Pakistani security agents denied on Monday (March 08, 2010) that an American al Qaeda spokesman wanted in the United States for treason had been arrested, saying there had been confusion over the identity of a detained suspect. Some Pakistani officials had said on Sunday that Adam Gadahn, a California-born convert to Islam with a US$1 million bounty on his head, had been arrested on the outskirts of the city of Karachi. (Reuters)

The NATO-led military force in Afghanistan said on Saturday (March 07, 2010) it had confidence in the choice of a man picked to run a former Taliban stronghold, despite a NATO commander saying he spent years in a German prison for assault. Abdul Zahir, head of the new administration installed in the town of Marjah, denies the accusation that could set back the biggest NATO military operation of the eight-year-old war by damaging his legitimacy. (Reuters)

Pakistan said a senior Pakistani Taliban commander with al Qaeda links may have been killed when helicopter gunships attacked a building he was in, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday (March 07, 2010). Faqir Mohammad, is rated as a senior commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the main alliance of Pakistan's home-grown militants based in the northwest. (Reuters)

China on Thursday (March 04, 2010) urged the United States to take concrete actions to bring the frayed bilateral relationship back on track as two U.S. diplomats ended a fence-mending mission to Beijing. "The top priority for the U.S. side is to take China's stance seriously, honor China's core interests and major concerns, show sincerity and take concrete actions to push China-U.S. relations back toward sound and stable development," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news briefing. Qin's comments came at the end of a visit of U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Senior White House Asia adviser Jeffrey Bader. (Xinhua)

Turkish ally Azerbaijan on Friday (March 05, 2010) condemned as a blow to regional stability a U.S. House panel resolution labeling the World War One mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as "genocide." Oil-producing Azerbaijan, a close Muslim and Turkic-speaking ally of Turkey, said the resolution adopted "could reduce to zero all previous efforts" to resolve the conflict over the Armenian-backed rebel region of Nagorno-Karabakh. (Reuters)

U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan will be permitted to carry out raids at night only when there are Afghan security forces present, their commander, U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, ordered on Friday (March 05, 2010). McChrystal's order falls short of the outright ban on raids at night sought by President Hamid Karzai but would ensure that such raids took place only with Afghan authorities included in the planning and execution. (Reuters)

Russian communists paid homage on Friday (March 05, 2010) to Soviet leader Josef Stalin, while liberals accused the Kremlin of conniving to whitewash the dictator. Communist Party chiefs led a procession of largely elderly people across Red Square on the 57th anniversary of Stalin's death, laying flowers at his grave by the Kremlin wall. For the first time in decades, Stalin's image may appear among the banners and posters that Moscow authorities put up for Victory Day, which will draw foreign leaders to Moscow as guests of the government. (Reuters)

China announced its smallest defence budget increase in years amid national belt-tightening, and vowed that its rapid military modernisation posed no threat to other countries. The proposed military budget for 2010 is 532.1 billion yuan (77.9 billion US dollars), up 7.5 percent from actual defence spending in 2009, a government spokesman said. (Sydney Morning Tribute)

The Kremlin on Thursday (March 04, 2010) said Ukraine should stick to existing gas deals with Russia, drawing a line on a divisive issue expected to be in focus during Viktor Yanukovich's first visit to Moscow as Ukraine's president. While it marks a fresh start in political ties that soured under Yanukovich's pro-Western predecessor, the visit may be dominated by economic issues such as cash-strapped Ukraine's bills for Russian natural gas. (Reuters)

The United States intends to build an anti-terror training center in the southern Kyrgyz province of Batken. The exact location of the facility, which is projected to cost $5.5 million, has not yet been determined. The move is likely to be perceived by the Kremlin as further American encroachment into what has traditionally been Moscow’s sphere of influence, analysts say. (Eurasianet)

The president of the U.N. Security Council said on Tuesday (March 02, 2010) it was ready to tackle proposals for new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, while U.S. diplomats worked to persuade China that action is needed. Gabon's U.N. Ambassador Emanuel Issoze-Ngondet, president of the Security Council for March, said the Iranian nuclear issue was not on the agenda of the 15-nation panel this month, but council members might still hold a meeting on it. (Reuters)

The United States and European Union accused Iran of breaking nuclear transparency rules by escalating uranium enrichment without proper U.N. surveillance and said its "provocative" behavior invited tougher sanctions. They spoke at a tense meeting on Wednesday (March 03, 2010) of governors of the United Nations nuclear agency, a day after the U.N. Security Council said it was ready to tackle Western powers' proposals for new sanctions on Iran, which China has so far resisted. (Reuters)

Afghanistan on Monday (March 01, 2010) announced a ban on news coverage showing Taliban attacks, saying such images embolden the Islamist militants, who have launched strikes around the country as NATO forces seize their southern strongholds. (Reuters)

As a whole, the election observation mission of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is satisfied with the process of the parliamentary elections that took place in Tajikistan on February 28, the SCO observation election mission head Mikhail Konarovsky told reporters in Dushanbe on March 1.According to him, the elections were held in open and democratic atmosphere and complied with requirements of the country’s legislation, despite separate shortcomings.The SCO election observation comprised 16 members, including representatives from China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Uzbekistan. (Asia-Plus)

Parliamentary elections over the weekend fell short of democratic standards because of “a high prevalence” of ballot box stuffing and other problems, the main Western observer mission to the election, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said Monday (March 01, 2010). A political party supporting President Emomali Rahmon, who has ruled since 1992, won about 72 percent of the vote, suggesting continued stability if not democratic progress. An Islamic opposition party also won seats in the new Parliament. (New York Times)

China has moved to raise the profile of the teenage Panchen Lama, traditionally the second-most powerful figure in Tibetan Buddhism who plays a role in the controversial selection of the next Dalai Lama. The Panchen Lama, who turns 20 this year and is being groomed to win over restive Tibetans in China, was named a member of the national committee of an advisory body that will hold its annual meeting this week. (Reuters)

Ambassador of Japan to Uzbekistan Tsutomu Hiraoka met Vice-Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov on 1 March. The sides discussed issues of development and implementation of joint projects. At the end of the talks, the governments of Uzbekistan and Japan signed exchange notes in the framework of the Japanese government’s cultural assistance program. (UzA)

The second largest border crossing between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan is now closed to everyone but residents of the immediate vicinity. The border crossing is the main point of entry for wholesale goods from China entering Uzbekistan. The crossing is also near Khanabad, the scene of a terrorist attack on Uzbek police forces in May 2009. (Eurasianet)

Iran's air force will soon test a new version of a 2000-pound guided-bomb, a top Iranian military commander said on Monday (March 01, 2010). Iran has built up its forces in recent years, developing missiles and other new weapons, ostensibly due to Tehran's concerns about the U.S. military presence neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan. (Reuters)

MOSCOW Talks on buying a French-made helicopter carrier, energy tie-ups and Iran will be amongst the priorities when President Dmitry Medvedev travels to France for a three-day state visit on Monday (March 01, 2010), a Kremlin official said. (Reuters)