Obama Administration Stresses Pakistani Cooperation, But Haqqani Threat Persists

Administration officials and senior military officers are emphasizing that Pakistan’s cooperation against terrorists has improved significantly in the last 18 months, but the ongoing threats posed by the Taliban faction known as the Haqqani network and its jihadist allies shows there is a long way to go. Read

Tanker Incident Raises Concerns About Oil Transit Through Persian Gulf

Mystery surrounds an incident in which a laden oil tanker was damaged in the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday. Maritime and shipping officials are at odds over whether the cause was an intentional explosion or a freak wave caused by seismic activity. Read

Japan Welcomes News That U.S. Envoy Will Attend Hiroshima Commemoration for First Time

The Japanese government on Thursday welcomed news that the a U.S. ambassador will for the first time attend the annual commemoration of the U.S. dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. Read

Afghanistan Presses U.S. to Take Firmer Line With Pakistan Over Terror Links

Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s national security council chided the U.S. government Tuesday for not taking a tougher line with Pakistan over its alleged collusion with terrorists operating in Afghanistan. Read

Democrat Postpones Senate Hearing on Lockerbie Controversy, After Key Witnesses Rebuff His Request to ‘Clear the Air’

Accusing Scottish and British officials and BP executives of “stonewalling,” the Democratic senator who was to have chaired a hearing this week on the Lockerbie controversy announced Tuesday that it would be postponed. Read

U.S. Opposition to Release of Lockerbie Convict Was Clear and Consistent, State Department Says

The Obama administration has no plans to release any further correspondence with Scotland relating to the release of the Libyan convicted in the Lockerbie bombing. Read

New Claims of ISI Terrorist Links Overshadow Pakistan’s Decision to Extend Army Chief’s Job

The decision to extend the tenure of Pakistan’s powerful army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani comes at a time of renewed scrutiny into alleged collusion between the military intelligence agency, which Kayani oversaw from 2004-2007, and terrorists in Afghanistan. Read

Massive U.S.-South Korea Naval Maneuvers Held Amid North Korean Threats

Despite characteristically belligerent rhetoric, there were no reports of North Korean troop movements or threatening behavior as its southern neighbor and the United States continued large-scale naval exercises Monday aimed at deterring aggression by the isolated communist state. Read

Lockerbie Probe May Prove Uncomfortable for Obama Administration

The four Democratic U.S. senators probing the early release of the Libyan convicted in the Lockerbie bombing believe there were links to a BP oil deal, but their inquiry may have the unintended consequence of raising questions about just how strongly the Obama administration opposed the Libyan’s release. Read

As Separatists Welcome Int’l Court Kosovo Opinion, US Insists it’s Not Applicable Elsewhere

The International Court of Justice’s long-awaited opinion on Kosovo Thursday may be non-binding and Kosovo-specific, but it resonated around the world, buoying secessionist movements and prompting anxiety in countries grappling with separatism. Read

Don’t Limit Lockerbie Probe to BP Claims, Campaigners Urge US Senators

If the U.S. Senate wants to get to the bottom of the early release of the Libyan convicted in the Lockerbie bombing, it should look beyond allegations of links to an oil deal and ask whether the prisoner was sent home to preempt an appeal that could have overturned the trial verdict, campaigners said Wednesday. Read

Ban Ki-Moon in the Firing Line Over Leadership, Reforms

The question of whether Ban Ki-moon will serve a second term as U.N. secretary-general is set to generate new debate, after the second leak of an internal document scathingly critical of the South Korean diplomat in less than a year. Read

Clinton Urges London, Edinburgh to Probe Lockerbie Release and BP Deal Claims

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has asked the British and Scottish governments to review a decision to release from a life prison term the Libyan convicted in the Lockerbie bombing, amid suspicions of links to a lucrative oil deal in the North African nation. Read

A Lockerbie Timeline

From the murder of 270 people in the Flight 103 bombing through the release of the killer on 'compassionate' grounds. Read

Ahead of Key Kabul Meeting, Clinton Woos Pakistan With Aid, But Wants More Counter-Terror Measures

