Pak among top 25 military spenders in world: Report

October 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Despite the US providing huge amounts of funds to Pakistan to enable it fight the menace of terrorism, Islamabad has failed to ensure that the monetary assistance is utilized exactly for the purpose it is meant for. A large portion of international aid has been misutilised by Pakistan, and the assistance meant for enabling the country's security forces to fight against the extremists vanishes into a proverbial 'black hole', a report in the Boston Globe said.

October 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The United States has reportedly established a secret military training camp just a few kilometers away from Islamabad. According to The Nation, just 30 kilometers away from Islamabad, situated in the heart of an industrial estate, exists a creepy structure surrounded by high walls.

September 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US Congress has approved aid of $2.376 billion for Pakistan, a media report Tuesday said. The amount is meant for fiscal 2008-09, Geo TV reported.

September 8th, 2009 BERLIN - A study of education round the globe forecast Tuesday that the world recession may paradoxically benefit societies, since it will prompt the next generation to get a better education. The Education at a Glance report was issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris and Berlin.

September 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US not only increased its arms sales by nearly 50 percent last year but its share of world weapons sales also rose to more than two-thirds despite the global economic downturn, a newspaper reported Monday. The country expanded its ranking as the top weapons supplier with sales of $37.8 billion last year, or 68 percent of the world total, up from $25.4 billion in 2007, said The New York Times, citing a report from the Congressional Research Service, considered the US Congress' "think tank".

August 16th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Aharon Leshno Yaar, has said that the UN Gaza report was written solely "to appease the Arab-controlled Human Rights Council." Leshno Yaar claimed that the report was "written by Palestinians in Ramallah" and it was "screened by Palestinian lawyers in Geneva in order to satisfy Palestinian diplomats on the Human Rights Council."e said the report was "totally biased" and based on unconfirmed information. "It ignores the facts and the Israeli positions.

July 12th, 2009 COLOMBO - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has effected a major reshuffle in the country's military command appointing new army and navy commanders just two months after the military won a decades-long battle against Tamil rebels. Army Chief Sarath Fonseka has been appointed the chief of defence staff, while Major General Jagath Jayasuriya as the new army commander, the Daily Mirror reported Sunday.

July 9th, 2009 UNESCO: U.S military inflicted considerable damage on Babylon PARIS — Experts for UNESCO say considerable damage was inflicted by the U.S. military in Iraq to one of the world's most important archaeological sites.

July 2nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Taliban is loosing support among the people of Pakistan, as about 80 percent of them are against the banned outfit and have termed it a threat for the country, a survey has revealed. According to a World Public Opinion (WPO) report, about 80 percent of the Pakistanis are against the Taliban.

June 16th, 2009 BEIJING - A military strategist has proposed that the Chinese Army set up its own space forces for the future to protect China's growing outer space assets. Wang Fa'an, a senior researcher at Academy of Military Sciences, said the country would be carrying out many space missions in future, and this which would necessitate China developing its own space forces.

June 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Undeterred by the slowdown, Indians continued to spend online in the last quarter of 2008 to emerge as the third highest spenders on the Internet in the Asia Pacific region, a report released Thursday by electronic payments giant VISA said. The report said Indian online shoppers increased their purchases by 42 percent, or by about $1,000 per shopper to $3,450, compared to the $2,420 spent in the previous quarter.

May 27th, 2009 SEOUL - North Korea on Wednesday threatened to launch military strikes against South Korea if any of its ships were stopped or searched as part of an American-led operation to intercept vessels suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction. "We consider this a declaration of war against us," an unidentified North Korean military spokesman said Wednesday in a statement carried by the North's official news agency KCNA.

May 5th, 2009 LONDON - Concerned by the expanding threat from the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, Britain is planning to amplify its military and intelligence presence in Pakistan to help the country counter the existential threat, the Guardian reports. According to the newspaper, Whitehall officials have revealed that at least 20 'military advisers' will interact with the Pakistani army and particularly with the Frontier Corps and advice them over planning more effective strategies to counter the extremists.

May 2nd, 2009 KARACHI - A majority of Pakistani civilians are of the view that the presence of allied forces led by the United States poses a bigger threat to them rather than the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. According to an annual assessment report of Pakistan issued by an US think tank, Centre for American Progress, more Pakistanis consider US presence in Asia as a threat to their country.

April 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A newly declassified Congressional report released Tuesday has outlined the most detailed evidence yet that the military's use of harsh interrogation methods on terrorism suspects was approved at high levels of the Bush administration. The report focused solely on interrogations carried out by the military, not those conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency at its secret prisons overseas.