India trade mission to Iran ‘very successful’

A major Indian trade delegation to Iran to explore export opportunities created by US-led sanctions against the Islamic republic was a big success, a leader of the mission has said. The 80-member delegation spent five days in the Persian Gulf nation last week to boost Indian exports as a way of paying the country’s huge oil bill to Iran.

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Pakistan’s Zardari seeks ‘meaningful’ US relations

Pakistan’s president on Saturday vowed to engage “meaningfully” with the Unites States in comments ahead of a parliamentary session next week tasked with resetting the troubled relationship between the countries. “We seek to engage meaningfully with the US on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect”, Asif Ali Zardari said in a televised address to parliament, describing the relationship as “multi-dimensional and important”.

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Blasts bring death to heart of Damascus

Twin bomb attacks on security buildings brought death to the heart of Syria’s capital on Saturday, as state televisionshowed gruesome footage of smouldering bodies and a blood-splattered minibus. Several civilians and police were killed, the television reported without giving figures, adding that preliminary reports suggested bombers had blown up vehicles packed with explosives.

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Turmoil threatens Obama’s Afghan endgame

Deadly setbacks, an Afghan leader at the “end of the rope” and pressure from a public weary of sacrifice are threatening to upend President Barack Obama's endgame for America's longest war. The central premise of US war policy -- leaving behind a stable nation that Afghans can secure and thwart an Al-Qaeda renaissance -- appears in question.

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