November 24, 2009

Wary India seeks reassurance in U.S. visit

Today's summit between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India and President Obama is laden with symbols. It will be the first official visit that Obama hosts. There will be much language on the importance of the relationship and the links between the two major democracies.

November 14, 2009

India defends its climate-change strategy

India remains flexible and its national climate-change plans are not the window dressing some critics charge, the nation's lead negotiator said Friday.

November 13, 2009

Dutch troops' method in Afghanistan gains new prominence

A dozen Dutch soldiers emerge from their belching armored carriers, scan the area for danger and begin setting up checkpoints outside the Sar Sheykhil police station. Today's mission: Show the flag and help train police in securing a perimeter and handcuffing suspects.

November 13, 2009

COLUMN ONE

More girls in India are refusing to become child brides.

Her fate was all but sealed, the wedding bells ringing in her relatives' heads. Then the bride-to-be, a little girl playing in the dirt in this impoverished village, plucked up her courage and said, "I do not."

November 9, 2009

Defying China, Dalai Lama visits Indian town near border

Ignoring Chinese protests, the Dalai Lama traveled Sunday to a remote town in northeastern India near China's Tibetan border where thousands of pilgrims had braved cold weather to catch a glimpse of their spiritual leader.

9:52 PM PDT, October 24, 2009

Dalit women find their voice through a newspaper

The pen, it's sometimes said, is mightier than the sword. For these women, it's also a ticket to respect.

October 15, 2009

India and China in a tit-for-tat spat

In the latest chapter of a simmering spat with China involving border disputes, long-standing mistrust and domestic electoral politics, India's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called on Beijing to halt work on all projects in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.

October 10, 2009

COLUMN ONE

In Afghanistan, more women are driving

Karima Yousafzai jumps behind the wheel of her 1994 Toyota Corolla and heads into traffic, deftly negotiating around wannabe motocross champions, oblivious pushcart peddlers, a roadside herd of sheep and several contenders for the crazy-driver-of-the-year award. She takes little notice of the looks directed her way.

October 7, 2009

Ruckus on Air India flight involves pilots, cabin crew

The sight of airline cabin crews trying to mollify enraged passengers has become all too common. But a recent Air India flight added a twist when crew members mid-flight started punching each other in front of startled passengers.

October 1, 2009

Afghanistan's people have advice for U.S.

Take advice from locals instead of trying to impose your own ideas on a tribal society. Invite the Taliban to the negotiating table. Use traditional governing structures rather than reinventing the wheel. And spend a lot more money on plowshares than on swords.

September 26, 2009

COLUMN ONE

In northern India, village elders order 'honor killings'

Ved Pal Maun, 27, was something of a catch in this small farm community northwest of New Delhi. But his family members rejected several marriage offers; they said he just wasn't ready.

September 26, 2009

Top general in Afghanistan asks Pentagon for more troops

Reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan, and Washington -- The top general in Afghanistan submitted a request for additional troops to his Pentagon bosses Friday, defense officials said, a recommendation that will be evaluated by a White House that appears to be increasingly skittish about sending reinforcements into the war.

September 26, 2009

Five U.S. troops killed in southern Afghanistan

Five American troops were killed late Thursday and early Friday in southern Afghanistan, adding to the security and political concerns in the troubled nation.

September 22, 2009

Afghanistan election review will be based on sample

After weeks of wrangling, two agencies overseeing Afghanistan's fraud-tainted election agreed Monday to rely on statistical sampling rather than an in-depth investigation of alleged voting irregularities.

September 18, 2009

Car bomber targets Italian convoy in Kabul, killing 16

A car bomb hit an Italian military convoy on the main airport road near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Thursday, killing at least six soldiers and 10 Afghan civilians, Italian and Afghan government officials said.

September 13, 2009

Pakistani artists persevere amid increasing militancy

To find the music department of the University of the Punjab, travel several miles from the main campus to a red-brick building, down some dark stairs, left through a shadowy corridor and into a warren of small, windowless rooms.

September 2, 2009

COLUMN ONE

India in B & W as well as HD

Tikam Chand wheels up on a rusty bicycle, navigates past a tangle of pedestrians, the odd beggar, a pile of garbage and kiosks selling Coke in battered green bottles, and unties a 50-pound camera that took its first photograph around the time President Lincoln was assassinated.

June 22, 2009

Pakistan faces challenge of cementing victory against Taliban

The Pakistani army has exceeded expectations in its offensive against Taliban fighters in northwestern Pakistan, effectively marshaling arms, tactics and political support. But the tougher challenge will be preventing the extremists from returning, or from regrouping elsewhere.

June 1, 2009

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Gutsy Pakistan protesters march against the Taliban

The first thing you notice about the protest is the protesters. They're all men.

July 28, 2008

China had to import 'Kung Fu Panda'

If there was ever a subject and a genre tailor-made for China's film industry, it would seem to be " Kung Fu Panda." The panda is a national symbol, kung fu was developed here, China is all the rage globally, and animation is a state priority.

March 25, 2008

Analysts expect China security to get tighter

In the midst of this month's unrest in Tibet, Cub Scout Pack 3944 in Beijing was invited to round the bases and meet their baseball idols, the Dodgers, when they came for the first-ever major league game played in China.

March 19, 2008

DISPATCH FROM XIAHE, CHINA

A blow against Beijing's security

A question the Chinese Communist Party will no doubt be asking itself for years to come is how its vast security apparatus could stumble so badly to allow the situation in ethnically Tibetan regions of China to get so out of control.

February 29, 2008

Beijing opens massive airport terminal

It's a huge building, much bigger than the Pentagon and a whole lot less clunky. It's expected to handle more passengers than any other air terminal in the world. It was built fast.

January 2, 2008

Cost puts damper on this Olympic event

It seemed like a good idea. Bring your adopted Chinese daughters (and they're almost all daughters) back to Beijing to experience the glories of the 2008 Summer Olympics, connect with the homeland and watch the Middle Kingdom at a key moment in its history.

December 6, 2007

Iran's supporters pleased, skeptical

With a sense of vindication and a touch of suspicion, Iran's embattled defenders absorbed the news this week: U.S. intelligence services no longer believe the Islamic Republic has an active nuclear weapons program.