The number of people displaced by fighting in Pakistan’s northwestern Swat valley has risen to more than 1.4 million, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said on Monday.
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CIA Director Leon Panetta said Monday the United States does not know the location of all of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons but is confident the country has them secure.
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The U.N. refugee agency said Monday that nearly 1.5 million people have fled their homes in Pakistan this month, saying that fighting between government forces and Taliban militants is uprooting more people faster than probably any conflict since the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s.
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Pakistan said troops were locked in bloody street battles with Taliban fighters in the northwest as rival politicians united behind the offensive to eliminate Islamist militants.
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WASHINGTON: Pakistan is not using US military assistance to expand its nuclear arsenal, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said on Monday.”I am not aware of any US aid that’’s gone towards nuclear weapons,” Mullen told a gathering at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think-tank.He said that the one exception was a portion of US funds in the past few years focused on “improving” security safeguards for Pakistan’’s nuclear weapons, “which is exactly what we like.”Last week Mullen confirmed that Pakistan was seeking to bolster its nuclear arsenal but he avoided further comment on the subject at Monday’’s event.At a congressional hearing on Friday, Senator Jim Webb asked the top ranking military officer if he had evidence that Pakistan was developing new nuclear weapons systems and warheads. “Yes,” Mullen replied, without elaborating.Webb, a Democrat from Virginia, said Pakistan’’s moves were cause for “enormous concern” and yet were receiving less public attention than Iran’’s nuclear program.”We”re spending a lot of time talking about the potential that Iran might have nuclear weapon capability and this is a regime that’’s far less stable and that should be a part of our debate,” Webb said at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.Webb and other members of Congress have questioned if billions in US military aid has been spent as intended by the Pakistani government.On Monday, Mullen reiterated that he was encouraged with the Pakistan military’’s recent offensive against the Taliban in the northwest but he said the bigger question was whether Islamabad would keep up the pressure on the Islamists in the longer term.”They need to sustain it. They need to provide sustained security for their people,” Mullen said.He played down suggestions that the threat posed by the Taliban meant the Pakistani state was near collapse. “I don”t believe they are a country near failure,” he said.
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LAHOREPunjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has made a fervent appeal to the people of Punjab to come forward with the spirit of sacrifice and
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PESHAWAR: Local Taliban in the Mohmand Agency on Monday announced that they had killed two soldiers of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC), who were
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U.S. airstrikes aimed at al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan have been “very effective,” with few civilian deaths as a result, CIA Director Leon Panetta said Monday in a rare public acknowledgment of the raids.
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CENTURION: Australasians Brendon McCullum and Brad Hodge were the heroes as Kolkata Knight Riders shocked Chennai Super Kings Monday in an Indian Premier League (IPL) thriller here on Monday. Skipper McCullum from New Zealand struck 81 runs and Australian Hodge an undefeated 71 as Kolkata scored a single off the last ball at Centurion Park and triumphed by seven wickets.It was only the second win in 13 outings for the bottom team in the Twenty20 extravaganza while a Chennai side lacking injured star batsman Matthew Hayden suffered their fifth loss of the group phase which finishes Thursday. Suresh Raina top scored for Chennai with 52 as they made 188-3 in 20 overs on a cold, late autumn evening at the Test venue halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria.McCullum was quickly into his stride as Kolkata chased a daunting total, reaching a half century during the sixth over before being bowled by Shadab Jakati with his side on 124-2 after 13 overs. But Hodge carried the fight to Chennai and after going into the final over needing six runs to win, it came down the final ball which wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha scrambled for a single to avoid a super-over climax. “Winning was far more important than my contribution,” said modest man of the match Hodge. “We have tried so hard in the IPL only to finish on the wrong side of results.”McCullum added: “I would not wish the last four weeks on my worst enemy, but the boys kept lifting themselves off the floor and tonight we got over the line. Now we must enjoy ourselves.” Chennai skipper MS Dhoni said: “We got a lot of runs only for our opponents to bat brilliantly. Now we face the same situation as last year of needing a win from our final match to clinch a semi-finals place.” Kolkata face defending champions Rajasthan Royals and Chennai meet Kings XI Punjab Wednesday in a Durban double-header.
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Karachi Residents have cried foul over the permission by the Defence Housing Authority to allow the construction of a private hospital on a va
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