Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Afghanistan

Taliban Capture Afghan District In Southeast

(RFE/RL)

April 27, 2007 -- Provincial officials in Afghanistan say Taliban fighters captured a district government building in the southeastern Ghazni Province overnight.

TEXT SIZE - +

April 27, 2007

Ghazni's deputy governor, Mohammad Kazim Allahyer, said the district's
top administrator, the police chief, and three police officers were
killed.

Allahyer said government troops were reinforcing the area today and preparing to recapture the building. A Taliban spokesman claimed eight Afghan government officials were killed and that three police were captured.

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Phillippe Douste-Blazy said today that his country does not have long-term plans to keep troops in Afghanistan.

Douste-Blazy made the remarks just hours before a Taliban deadline for a French withdrawal from Afghanistan in exchange for the release of two French civilian hostages.

The two aid workers disappeared on April 3 in southwestern Afghanistan. A Taliban spokesman said today that the two would be killed if the French fail to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan by April 28.

(Reuters, AP, AFP)

A vendor in the central Bosnian town of Zenica sells heart-shaped cushions with proclamations of love for 1 euro each.

Love It (Or Hate It), It's Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day, the Western holiday celebrating love, has become a global phenomenon over the past two decades. The fall of communism and the emergence of the Internet have helped February 14 become something of an unofficial international day of romance. However, not all the passions the holiday stirs are related to love. While some countries have openly embraced the holiday, others are attempting to ban it or replace it with local customs. More

Gasoline prices have risen dramatically in Pakistan in recent years

In Pakistan, Cleaner Fuel Powers Supply, Safety Issues

Rising fuel prices have pushed Pakistan to become a global leader in using compressed natural gas (CNG) to fuel vehicles. More

Family members of missing Baluchs, mostly political activists, rally in protest on the eve of international Human Rights Day in Quetta, Balochistan, on December 10, 2011.

U.S. Hearing On Balochistan Raises Hackles, Awareness In Pakistan

The U.S. Congressional hearing last week on Balochistan, the largest of Pakistan's four provinces, though it was firmly rejected by Islamabad, is being seen in Pakistan as any eye-opener for the state and its security agencies. More