Amnesty International has accused in its recent 112-page report that Israel is denying Palestinians access to even the basic minimum of clean, safe water. It further states that Israeli water restrictions discriminate against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has termed the report flawed and has said that the Palestinians get more water than was agreed under the 1990s peace deal.
However, the fact is that on average Palestinian daily water consumption reaches 70 litres a day, compared with 300 litres for the Israelis. Does it means that in …

Two suicide car bombs exploded in downtown Baghdad Sunday, killing at least 136 people and delivering a powerful blow to the heart of the fragile city’s government in the worst attack of the year, officials said.
While violence has dropped dramatically in the country since the height of the sectarian tensions, such bombings like Sunday’s demonstrate the precarious nature of the security gains and the insurgency’s abilities to still pull off devastating attacks in the center of what is supposed to be one of Baghdad’s most secure areas.
Black smoke could be …

The wife of former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has died at a hospital in Chennai at the age of 42.
Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and National Assembly speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza today condoled the death of former cricket captain Wasim Akram’s wife Huma in Chennai.
In a message to Akram’s family, Prime Minister Gilani expressed his deep sorrow and grief and prayed to Almighty Allah to bless her soul and give courage to the bereaved family to bear their loss with equanimity.
National Assembly Speaker Mirza said she was shocked …

The Obama administration’s coordinator of policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke said he is hopeful that the November 7, 2009  election will not see a repeat of the widespread fraud that caused a U.N.-backed election investigation to throw out nearly one-third of the votes cast for Karzai in the August 20, 2009 balloting. That pushed Karzai below the 50 percent mark he needed to avoid a runoff.
Holbrooke said:
It is reasonable to hope that there will be less irregularities this time for several reasons. Three, the international community, including the …

NATO defense ministers acknowledged that operation in Afghanistan was not working and agreed that they needed a new approach to seize the initiative from Taliban and al-Qaeda in a recent meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia. NATO defense ministers also backed a plan to shift towards a full-fledged counter-insurgency strategy without elaborating how the new plan will be made to work, or commit troops to the move.
While addressing to reporters, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said:
It does not solve the problems in Afghanistan just to hunt down and kill individual terrorists. …

Pakistan army has launched offensive against the terrorists in the Waziristan area bordered with Afghanistan. Even before the attack was started, the terrorists started targeting the Pakistan army and other law enforcing agencies in Pakistan. Furthermore, there has been a number of suicidal attacks in different areas of Pakistan killing and injuring hundreds of people.
This is what Dawn’s editor has to say about Rehman Malik’s comment about the involvement of India in Balochistan:
Talking about Indian involvement in terrorists activities in Pakistan, the Interior Minister Rehman Malik has come down …

The UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan has said that economy of the United Arab Emirates was strong including Dubai despite the global recession.
Previously known as the Trucial States, the United Arab Emirates was formed in 1971 comprising of  seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al Qaiwain. The president of the United Arab Emirates is Khalifa bin  Zayed Bin Al Nahayan, who was elected president after the death of his father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in November 2004. …

The recent attack on Pakistan Army General Headquaters in Rawalpindi, Pakistan that resulted in deaths of 8 terrorists and dozens of army men and civilians.
Only one terrorist named Aqeel alias Dr. Usman was captured alive. He was the ringleader as well. He was reportedly behind the attack on Sirilankan Cricket Team in Lahore, Pakistan also.
It might be surprising to know that all the terrorists were wearing suicidal bomb jackets including Aqeel. The other terrorists blew themselves when they were about to be captured. However, Aqeel took off …

There is a proverb in Urdu language which can be translated some what like “Come bull and hit me” meaning asking for trouble by oneself. I think this proverb suites the situation perfectly because of the call by Muslim Canadian  Congress (MCC) to ban the burka or niqab in Canada.
The Muslim Canadian Congress consider burka a security risk as mentioned in the statement:
not only is the wearing of a face-mask a security hazard and has led to a number of bank heists in Canada and overseas, the burka or niqab …

One Laptop Per Child(OLPC) project for Afghanistan has designed a new pedal powered electric generator to provide electricity for laptops. The new design will make it easier for even children to charge the battery as they are using the laptop.
The design as shown in the picture consists of generator, a chain, gears and pedals. It seems to be a good idea but I am not sure for how long a child be able to use the laptop while pedaling for power at the same time. The design is not that child …