

Final US 'surge' troops withdraw from Afghanistan

Withdrawal comes as the security transition to Afghan forces is in trouble, threatened by spike in so-called insider attacks

 

US troops on patrol in Afghanistan. Photograph: Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images

The last of the 33,000 'surge' troops ordered into Afghanistan by President Barack Obama more than three years ago have withdrawn from the country, returning the US presence to pre-surge levels.
The US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, said the surge had accomplished "its objectives of reversing the Taliban momentum on the battlefield and dramatically increase the size and capability of the Afghan national security forces"

Pakistan official offers $100,000 reward for killing of maker of anti-Prophet Muhammad film

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Narinder Nanu / AFP - Getty Images

A file photo taken on May 19, 2011 shows Pakistani Federal Railways Minister Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour addressing the media in Amritsar.

 

 

 

By NBC News and news services

A Pakistani government minister on Saturday announced a $100,000 bounty for the killing of the person who produced an online film that denigrates the Prophet Muhammad.
Federal Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmed Bilour also asked the Taliban and al-Qaida to extend support to the would-be killer.
Speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club, the federal minister said whoever is responsible for blasphemy deserves death.

NATO: Insurgent attacks in Afghanistan down 5 percent for year

The international military coalition in Afghanistan says insurgent attacks have decreased 9 percent in August, compared with the same month last year -- a trend that continues a decline after a spike in attacks in May and June.

US drone strike kills 5 militants in Pakistan, officials say

 A pair of missiles fired from an unmanned American spy aircraft slammed into a militant hideout in northwestern Pakistan on Monday evening, killing five militants, said Pakistani intelligence officials.
The two officials said missiles from the drone aircraft hit the village of Dawar Musaki in the North Waziristan region, which borders Afghanistan to the west. The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Anti-US protests in Pakistan turn deadly

Tens of thousands take to city streets in anger over anti-Islam film, with several killed as protests turn violent

 

A Pakistani man brandishes a stick near burning police vehicles during protests against the US-made anti-Islam film in Karachi. Photograph: Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images

Violent anti-US demonstrations have erupted across Pakistan after a week of rising anger and the fateful decision by the government to declare a national day of protest against the US film that mocks Islam's prophet.

Obama denounces anti-Islam film in TV advert

By the 20/09/2012 - 21:20

The US Embassy in Islamabad is spending $70,000 to run advertisements on Pakistani TV showing US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denouncing an anti-Islam video that has sparked protests in many Muslim nations.

The American Embassy in Islamabad, in a bid to tamp down public rage over the anti-Islam film produced in the U.S., is spending $70,000 to air an ad on Pakistani television that features President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton denouncing the video.

Protests over anti-Islam film turn deadly in PakistanBy the 21/09/ - 15:49

At least 15 people were killed during anti-US protests in Pakistan on Friday, with thousands joining demonstrations in Karachi in the latest unrest sparked by an amateur film produced in the United States that insults the Prophet Mohammed.

Muslim protests against insults to the Prophet Mohammad turned violent in Pakistan, where at least 15 people were killed on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, but remained mostly peaceful in other Islamic countries.

In France, where the publication of cartoons denigrating the Prophet stoked anger over an anti- Islam video made in California, authorities banned all protests over the issue.

“There will be strictly no exceptions. Demonstrations will be banned and broken up,” said Interior Minister Manuel Valls.

Protesters in Pakistan clash with police

 Authorities in Pakistan reportedly called on the army to help contain increasingly violent anti-American protests Thursday in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
The demonstrators said they were protesting against an anti-Islam film and its depiction of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Hundreds of protesters clashed with riot police, who used tear gas and batons against the protesters.
A crowd of more than 1,000 people tried to make their way to the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan inside a guarded enclave that houses embassies and government offices. Some protesters were students affiliated with the Islamist hardline Jamaat-e-Islami party.
The State Department issued an alert Thursday warning Americans to avoid non-essential travel to Pakistan amid the protests.

India and Pakistan agree to ease visa rules

Foreign ministers of two nations announce historic pact "aimed at easing travel of businessmen, tourists, and pilgrims". Last Modified: 08 Sep 2012 17:53 inShare2

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, right, and her Indian counterpart SM Krishna held talks in Islamabad [Reuters]

Pakistan and India have announced that they will ease tough visa restrictions, an important step forward in improving relations between the nuclear armed neighbours, their foreign ministers have said. The agreement, announced on Saturday, was the culmination of a visit by Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna to Pakistan as part of a tentative peace process that froze after Pakistani fighters attacked the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008, killing 166 people. A joint statement welcomed the signing of the new visa agreement which introduces a number of measures "aimed at easing travel of business persons, tourists, pilgrims, elderly and children, thereby facilitating contacts between peoples of the two countries".

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/29/13541819-red-cross-halts-most-pakistan-aid-in-wake-of-doctors-beheading?lite

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Banaras Khan / AFP - Getty Images, file Pakistani volunteers carry the

coffin of British aid worker Khalil Dale, before handing it over to Red

Cross officials in Quetta on April 30.

Red Cross halts most Pakistan aid in wake of doctor's beheading

By Mushtaq Yusufzai, NBC News

September 10, 2012, 6:59 am

NBCNews.com

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- The International Committee of

the Red Cross (ICRC) said late Tuesday it was halting

most aid programs in Pakistan due to fears over

deteriorating security – a concern underscored early

Wednesday when 19 soldiers and militants were killed in a

clash at a military checkpoint.

US hands over control of Bagram jail to Afghans

President Karzai hails formal transfer of controversial US-run prison to Kabul as victory for Afghan sovereignty

Associated Press in Kabul

guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 September 2012 04.58 EDT

A US soldier at Bagram: the US recently suspended the transfer of new detainees because of apparent disagreements with Kabul. Photograph: Staff/Reuters/Corbis

American officials have handed over formal control of Afghanistan's only large-scale US-run prison to Kabul, even as disagreements between the two countries over the Taliban and terror suspects held there marred the transfer.

'New radicals': Pakistan's Generation Y battles to shape country's future

By Amna Nawaz, NBC News

September 10, 2012, 6:37 am

NBCNews.com

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Khalida Brohi's new life began when another girl's life ended.

Born and raised in Pakistan's remote, conservative province of Balochistan, Brohi was 16 years old when thecommunity's traditions collided with her own personal beliefs.

"I found out about a girl who was murdered in the name of honor," she recalls. "I knew her and why she was

killed. She wanted to marry someone she liked and she was killed just for that. When I found out about this girl, Iknew that was the turning point in my life."