By ŞAHİN ALPAY I wrote last week that the recent Israeli aggression against Gaza is a test for US President Barack Obama as to whether he will keep his word from 2009 and work towards a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict now that he has been re-elected. A cease-fire was reached once more, after scores of Palestinians were killed and Gaza was once more ravaged, but there is no indication ...

By Adam Shatz The ceasefire agreed by Israel and Hamas in Cairo after eight days of fighting is merely a pause in the Israel-Palestine conflict. It promises to ease movement at all border crossings with the Gaza Strip, but will not lift the blockade. It requires Israel to end its assault on the Strip, and Palestinian militants to stop firing rockets at southern Israel, but it leaves Gaza as miserable as eve ...

 Asif Haroon Raja Although the US has failed to win war in Afghanistan, it has succeeded in achieving most objectives it had chalked out in September 2001 against Pakistan through covert war. As against the advice of India, the US desisted from applying direct strategy due to Pakistan’s nuclear capability. The US and its strategic partners therefore embarked upon a well-thought plan to gradually weaken Paki ...

     By Sajjad Shaukat Although Pakistan has been facing various kinds of subversive activities, yet foreign hostile elements have also accelerated sectarian violence as part of their unfinished agenda to destabilise the country. In the last week of Muharram, several people have been killed and injured in suicide attacks and bomb blasts. Despite the tight security measures, a bomb attack on a procession kil ...

By Zaheerul Hassan 13 innocents have been killed and more than 100 injured in two separate blasts in Dera Ismail Khan on Saturday and Sunday during Muharram Processions. On Sunday 5 individuals were killed in an explosive blasts of Commissionary   Bazar . According to the security forces the explosive was hiding in the closed shop of bazaar. On November 8 individuals including 4 children were killed on Satu ...

Posted By Zaheerul Hassan Following news of Larry Hagman's death Friday, the Dallas star's colleagues, industry friends and loved ones shared memories, tributes and kind words in honor of his legacy. Linda Gray said in a statement to CBS News: "Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years and he was the Pied Piper of life and brought joy to everyone he new. He was creative, generous, funny, loving and talen ...

Posted by zaheerul Hassan Scientists have discovered an enzyme used in nature to make powerful chemicals from catnip to a cancer drug, vinblastine. The discovery opens up the prospect of producing these chemicals cheaply and efficiently. They are produced naturally by some plants such as the medicinal Madagascar periwinkle, but faster-growing plants could be used to produce them. With synthetic biology, imp ...

Posted By Zaheerul Hassan MALE pipefish pregnancy may suit the females, but it's a real boon for their offspring. In human fetuses, antibodies from the mother's egg and others that pass across the placenta help build its developing immune system. Sperm are too small to carry antibodies, so males aren't thought to contribute. Not so in pipefish, where the male carries the pregnancy. To see if the immune prim ...