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is visiting Pakistan ahead of an important conference in Kabul, where President Hamid Karzai's plans to reconcile with elements among the Taliban will take center stage. Read

Senators Turn Up the Heat on BP Over Claims of a Lockerbie Deal

Four U.S. senators turned up the pressure on BP Wednesday, demanding that the oil giant release to Congress private and public communications relating to last year’s early release by British authorities of the Libyan convicted in the Lockerbie bombing. Read

Vietnam Publication Aims to Counter Human Rights Criticism From ‘Hostile Forces’

As the U.S. and Vietnam mark the 15th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties, Hanoi has published its first “human rights magazine” at a time when some in the U.S. are demanding that concerns about human rights abuses in the communist-ruled state get greater attention. Read

Plan to Entice Fighters to Leave Taliban Is ‘Ready to Go,’ Administration Says

As Kabul prepares to host what has been called the biggest gathering of foreign representatives there since the 1970s, the Obama administration’s point man for the region has again defended plans to lure Afghan fighters away from the Taliban – a central theme of next week’s conference. Read

Experts to Obama: You Can’t Ignore the Islamic Ideology Behind Terrorism

The Obama administration’s reluctance to acknowledge and confront the religious motivation behind Islamist terrorism is not helping the counter-terror effort, leading experts warn in a new report. Read

China Bristles at Prospect of U.S. Aircraft Carrier in the Yellow Sea

Plans for joint U.S.-South Korean naval exercises that may involve an American aircraft carrier are drawing growing criticism in China, where many view the drill as insulting to their country despite its intended goal of deterring North Korean aggression. Read

British Envoy’s Eulogy to Hezbollah Cleric Removed From Foreign Office Web Site

An online tribute in which Britain’s ambassador to Lebanon praised the Hezbollah-linked Shi’ite cleric after his death this week appears to have been removed from an official Foreign Office Web site. Read

China Dilutes Another U.N. Measure Dealing With North Korea’s Aggression

The Obama administration says a U.N. Security Council presidential statement condemning the sinking of a South Korean warship is “an appropriate response” to the deadly attack, even though it does not directly apportion blame. Read

Abbas, Fatah Call Mastermind of Munich Olympics Attack A Hero

Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah organization have been hailing as a hero the man who masterminded the terrorist attack on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Read

Clinton Offers Georgia A Change of Terminology, But Little Else

Moscow criticized Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday for describing two breakaway Georgian regions as territories “invaded” and “occupied” by Russia, but behind Clinton’s tough words during her visit to the region lay a tacit admission that Russia has won this particular dispute. Read

Awlaki’s Online Propaganda Is Influencing Muslims Far From His Yemen Base

The arrest in Singapore of a Muslim soldier who made contact online with Anwar Al-Awlaki provides further evidence that the U.S.-born cleric is making effective use of the Internet to spread extremist ideas to English-speaking Muslims. Read

Hezbollah, Islamic Leaders Mourn Death of Top Shi’ite Cleric

Tuesday was a day of mourning in Lebanon for Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, a senior Shi’ite cleric who was sometimes described as Hezbollah’s spiritual mentor. Read

Pakistan Again Pledges to Target Terrorists, But Its Record Is Poor

In the aftermath of yet another suicide bombing targeting its citizens, Pakistani authorities have vowed, once again, to clamp down on terrorists. But years of ambiguous policies have done little to curb the proliferation of jihadist groups whose agendas include killing religious minorities at home, expelling India from Kashmir and fighting American forces in Afghanistan. Read

Yemen’s Secessionist Conflict Seen As Benefiting Al-Qaeda

Worsening conflict between the Yemeni government and secessionists in the south and east of the country could play into al-Qaeda’s hands, with potentially serious implications for the broader campaign against Islamic terrorism. Read

Suspected Spy-Ring Paymaster Vanishes, As Russians Mull Conspiracies

Police in Cyprus issued an arrest warrant late Wednesday for the suspected paymaster of an alleged Russian espionage ring operating in the United States, following his disappearance a day after being released on bail pending an extradition hearing. Read