WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is creating a new intelligence agency that will focus on Iran and China as it begins to pivot away from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, the New York Times reported. The newspaper said late Monday that the new Defense Clandestine Service would make use of existing agents, authorities and assets and work closely with the Central Intelligence Agency to track emerging threats. “It wi ...

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to increase the number of observers in Syria to 300 for three months. A 30-member UN team is already in Syria to monitor a fragile ceasefire between government forces and rebel militias. The UN resolution was approved at a time when the monitors were allowed to visit the city of Homs for the first time. The resolution, sponsored by Russia ...

BRUSSELS (AP): Russia's foreign minister sharply criticized NATO's plan to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan by 2014, saying Thursday that coalition troops should remain in the country until Afghan government forces are capable of ensuring security. "As long as Afghanistan is not able to ensure by itself the security in the country, the artificial timelines of withdrawal are not correct and they should n ...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reminded India on Saturday of a 1989 agreement for resolving the Siachen dispute and asked New Delhi to honour it. “A 1989 agreement exists, which settled the principles for the resolution of Siachen conflict,” Zehra Akbari, Director General (South Asia) at the Foreign Office, said at a media briefing on rescue operations in avalanche-hit Gayari. “Time has come for the implementation of ...