CHINA - Torrential rain battering southern China has forced more than 150,000 people from their homes, toppled hundreds of houses and punched a dangerous hole in the spillway of a dam, Xinhua news agency reported.

INDIA - Indian paramilitary rescue teams rushed on Saturday to an island in one of Asia's largest rivers, where nearly 100,000 people took refuge after heavy monsoon rains flooded their homes, said a local administrator. Nearly 300,000 people in remote northeastern Assam state have seen their homes flooded in three days of nonstop monsoon rain, said state Revenue Minister Bhumidhar Barman.

BANGLADESH - Torrential rains triggered landslides and flash floods killing six people and stranding half a million in their homes in Bangladesh, officials said on Saturday. The landslides occurred near Habiganj district town, some 200 km (125 miles) northeast of the capital Dhaka Saturday, burying all six members of a family. Officials said the situation had worsened at three other nearby districts, with some 500,000 people stranded at their homes as the rivers Surma and Khusiara, flowing into Bangladesh from northeastern India, burst their banks following incessant rains over the last four days.

The refugees from the SWAT valley may also be in dire trouble.

In a rare display of concern for their citizens, the North Korean government have authorised a television commercial for its local beer: ' “Pride of Pyongyang“- the beer that will help ease stress. '

see BBC for video.

July 3

BBC - At least 10 militants have died after missiles were fired by a suspected US drone aircraft at a Taliban target in Pakistan, intelligence officials say. Unnamed officials said it was an attack on a militant training facility in the South Waziristan area. It took place in an area on the Afghan border controlled by Pakistan's top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

They're still not big fans of the U.S., but Barack Obama is a big improvement over W. from the poll:

Most Pakistanis now see the Pakistani Taliban as well as al Qaeda as a critical threat to the country–a major shift from 18 months ago–and support the government and army in their fight in the Swat Valley against the Pakistani Taliban. An overwhelming majority think that Taliban groups who seek to overthrow the Afghan government should not be allowed to have bases in Pakistan.

But given Sharif's numbers, this makes the tie of his to the Taliban important to make:

Asked about the nation’s leaders, a large majority–68 percent–views President Zardari unfavorably (very, 50%), but–unlike the recent past–there are multiple national leaders whom most do view favorably. Prime Minister Gilani is seems untarred by negative views of Zardari and gets favorable ratings from 80 percent of Pakistanis. The restored Chief Justice Chaudry is very popular (82%), and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif is extremely popular (87%). The leader most associated with the Pakistani Taliban, Maulana Sufi Mohammad, is viewed positively by only 18 percent of Pakistanis.

July 2

BBC - A court in the Indian capital, Delhi, has ruled that homosexual intercourse between consenting adults is not a criminal act.

The ruling overturns a 148-year-old colonial law which describes a same-sex relationship as an "unnatural offence".

Homosexual acts were punishable by a 10-year prison sentence.

Many people in India regard same-sex relationships as illegitimate. Rights groups have long argued that the law contravened human rights.

The court said that a statute in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which defines homosexual acts as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and made them illegal, was an "antithesis of the right to equality".

Amy Yee | Dharmasala, India | June 29

NYT - Tibetan monks and nuns spend their lives studying the inner world of the mind rather than the physical world of matter. Yet for one month this spring a group of 91 monastics devoted themselves to the corporeal realm of science.

Instead of delving into Buddhist texts on karma and emptiness, they learned about Galileo’s law of accelerated motion, chromosomes, neurons and the Big Bang, among other far-ranging topics.

Many in the group, whose ages ranged from the 20s to 40s, had never learned science and math. In Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries, the curriculum has remained unchanged for centuries.

July 1

AFP - Nepal's anti-corruption authority has come up with a novel solution to rampant bribe-taking at the country's only international airport - the pocketless trouser. The authority said it was issuing the new, bribe-proof garment to all airport officials after uncovering widespread corruption at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport.

"We sent a team to observe the growing complaints about the behaviour of airport authorities and workers towards travellers and we discovered that the reports were true," a spokesman for the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Ishwori Prasad Paudyal, said. "So we decided that airport officials should be given trousers with no pockets. We have directed the ministry of civil aviation to implement our order as soon as possible," he said. "We believe this will help curb the irregularities."

Paudyal said CIAA investigators had observed theft as well as bribe-taking by airport officials, who would lose their jobs if the situation did not improve. His comments came a day after Nepal's new Prime Minister Madhav Mumar Nepal expressed fears that corruption was tarnishing the airport's reputation.

Washington | July 1

AFP - A North Korean ship tracked by the US Navy and suspected of transporting weapons or military know-how in violation of UN sanctions has turned around, a Pentagon official said.

The official declined to provide details, including where the Kang Nam 1 ship -- reportedly originally bound for Myanmar -- could now be headed, but news reports out of South Korea suggested the ship may be returning home two weeks after it set sail June 17.

Huma Yusuf | June 30

CSM Media Roundup - Taliban militants in North Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, have ended a peace agreement with the Pakistani government. This development jeopardizes the military's plan to isolate and target the Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan, a neighboring tribal district.

A shura, or council, on Monday decided to call off the agreement – brokered with Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur in February 2008 – because the government has failed to meet the Taliban's demands that the Pakistani Army withdraw from the region and the government put an end to US-sanctioned drone attacks, reports the BBC. A Taliban spokesman added that militants would now "carry out attacks on military targets in the region until the army left and US drones strikes were halted."

The agreement with Mr. Bahadur was meant to divide Taliban forces in the area. The Pakistani Army is waging an offensive against Mr. Mehsud in South Waziristan, and, under the agreement, Bahadur would not join Mehsud in battling Pakistani forces.

