Pregnant US woman Caitlan Coleman missing in Afghanistan with husband

Mr Coleman says his daughter needs medical care

The family of a pregnant American woman missing with her husband in Afghanistan have made a fresh appeal for her safe return.

Caitlan Coleman, 27, is due to give birth in January and needs urgent medical attention, her father told the Associated Press news agency.

James Coleman said she had been travelling with her Canadian husband across Central Asia.

There are fears they were abducted, but no ransom has been demanded.

India rolls out cash transfer scheme for poor

The government says that cash transfers will be a game-changer

India has rolled out an ambitious plan for a cash payout of subsidies to the poor in 20 districts, officials say.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the scheme would benefit more than 200,000 people initially, and would cover the entire country by the end of 2013.

Authorities say it will bring the country's poorest citizens "into the mainstream".

But opposition parties have accused the government of "bribing the voters" ahead of the 2014 general elections.

India's Kingfisher Airlines loses licence to fly

Kingfisher's licence has been suspended because of concerns over finances and safety

India's troubled Kingfisher Airlines has lost its flying permit after a deadline to renew its suspended licence expired, the aviation regulator said.

The debt-ridden carrier has been grounded since October after repeated strikes by workers over unpaid wages.

The airline said there was no cause for concern as rules allowed the renewal of a permit within two years of expiry.


Kingfisher has $1.4bn (£870m) in debts and it is looking to raise funds after lenders refused to give fresh loans.

"Kingfisher's flying permit has lapsed," news agency AFP quoted the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief Arun Mishra as saying.

"They failed to provide additional details on the funding of operations," Mr Mishra said, referring to Kingfisher's revival plan submitted to the DGCA last month.

The airline said it was "confident of securing approval from the regulator on the restart plan, licence approval and reinstatement of its operating permit".

Owned by flamboyant billionaire Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher has made annual losses for five years in a row.

The firm's debt woes have increased and it has not been able to pay its dues to staff, airports, tax authorities and its lenders.

Recently, the airline said it was in talks with Etihad Airways Andy other investors to take a stake in the embattled carrier.

Some reports said that Kingfisher planned to sell a 48% stake, though the firm did not confirm the claims.

Pakistan: Explosion 'hits Karachi crowd'

A big explosion has hit a crowded area in the Pakistani city Karachi, killing one person and injuring several others, local media report.

Geo News television said it was a "major blast" near a market.

Police have arrived at the scene and the injured are being taken to hospital.

Karachi has long suffered outbreaks of violence, caused by Taliban militants or by rival political groups fighting turf wars.

India gang rape: New Year celebrations scaled back

The attack has triggered an outpouring of anger across India

India has scaled back New Year celebrations, as it mourned the death of a woman whose gang rape on a bus a fortnight ago sparked public outrage.

The army has cancelled all official celebrations as have the states of Punjab and Haryana.

The president of the governing Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, also said she would not be celebrating.

Meanwhile, protests continued on Monday in the capital, Delhi, where the 23-year-old medical student was assaulted.

Pakistan: Seven charity workers shot dead

The driver of the vehicle (in white) was injured in the attack

Seven charity workers, six of them women, have been shot dead in north-west Pakistan, police say.

The women, some of them teachers, were attacked near a children's community centre. A male colleague died with them. All were Pakistani citizens.

Their vehicle came under gunfire near the centre run by Pakistani charity Ujala, or Light.

Militants targeting a vaccination programme are suspected. No group has said it carried out the attack.

The incident happened in the Swabi district close to a road connecting Peshawar to the eastern city of Lahore.

Afghanistan Taliban attack US base in Jalalabad

 

The BBC's Orla Guerin says the incident involved multiple suicide attackers

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Taliban suicide bombers have killed four Afghan soldiers and wounded Nato troops in an attack on a joint US-Afghan airbase in eastern Afghanistan.

A local police chief told the BBC that two civilians had been also killed in the attack on the base in Jalalabad.

Afghan intelligence officials said nine suicide attackers had been involved in the assault, and all had been killed.

Nato said the attackers had failed to penetrate the base. It is unclear how many of its troops were injured.

