INTERNATIONAL

Two of the foreign ships experienced similar forms of sabotage, creating allegations of Israeli responsibility.     The reports that two of the foreign flagged ships planning to be part of the ten vessel Freedom Flotilla II experienced similar forms of disabling sabotage creates strong circumstantial evidence of Israeli responsibility. It stretches the imagination to suppose that a sophisticated cutting …

  When the Prophet (PBUH) could forgive a person of unquestionable antagonism towards Islam, why can the ulema of Pakistan not let off a poor village woman who is not a known enemy of our religion and whose guilt has not been established beyond doubt?   The brutal assassination of Salmaan Taseer, the outspoken governor of Punjab, is an ominous indication that Pakistan …

Interim leader's speech fails to convince protesters blocking off Cairo bureaucratic headquarters and road to Suez canal   Egyptian protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Photograph: Mohamed Hossam/AFP/Getty Images     Protests have brought Egypt's administrative and commercial nerve centres to a standstill , as government attempts to stem a growing wave of opposition to military rule succeeded only in galvanising …

KABUL, Afghanistan — Canada has formally ended its combat mission in Afghanistan after years of being on the front lines of the fight against Taliban insurgents in the south. Canada is the sixth largest troop-contributing nation, behind the U.S. and European countries. While 2,850 Canadian combat troops are going home, 950 others have started streaming into the country to help train Afghan security …

IN THE TOILETS WITH THEIR TAILS BETWEEN THEIR LEGS Critics of the war in Afghanistan are fond of asking: "What would victory look like? How will we know when we’ve won?" In view of the latest events in that war-torn country, it’s fair to stand that question on its head and ask: What would defeat look like?    It looks like this: as …

  The Obama administration appears to have given a green light to an Israeli attack on an unarmed flotilla carrying peace and human rights activists — including a vessel with 50 Americans on board — bound for the besieged Gaza Strip. At a press conference on June 24, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized the flotilla organized by the Free Gaza Campaign …