The national census is like a giant group photo, showing us everything we might want to know about a country's population: who they are, what they do, where they live and how they live. The answers it provides are vital to historians, economists and academics — and to the running of a nation. So with Francis Maude, British Cabinet Office Minister and the man in charge of the census, revealing recently that the 2011 census will be the U.K.'s last, the soon-to-be uncounted might well ask, How will we know who we are?Speaking to...
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The first major conference of foreign governments on Afghan soil, held Tuesday, July 20, in Kabul, was intended to be a milestone on the road to achieving Western goals of withdrawing from a stable Afghanistan. But its message won't allay doubts over the exit strategy of the U.S. and its NATO partners. The half-day conference, attended by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among others, featured familiar promises: Afghan security forces would eventually take over and allow NATO troops to go home; the Afghan government would...
Pakistan's parliamentarians, the humiliation is becoming something of a ritual. On the country's sensationalistic news channels, fresh faces fill the screen each day. Within seconds, the graphics appear — a red stamp over the portraits, emblazoned with two words: "fake degree." As the newscasters struggle to suppress smirks, they explain that these are the latest entries in an ever expanding list that could see parliamentarians not just lose their seats but also possibly face jail time. And the higher the number rises, some...
Twenty-year-old Sumayya Solangi, who was among the more than 260 Pakistanis trapped in the violence-hit parts of Kyrgyzstan and later flown in to Islamabad by two special C-130 flights, returned to her Gulistan-i-Jauhar home after arrival here by train on Wednesday.A large number of her relatives and media persons were at the Cantt Railways Station, where emotional scenes were witnessed as the first-year medical student hugged and kissed her mother, father and siblings one by one with tears of joy rolling down their faces after...
In Beijing China said on that its civilian nuclear cooperation with Pakistan was for peaceful purposes, after the United States said it was seeking clarification from China on a deal to build two new reactors. “I want to stress that the civilian nuclear cooperation between China and Pakistan is in line with each side's international obligations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news briefing in Beijing.“It is for peaceful purposes, and is under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” he...
The US Central Intelligence Agency has cancelled a contract with a security company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide that allowed the company to load bombs on CIA drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan, The New York Times reported late Friday.Citing intelligence officials, the newspaper said the contract gave Blackwater employees an operational role in one of the CIA’s most significant covert programs, which has killed dozens of militants...