Continue reading the main story

Orla Guerin BBC News, Kabul

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This was an ambitious co-ordinated assault involving explosive-laden vehicles and suicide bombers on foot.
A Nato spokesman said the assault had clearly been planned for some time, but both Nato and Afghan officials said it was a failure because the militants did not penetrate the base.
But the fact that the Taliban managed to get as far as the perimeter will raise questions, as there are checkpoints on the approach routes.
The attack has demonstrated, once again, that the militants retain the capacity to strike, in spite of regular claims from Afghan and Nato officials that they have been weakened.

The BBC's Orla Guerin in Kabul said the attack appeared "co-ordinated and complex".

She added that this was not the first time the Taliban had targeted the air base, which is used by US and Nato forces. In February Taliban killed nine people in a similar attack.

Nato is gradually handing security over to Afghan forces ahead of the departure of most combat troops in 2014.
Counter claims
The Afghan officials said the first four attackers had arrived in explosive-laden cars and targeted different entrances to the airfield early on Sunday, Others who had followed on foot battled security guards.

The force of the explosions is reported to have blown out windows a kilometre away.

Nato forces then responded with helicopters, and both Nato and Afghan officials said the attackers had not managed to enter the base itself.

Local police told Reuters news agency that bodies in Afghan police and military uniforms were scattered around the entrance to the base, but it was unclear whether they were Taliban attackers in disguise.

In addition to the member of the Afghan security forces who was killed, several Nato troops were wounded, a Nato spokesman said.

The Taliban later said they had carried out the attack.

The insurgents have been battling Nato and Afghan troops for 11 years and still control parts of the east and south.

Nato - which currently has some 130,000 troops in Afghanistan - is due to withdraw combat forces in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, with only training troops remaining.

India cash transfer announcement questioned

The government says cash transfers will be a game-changer

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India's election authorities have sought an explanation from the government over its recent announcement of a plan for a cash payout of subsidies to the poor from 1 January.

The demand followed protests against the move by the main opposition BJP.

The party said the announcement had come at a time when two states were holding elections and had violated the election code of conduct.

Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are holding polls in November and December.

The BJP had written to the Election Commission saying the government should withdraw the announcement of the plan until the polls were over in the two states.

Polling is scheduled to end on 17 December and the votes will be counted three days later.

The party said it appeared that the announcement "appears to be the sinister intention of the government to use this for influencing voters in Gujarat" and was a "violation" of the election code of conduct.

The Election Commission has sought an explanation from the government by Monday evening, failing which it would take "appropriate action".

Under the scheme, money meant for recipients of 29 welfare programmes - mainly related to scholarships and pensions - will be transferred to bank accounts linked to their unique identification numbers in 51 districts spread over 16 states from next January.

If all goes well, the scheme will cover the entire country by the end of 2013.

Authorities say it will be a potential game-changer, bringing the country's poorest citizens into the mainstream.

But opposition parties have accused the government of "bribing the voters" ahead of the 2014 general elections.

Karachi cleric killing sparks backlash in Pakistan

Karachi has been blighted by growing sectarian violence

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Gunmen have shot dead a senior cleric of a prominent Islamic seminary in the Pakistani city of Karachi, in what police say could be sectarian attack.

Maulana Mohammad Ismail was killed while he was on his way to the Sunni Jamia Ahsanul Uloom seminary.

His death sparked angry protests as protesters took to the streets, setting vehicles on fire and pelting security forces with stones.

The killing comes amid growing sectarian violence in the port city.

In recent weeks, several Shias have been killed in drive-by shootings blamed on Sunni militant groups.

And on 10 November, at least seven students from Maulana Ismail's seminary were gunned down by unidentified gunmen at a tea stall nearby.

Police say it is not clear why this particular school has been targeted twice in recent weeks.

Security forces remain on high alert ahead of the funeral of Maulana Ismail, expected later on Monday.

