India
India has warned US President Barack Obama that he risks “barking up the wrong tree” if he seeks to broker a settlement between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
MK Narayanan, India’s national security advisor, said that the new US administration was in danger of dredging up out of date Clinton administration-era strategies in a bid to bring about improved ties between the two nuclear armed neighbours.
North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea's apparent preparations for a ballistic missile test, reportedly detected by South Korean officials monitoring a train headed to a launch site, appear to be the country's latest attempt to get President Barack Obama's attention.
A South Korean official on Tuesday confirmed the preparations, first reported by Japanese and South Korean media citing sources as saying the missile had the potential to reach the western United States.
"There are signs North Korea is preparing for a missile launch," the intelligence official told The Associated Press. He declined to give further details and spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said any North Korean ballistic missile launch would be "unhelpful and, frankly, provocative" as the U.S. and others work to persuade the North to scrap its atomic weapons.
Iran
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran Tuesday successfully launched its first satellite into orbit, a step hailed by Iran's president as a "source of pride" for the Islamic republic, according to state-run news outlets.
Pakistan
Pakistan has condemned the violations of its territory and argues that the attacks fuel anger towards the US and undermines the government's own efforts to garner people's support for the campaign against militancy.
Afghanistan
The U.S.-led coalition said Saturday that it would investigate allegations of civilian deaths during a battle in western Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior says that 76 civilians were killed in strikes in the Shindand district of Herat province. U.S. coalition officials say that Thursday's strikes killed 30 militants, including a Taliban leader.
On Saturday, President Hamid Karzai condemned the U.S. operation and said it hadn't been coordinated with local security officials in Azizabad village. Karzai said in a statement that "at least 70 innocent civilians, most of them women and children" were killed.
