Iran signed a $3 billion deal with Boeing, backed Qatar against the Saudis, scored a big victory in Syria and reached out to Hamas. Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar examines how the Qatar versus Saudi Arabia standoff is quickly changing alignments in the Middle East.
Driven from its self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State is down but not out. Where once they confronted armies, the extremist Islamist group's adherents have now staged hit-and-run raids and suicide attacks. In some cases, the group has claimed responsibility for atrocities, including the bombings of churches and hotels in Sri Lanka that killed at least 253 people. Its involvement is not always proven, but even if the link is ideological rather than operational, Islamic State still poses a security threat in many countries.
Suspected militants stormed an airbase in Karachi late on Sunday night, rocking one of Pakistan's heavily guarded military installations with fiery explosions and leaving at least 10 people dead just three-weeks after the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Pakistani Parliamentarians were left stunned when a lawmaker led a prayer for slain al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in the National Assembly despite being told by Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi not to do so.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says China 'protects' violent Islamic terror groups from UN sanctions.
Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud on Wednesday dismissed the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Moqren bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud, and replaced him with the Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef.
For a wannabe terrorist like Faisal Shahzad, accused in the Times Square bombing plot, shopping for help in Pakistan is no problem as the country is like a supermarket with money and weapons freely available for potential jihadists, says Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria.
A Pakistani official, who spoke on conditions of anonymity, said that Sheik Mohammed Rehan, an alleged member of JeM -- a banned terror group having close relations with the Al-Qaeda -- drove with Shahzad from Karachi to Peshawar in July 2009, The Los Angeles Times reports.
Expressing concern over growing dangerous trends in Pakistan, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal on Sunday said that its political leadership should unite to fight the menace of terrorism.
In a landmark development, King Abdullah has appointed Norah al-Faiz as deputy minister with special responsibility for female education. She will report to Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, who has been appointed as the education minister
Prince Turki, former chief of the Saudi Intelligence Service and former Ambassador to US, said it's not understandable that there should be unemployed people in Gulf or Arab countries, while these nations had millions of foreign workers.
These women, like Michelle Obama, did not wear a headscarf in Saudi Arabia
'The attacks made clear to all the Gulf States that Pakistan was the nursery and sanctuary of extremist violence and that this violence threatened all the countries in the region.'
Some of the best photographs, clicked across the globe in January.
Faisal Hossain and Abdur Razzak replaced Al-Sahariar and Manjurul Islam \n\nin the team for the West Indies tour.\n\n
The White House has ruled out sending Ahmed Abu Khatallah, a key suspect in the attacks at the United States consulate in Benghazi in September 2012, to the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention center and asserted that he would be tried through the federal court system.
Get the latest from the World of football news and more on Rediff.com.
Despite difficult working conditions, Indians are still seeking jobs in Gulf countries
Khairul Islam alias Fahim, a leader of intelligence wing of the outlawed Ansar al-Islam also known as Ansarullah Bangla Team, was arrested from Kamlapur Rail Station area in Dhaka on Friday night, said Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner of the Detective Branch of Police.
On Tuesday, devout Shiite Muslims commemorated the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson with mass flagellation ceremonies.
After a 7-year hiatus, Pakistan Monday showcased its growing military might, including tactical nuclear missiles and fighter jets, at a joint tri-service parade to celebrate the National Day in a symbolic show of strength in the war against the Taliban.
There is no reason to believe that anyone in the highest ranks of the Pakistan government knew about the location of Osama bin Laden, the White House has said.
The perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attack, who shot dead 166 people, had confessed to details that should have been enough to hang him, but Pakistan enjoyed his anti-India rhetoric and let him spread his tentacles. A revealing excerpt from Khaled Ahmed's Pakistan's Terror Conundrum.
'They have the same pet peeves, the same ruse, the same beliefs, the same justifications.' 'All terrorists thrive on the premise that by perpetuating violence and bloodshed on innocents, they are justifying the injustices done to their community.'
Syria has appealed to the UN to try to "prevent any aggression" against it and said US military action would amount to "support for Al Qaeda and its affiliates," even as President Barack Obama today lobbied with war-weary American lawmakers to convince them for a strike.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has started preparing the ground to rescue Indians who are expected to be deported from Saudi Arabia as it goes ahead with its new job law, Nitaqat. Sheela Bhatt reports
The world's most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden spending several years in a mansion in Abbottabad.
In the Middle East, which is already coping with the Qatar-Saudi Arabia tensions, comes another pressure point.
A Bangladeshi publisher, who worked with slain atheist writer and blogger Avijit Roy, was on Saturday hacked to death by unidentified assailants in Dhaka, shortly after two secular bloggers and another publisher of Roy were attacked in a separate incident.
Against the backdrop of Pakistan's opposition to American drone strikes, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said the pilotless aircraft should be used only for gathering intelligence.
Strong winds and heavy rains caused the crane to fall
'The more emphatic denial of any proposal for an OIC foreign ministers meet in Islamabad appears aimed at keeping Pakistan on a leash,' notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
'A Russia-Iran-China-Pakistan geopolitical grouping is evolving at this point of time.' 'Given that the grouping is in its nascent stages, will this week's terrorist attack in Mirjaveh affect it?' asks Aveek Sen.
Meanwhile, Pakistan said the terrorist attack in Pulwama district is "a matter of grave concern" even as it strongly rejected Indian media and government's allegations of the country's link to the strike "without" probe.
'I like to challenge myself. Competing against players much younger than me is something that I want to keep doing,' says Chess Legend Viswanathan Anand
Combating threat of terrorism and radicalisation are expected to figure high on the agenda of the talks between Modi and the leadership of Saudi Arabia, a country known as spiritual home of Islam which recently has formed a major coalition of 34 Muslim nations to fight terror, particularly the Islamic State.
'Naik is an outcome of an image-centric Islam, which is linked to the technological changes introduced by new media.' 'English educated upper middle class Muslims embraced Naik's image-centric Islam in the 1990s.' 'Television converted him into a religious object.'
The suspect was hiding in a house in Kakori area. The densely populated neighbourhood was cordoned off and at least 20 commandos were involved in the operation, police said.
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