Pakistani Taliban promise more blasts

Taliban vow more attacks, just hours after blast near Shia Ashoura commemoration in Dera Ismail Khan. inShare1 Email Print Share Feedback

Two people died in bomb blast near a Shia Mosque in Karach [EPA]

Just hours after a roadside bomb killed at least seven people near a Shia procession in Pakistan, the Taliban have claimed responsibility and vowed that more attacks will come. Security forces were on high alert over fears of large-scale attacks on the minority sect across the country after an attack occurred on Saturday in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan's northwest. The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks in a telephone call to AFP news agency. "The government can make whatever security arrangements it wants but it cannot stop our attacks" - Ehsanullah Ehsan, Pakistan Taliban spokesman "We carried out the attack against the Shia community," spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location after the explosion. He said the group had dispatched more than 20 suicide bombers across the country for attacks against the minority community. "We have 20-25 fidayeen [suicide bombers] in the country to launch bomb blasts and suicide attacks," Ehsan said.

Mumbai Land Grab

Mumbai Land Grab

One activist is organising Mumbai's slum-dwellers as they face eviction to make way for upmarket developments.

Pakistan Taliban vow to attack Indian targets

Group threatens India to avenge hanging of Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, one of the fighters behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Last Modified: 22 Nov 2012 09:09 inShare0

Mohammad Ajmal Kasab's execution by hanging was celebrated in many parts of India on Wednesday [Reuters]

Pakistan's Taliban movement has threatened to attack Indian targets to avenge the country's execution of Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivor of the fighter squad responsible for a rampage through Mumbai that killed 166 people in 2008. Kasab was hanged on Wednesday amid great secrecy, underscoring the political sensitivity of the November 26, 2008, massacre, which still casts a pall over relations between nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India. "We have decided to target Indians to avenge the killing of Ajmal Kasab," said Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan by telephone from an undisclosed location. Ehsan demanded that India return Kasab's body. "If they don't return his body to us or his family we will capture Indians and will not return their bodies," he said, adding that the Taliban will try to strike Indian targets "anywhere". The Taliban, who are close to al-Qaeda, are seen as one of the biggest security threats in Pakistan and are blamed for many of the suicide bombings across the country. They have not carried out major attacks abroad. Kasab was charged with 86 offences, including murder and waging war against the Indian state, in a charge-sheet running to more than 11,000 pages. It was the first time a capital sentence had been carried out in India since 2004. There was celebration on the streets of Mumbai and other cities as news of the execution spread, but armed groups in Pakistan reacted angrily, as did residents of his home village of Faridkot. People set off fireworks and handed out sweets in Indian cities. Some held up photos of Kasab with a rope noose superimposed over his head.

US envoy to leave Afghanistan-Pakistan post

Marc Grossman, who took over after the death of Richard Holbrooke in 2010, will step down in December.

Grossman assisted his predecessor, Richard Holbrooke, in the Dayton peace talks that ended the Bosnian war [EPA]

The US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan is set to step down from his post in December, his spokeswoman said in statement. Laura Lucas told the AFP news agency on Wednesday Marc Grossman, who has been in the job for two years, would return to private life. Grossman was appointed by Hillary Clinton, the outgoing secretary of state, after the sudden death of veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke in December 2010. "After almost two years in the position, and with Secretary Clinton's agreement, he will return to private life," the statement said. Clinton thanked Grossman for building "a diplomatic surge" and an intense global focus which "have put in place a network of regional and international support for Afghanistan post 2014 and into the next decade," the statement added. "His work also helped set the conditions for an Afghan peace process that will enable Afghans to talk with other Afghans in pursuit of a negotiated settlement to end decades of conflict." Grossman, 61, is credited with the behind-the-scenes efforts that helped persuade Pakistan to reopen its border crossings with Afghanistan to NATO convoys earlier this year after a row over the killing of 24 Pakistani troops in a US air strike. His work over the past two years had also supported Obama's "objectives to disrupt and defeat al-Qaeda and ensure that Afghanistan can no longer become a safe haven for terrorists", according to the statement. Ambassador David Pearce, currently principal deputy special representative, will serve as the acting special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Grossman served at the US embassy in Pakistan from 1977 to 1979. He also assisted his predecessor, Holbrooke, in the Dayton peace talks that ended the Bosnian war. From 2001 to 2005, he served as undersecretary of state for political affairs - the top position for a career diplomat - when he worked to mend US relationships overseas during the Iraq war.