Martin Murphy This, at least, is how Wang Yilin, Chairman of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), chooses to view them. He reportedly told an audience at CNOOC’s headquarters in Beijing in May that ‘large-scale deep-water rigs are our mobile national territory and a strategic weapon’. This writer is no Sinologist and lacks the qualifications to parse his words for hidden meanings. At the sam ...

Karachi: Cricket fans in Pakistan broke into wild celebration after their team's win over India in a warm-up game of the ICC World Twenty20, in Colombo on Monday. Having lost to India in the 2011 World Cup and than in the Asia Cup, the warm-up match was taken very seriously by fans here. The media did its bit, creating hype around it. "The people's reaction is understandable. Any match against India is take ...

  [caption id="attachment_2915" align="alignright" width="300"] US threaten Attack on Iran[/caption] Netanyahu: Iran six to seven months from nuclear bomb capability The Israeli premier called the U.S. to spell out limits that Tehran must not cross or else face military action - something Obama has refused to do. By The Associated Press and Reuters September 16, 2012 "Haaretz" -- Israeli Prime Minister ...

  By ZaheeruL Hassan [caption id="attachment_2905" align="alignright" width="300"] Saeed Ajmal - World Number One Pakistani Bowler[/caption] Pakistan will not boycott the ICC annual awards ceremony in Colombo , but will raise the issue of Saeed Ajmal's omission from the shortlist of candidates for the awards at the next chief executive's meeting of the apex body. It is mentionable here that  Saeed got 76 Wi ...

 BY C. RAJA MOHAN As the United States and China circle each other in Asia, many in Washington hope and some in Beijing fear that India might become a military counterweight to the middle kingdom. However, two recent visits to Delhi by U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie suggest that India's prudent approach is likely to disappoint some of its American supporters ...

By George Friedman For the past several months, the Israelis have been threatening to attack Iranian nuclear sites as the United States has pursued a complex policy of avoiding complete opposition to such strikes while making clear it doesn't feel such strikes are necessary. At the same time, the United States has carried out maneuvers meant to demonstrate its ability to prevent the Iranian counter to an at ...

By Haresh Pandya Until recently, it was considered sacrilegious to speak a word against Sachin Tendulkar, the world's most famous cricketer, who enjoys a God-like status in India, where cricket is practically a religion. Not anymore. His glaring failure in the recent series against lowly New Zealand, when he was out for paltry 19 runs in the first Test in Hyderabad and 17 and 27 in the second in Bangalore, ...

By Sinan Salaheddin, Associated Press BAGHDAD — A wave of insurgent attacks Thursday killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens in central and northern Iraq, the latest series of persistent strikes aimed at undermining the government’s authority. One of the bloodiest blows came around midday, when a car bomb struck near the local security forces headquarters in the northern city of Daqouq. As police rushe ...