President Obama takes ownership of the fight against Al Qaeda and its  allies, aides say he is determined to turn around the war in Afghanistan with a regional approach, recognizing that the stability of neighboring Pakistan, where Al Qaeda hides, is increasingly at risk. Mr. Obama, who left London for Strasbourg Friday after attending the G20 summit meeting, is trying to fashion an efficient counterinsurgency strategy, as in Iraq, with a comprehensive surge of military and civilian reinforcements.

But his increasing American troops in Afghanistan to some 68,000 by the end of the year, from 38,000 today, is also likely to significantly Americanize an operation that in recent years had been divided equally between American troops and allied forces. By year’s end, American troops will outnumber allied forces by at least two to one.  NATO allies are giving the president considerable vocal support for the newly integrated strategy. But they are giving him very few new troops on the ground, underlining the fundamental strains in the alliance.

The allies will offer more funds but no more than several thousand new personnel members, according to alliance military planners. Many of those will not be soldiers, but police trainers to meet a central pillar of the president’s new Afghan strategy, which focuses on an expansion of Afghan security forces. But even for the small numbers of European combat reinforcements, check the fine print: Nearly all will be sent to provide security for Afghanistan’s elections this summer, and will not be permanently deployed.

The Treasury Department, which oversees the bailout program, said the banks returned a total of $353 million. The banks are: Iberiabank Corp. of Lafayette, La.; Bank of Marin Bancorp of Novato, Calif.; Old National Bancorp. of Evansville, Ind.; Signature Bank of New York; and Centra Financial Holdings Inc. of Morgantown, W.Va. These banks also repaid $5.4 million in dividends in addition to the $353 million.

They were the first banks to repay the government, wanting to escape the increasingly tough restrictions placed on participants in the rescue program. The five banks have 15 days to buy back warrants from the government. If they don’t, the government will sell them to private investors.

In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300  index advanced 1.8 percent, and UK retailer Marks & Spencer  soared 10 percent after reporting a smaller-than-feared drop in fourth quarter underlying sales, lifting other embattled retailers. Dow Jones (Us stock index) is also moving up with current level of 7600 points.

Today Indian stock markets moved up 200 points with some blue chip companies leading from front. Nikkie also had a rise of 240 points after yesterdays downfall. European markets are in red zone now but will move up before the close of the day.

Stock markets were on a higher note as G20 summit promised $1.1 trillion dollars to boost the global economy. This news made lot of investors to buy and thus moving the stocks up. Dow gained 216 points, Ftse 169 points and Bse gained 446 points. The markets are going to see a uptrend even today.

“Please visit here for daily updates on stock”

“I am diabetic, I ate a few apples before driving. “I have been involved in no accident, I underwent a routine roadside check. I was confident there was no chance I had alcohol in my blood,” said Latas, a member of parliament for the conservative opposition Law and Justice Party.

The prosecutor’s office is investigating his case, the website said. In Poland, the legal limit for alcohol when driving is 0.2 units. Fermented apple juice can be used to make cider, an alcoholic drink.

“Wow yet another way to evade drink driving”

He said “It (Pakistan)has to prove that the government is doing all that is possible (to bring the perpetrators to book),” he said. “It is the least they should do to convince us of their sincerity.”

Expressing sympathies over the terror attack on a Pakistani police academy on Monday, he added  that both countries should jointly take on terrorists.

“It is good to see that he wants answers to questions but on joint effort to fight terrorism not a good sign just a statement for diplomacy sake and upcoming elections. ” – author

Pakistan Interior Ministry blames the Pakistan Taliban. This attack has happened after the statement issued by U.S. President Obama on tackling al Qaeda and its allies in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The attack happened early morning when police recruits were holding their regular morning drill on the parade ground. The attackers came from all sides. They went on to occupy the police academy’s main building. After an eight hour battle the commandos recaptured the building.

Several experts have quoted saying that Lahore has been the only city which has not had any kind of attacks after 9/11. There are number of suspects and theories on this attack.

Many people suspect Taliban militants in Pakistan’s north-west. Almost all major attacks inside Pakistan in recent years have been traced back to the tribal areas near the Afghan border. Fingers have also been pointed at the Lashker-e-Taiba, as they were after the attack on the SriLanka team.

Some experts say the attacks could be retaliation by elements within the group for the crackdown on it following the attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai last November.  Pakistani Interior Minister , accuses  Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which the US believes has close ties with Al-Qaeda.

India, too, is blamed by many Pakistani government and security officials, who suspect retaliation for the Mumbai attacks. This was also a view voiced after the attack on SriLanka’s cricketers. Many analysts are quick to point out the change in tactics, and believe that the attacks are the handiwork of a new militant group.

Next Taliban State?

More than anything, this means that whatever Pakistan’s government says, the power of the militants has increased substantially over the last two years. Political instability has given them encouragement, and they have thrived as they once did during the 1990s under state patronage.

In the past the military has acted as godfather to the militants. But never has the country faced as great an internal threat as it does now. Experts say the situation can still be remedied if both parties agree that eliminating the militants is in Pakistan’s best interests. If that does not happen, there appears little to prevent Pakistan from becoming the next Taliban state.

Major Attacks in Pakistan

• 27 March 09: Suicide bomber demolishes crowded mosque near the north-western town of Jamrud, killing dozen.
• 3 March 09: Six policemen and a driver killed, and several cricketers injured, in ambush on the SriLanka cricket team in Lahore.
• 20 Sept 08: 54 die in an attack on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad.
• 6 Sept 08: Suicide car bombing kills 35 and wounds 80 at a police checkpoint in Peshawar.
• Aug 08: Twin suicide bombings at gates of a weapons factory in town of Wah leave 67 dead.
• March 08: Suicide bombs hit police headquarters and suburban house in Lahore, killing 24.

In a span of one year there has been 6 major terrorist attacks not including the one mentioned in this article. Pakistan may end up a Taliban state if the government fails to act now.

The top Taliban commander in Pakistan is claiming responsibility for the deadly attack on a police academy in the country’s east. Baitullah Mehsud made the claims — and others — in a phone call to an Associated Press reporter Tuesday. He also promises an assault on Washington “soon” — one he says will “amaze” the world. The academy attack in Lahore left at least seven police officers and two civilians dead Monday. The U.S. recently announced a $5 million bounty on Mehsud’s head. Asked about it, he has told that he would be happy to “embrace martrydom.”

The investigation was done by The work of Information Warfare Monitor (IWM) based on allegation given by Chinese cyber espionage against the Tibetan exile community. The IWM investigating on this allegation found that the hacking has been done at a wider network and they have been able to find that the hacking has been from China but were not able to identify the hackers.

The affected at the ministries of foreign affairs of Iran, Bangladesh, Latvia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Barbados and Bhutan. They also discovered hacked systems in the embassies of India, South Korea, Indonesia, Romania, Cyprus, Malta, Thailand, Taiwan, Portugal, Germany and Pakistan.

The investigators further said that The Ghostnet has removed sensitive files from the hacked systems. Does this mean the Chinese are proving their worth in IT over the ever caustious US and NATO?

China has denied Spy allegations — 30 march

Chinese government has issued a statement saying that it has no involvment in spy network. It has stated that the allegation is part of the “propaganda campaign” by Tibetan government in exile. It has also said that the research was commissioned by Dalai Lama’s office.

“So the blame game starts” – author