U.S. lawmakers said pleased with detainee treatment A group of U.S. congressmen toured the Guantanamo Bay detention center Friday, and said captured al-Qaida and Taliban fighters are being treated humanely.

U.S. military tests anti-missile rocket An interceptor rocket launched from a U.S. Navy ship smashed into a dummy missile high over the Pacific Friday night, in the latest test in the Pentagon’s plans to shield America from long-range missiles.

Unrest a Chief Product of Arab Economies (washingtonpost.com) The economic misfortunes that fuel resentment among young Arab men emerge through the cigarette smoke at a street-side cafe, where a table full of Egyptians in their twenties and thirties erupts in bitterness over their dreary prospects.

Missile Test by India Raises Nuclear Ante (washingtonpost.com) India today successfully test-fired the newest version of a surface-to-surface missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, drawing condemnation from neighboring Pakistan in the midst of a tense military standoff between the two countries.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Mystery of missing US journalist Police in Pakistan say they have no clues as to the whereabouts of an American journalist missing since Wednesday.

BBC News | AMERICAS | Shoe bomb suspect 'did not act alone' The FBI has discovered forensic evidence that indicates alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid had help making the explosives found in his shoes on board an American-bound flight.

ABCNEWS.com : Bush Seeks $11 Billion to Secure Borders President Bush said today he will ask Congress to spend roughly $11 billion next year on securing the nation's borders to keep out terrorists who would try to attack the United States by air, land or sea.

U.S. Warplane Destroys Huge Store of Taliban Arms A U.S. AC-130 flying gunship has destroyed a huge store of Taliban arms in Afghanistan's chill southern mountains, a sign the U.S. military still has much to do in the shattered country, the Pentagon said on Friday.

Israeli Jets Strike After Suicide Bomb Attack Israeli warplanes launched a missile strike on Palestinian security targets in the West Bank and Gaza on Friday in retaliation for a Palestinian suicide bombing that wounded at least 25 people.

Elite Troops Kill, Capture Dozens of Taliban Elite U.S. troops attacked two guerrilla compounds in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing up to 15 Taliban fighters and capturing 27 others, Pentagon officials said. One U.S. soldier was wounded.

A Turkish path for Pakistan? | csmonitor.com In curbing militancy, Musharraf hopes to create a modern-minded Muslim state.

Lindh Back in U.S. to Face Charges John Walker Lindh, the young Muslim convert accused of joining al-Qaida soldiers in Afghanistan, returned to the United States Wednesday under FBI custody to face criminal charges that he conspired to kill fellow Americans.

Palestinian Militants Threaten War Islamic militants threatened ``all-out war'' Wednesday to avenge the killing of a Hamas commander in the West Bank, and Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority said it can no longer be expected to enforce a truce with Israel.

FBI: Prisoner Info Thwarted Attacks U.S. special forces and their Afghan allies confiscated thousands of weapons from a local warlord Wednesday, officials said, as troops pressed the search for Taliban and al-Qaida renegades in southern Afghanistan.

Mazar-e-Sharif rebounds — slowly After weeks of intense work to restore facilities destroyed by the Taliban, the local television station in northern Afghanistan’s largest city is ready to go back on the air — if only there was enough electricity.

FTC proposes hotline to thwart telemarketers The Federal Trade Commission is proposing the creation of a national ‘do not call’ registry that would allow consumers to ward off unwanted telemarketers with a single phone call.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | UN calls for bigger Afghan force The United Nations Secretary General's deputy special representative for Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, has said he believes the international community should deploy more foreign troops in Afghanistan.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Pakistan rejects India attack claims Pakistan has denied Indian accusations that its intelligence service was involved in an attack on an American cultural centre in Calcutta in which five policemen were killed and 20 people wounded.

'Activated' Asian terror web busted | csmonitor.com The arrest of dozens of Al Qaeda suspects shows the organization's depth in Asia.

Palestinian Wounds 16 After Deadly Israeli Raid A Palestinian gunman wounded 16 Israelis in a rush hour shooting spree in Jerusalem's main shopping street Tuesday after Israeli troops killed four Palestinian militants in the West Bank.

Rumsfeld Lashes at Critics of Prisoner Treatment Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday lashed out at critics of U.S. military treatment of Afghan war captives at an American Navy base in Cuba, saying their makeshift prison was fair and humane.

Gunmen Attack U.S. Office in India, Kill Four Four policemen were killed and at least 14 people injured in a dawn attack by unidentified gunmen outside the U.S. information office in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta Tuesday, police said.

washingtonpost.com: Not Exactly What We Intended, Justice O'Connor It is difficult to say, based solely on the letter of the law as we wrote it, that O'Connor is wrong. But as the congressman who shepherded the legislation through the House of Representatives, I believe that the "intent of Congress" was clearly more expansive than Justice O'Connor's ruling would suggest.

Wonders Never Cease - Destruction was the luckiest thing to happen to the Buddhas of Bamiyan. By Charles Paul Freund So how did the carved Buddhas of Bamiyan go from reviled grotesquerie to "things which are valuable to humanity and its heritage," indeed so valuable they must be rebuilt? There's nothing like a staged spectacle of barbaric destruction to transform otherwise obscure artifacts. Such an act provides relevant and apparent meaning to a work even as it destroys that work.

Afghan Leader Karzai Makes Moving Appeal for Aid Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, appealed to the world Sunday for help in getting his devastated country back on its feet after two decades of strife and disaster that created a breeding ground for terrorism.