South Asia

By Ashfaq Yusufzai | (Inter Press Service) | – – PESHAWAR, Pakistan (IPS) – For years, Robina Shah has dreamed of joining the police force. Ever since her father, a police constable, was killed in a 2013 Taliban suicide attack in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan’s northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, she has longed to carry on […]

Desertification

Climate Change-Driven Drought in Karachi hits Poor Hardest

contributors

By Zofeen Ebrahim | {Inter Press Service) | – – KARACHI (IPS) – Over 950 people have perished in just five days. The morgues, already filled to capacity, are piling up with bodies, and in over-crowded hospitals the threat of further deaths hangs in the air. Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, home to over 23 […]

Climate Change

As 700 Die in Pakistan from Extreme Heat, Pakistanis Deny Climate Change

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Pakistan is in the midst of an extreme heat wave with highs around 110 degrees F., which has killed 700 persons in the past 3 days. Three weeks ago it was India’s turn, when extreme heat killed 1200 in the country’s south. Despite the severe dangers […]

Africa

By the Time Washington wakes up to China’s Eurasian Strategy will it be too Late?

contributors

By Alfred W. McCoy | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – For even the greatest of empires, geography is often destiny. You wouldn’t know it in Washington, though. America’s political, national security, and foreign policy elites continue to ignore the basics of geopolitics that have shaped the fate of world empires for the past 500 years. Consequently, […]

Afghanistan

Why Obama is bucking Saudis, Israel on Iran: Deal would much Strengthen US Security

contributors

By Brian M Downing | (Informed Comment) | – The dialog between the US and Iran moves ahead, albeit haltingly. Opposition comes from important groups in both Tehran and Washington – as well as in a few Middle Eastern capitals. In Washington, the issue is decried as a sign of the administration’s naivety regarding world […]

Islam

Over 40 Ismaili Shiites shot down by Sunni Extremists in Pakistan

contributors

BBC | – “Dozens of people are thought to have died after an attack by gunmen on a bus in Karachi. They surrounded the bus, which was carrying Ismaili Shia Muslims, and opened fire. It is believed that there were up to 60 people on board the bus, including women and children.” Dozens killed in […]

Afghanistan

Farkhunda is Our Sister: A “Martyr” to women and the Making of a New Afghanistan?

contributors

By Ann Jones | (Tomdispatch.com) | — I went to Kabul, Afghanistan, in March to see old friends. By chance, I arrived the day after a woman had been beaten to death and burned by a mob of young men. The world would soon come to know her name: Farkhunda. The name means “auspicious” or […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s Endless War: Between the US, Taliban and ISIL

contributors

By Brian M. Downing | (Informed Comment) | – War is largely a seasonal activity in Afghanistan. Winters are harsh and fighters need to work fields and tend herds. With spring, another fighting season is underway. This year will be different from its many predecessors. US ground troops are no longer engaged in large numbers; […]

Education

Pakistan – Court jails 10 for life over attack on Malala and on Women’s Education

contributors

France24 English | – An anti-terror court in Pakistan has sentenced 10 men for their roles in the 2012 attack on Malala Yousafzai. France24 English: “PAKISTAN – Court jails 10 for life over Malala attack”