The termination of the peace agreement comes a day after militants ambushed an Army convoy, leaving 23 soldiers dead and 35 wounded, reports The Times of London.

New Delhi | June 26

DPA - Indian security forces are planning to use the world's hottest chilli powder in non-lethal hand grenades to control riots and in counter-insurgency operations, a news report said Friday.

Scientists in the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) were working on a project to use Bhut Jolokia, in the non-lethal hand grenades, the Kolkata-based Telegraph newspaper reported.

Defence scientist RB Srivastava, said the DRDO would use the chilli in different applications, including one to make hand-grenades that would act as an alternative to tear gas.

The authorities were also planning to coat fences of army bases near reserve forests with Bhut Jolokia to keep rogue elephants away.

Grown in the north-eastern state of Nagaland, Bhut Jolokia is about 1,000 times more spicy than the common chilli and twice as fiery as the Red Savina, a Mexican variety.

John Lichfield | Paris | June 26

The Independent - Families of 11 engineers murdered in Karachi in 2002 point finger of blame at French government

A political scandal is gathering pace over claims that 11 French submarine engineers were murdered in a bomb attack in Karachi seven years ago to punish France for the non-payment of arms contract "commissions" to senior Pakistani officials.

Lawyers for the French victims' families believe the attack, allegedly carried out by Islamist terrorists, was in fact part of a web of financial chicanery and political manoeuvring which may yet severely embarrass senior figures, including the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari.

Justin McCurry | Tokyo | June 25

The Guardian - North Korea today threatened to retaliate with a nuclear "fire shower" if it is attacked by the US and warned it would expand its nuclear arsenal, a month after it carried out a controlled nuclear explosion in defiance of the UN security council.

The regime used the 59th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean war to step up its threats against the US, whose navy is tracking a North Korean vessel off the Chinese coast that is suspected of carrying weapons.

Earlier this month the UN banned all weapons exports from North Korea in response to the May 25 nuclear test, its second in three years.

The latest warning came as speculation mounted that Pyongyang is preparing to test launch short- and medium-range missiles.

North Korea has banned ships from the waters off its east coast until July 10 for "military exercises", but South Korean and US intelligence officials do not believe the tests will involve a long-range Taepodong-2 missile, which is theoretically capable of reaching Hawaii.

Bangkok | June 25

AFP - Thailand's election commission has approved a new political party set up by the "Yellow Shirt" protest movement which blockaded Bangkok's airports last year, a spokesman for the body has said.

Calling themselves the New Politics Party, the group formerly known as the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) had posted its papers with the Election Commission three weeks ago after three years of street-level activism.

"The commissioners have now approved the registration of the New Politics Party. It's a unanimous decision as the submitted documents were considered to fully comply with the law," said commission spokesman Ruengroj Chomsueb.

The party must now find 5,000 members and set up four regional offices within one year, he said.

Seoul | June 24

AFP - A South Korean newspaper said Wednesday that the youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has taken control of the secret police as a first step towards succeeding his father.

Dong-A Ilbo, citing sources, said Kim told key Department of State Security officials to treat 26-year-old Jong-Un as their boss when father and son visited the headquarters in Pyongyang around March.

"You should treat comrade Kim Jong-Un as agency chief. Protect comrade Kim Jong-Un with your lives as you did to me in the past," Kim Jong-Il was quoted as saying.

Kim then awarded agency officials five imported luxury cars worth some 80,000 dollars each, it said.

The agency, which cracks down on dissidents and conducts overseas spy operations, has been under the control of Kim senior since 1987, the paper said.

It said the office of director is vacant and chief deputy director U Tong-Chuk is formally in charge, but agency officials see Jong-Un as effectively in control.

** North Korean 'heir apparent' appointed military chief

June 23

Reuters/AP - Japanese coast guard officials say North Korea has banned ships from sailing off its east coast for 16 days starting this Thursday.

Coast guard officials say the North Korean government sent them an e-mail warning that it will hold military drills off its eastern port of Wonsan between Thursday and July 10.

The e-mail did not say what consequences ships would face if they violated the ban.

The dates fall within a time frame mentioned last week by Japanese media for a possible launch of a long-range missile toward Hawaii. The message comes at a time of heightened tension between Pyongyang and the international community.

Tolkun Namatbayeva | Bishkek | June 23

AFP -

The United States and Kyrgyzstan signed a deal on the transit of non-military cargo to Afghanistan that will effectively keep open a US air base Bishkek had ordered closed, officials said.

Kyrgyzstan had troubled Washington by ordering the closure of the US airbase at Manas, a key transit point for operations in Afghanistan, at a time when US President Barack Obama was ordering an intensified campaign against the Taliban.

"The US and Kyrgyzstan agreed on the opening of a centre for the transit of goods to Afghanistan at the Manas airport," a source in the Kyrgyz government told AFP, confirming that an agreement had been signed on Monday.

The source added that the base -- which had previously been used for ferrying troops to Afghanistan and the refuelling of military aircraft -- would from now on only be used for the transit of non-lethal goods.

"The status of the airbase has changed. It will now transport non-military cargo to Afghanistan," the official said.

The agreement should be debated Tuesday by the Kyrgyz parliament ahead of ratification, the government source said, while parliament officials confirmed that it would examine the issue in an extraordinary session.

Andrew Buncombe | June 22

The Independent - After 500 years of autocracy, Tibetan leader calls for democracy

In a speech that underscored the pressures he has had to bear during his life serving as both a spiritual and political leader, the Dalai Lama has said there is no need for his successor to perform the two roles.

In a video clip shown to hundreds of monks, nuns and lay people gathered in the mountain town of Dharamsala, the 73-year-old said it was essential that the Tibetan community in exile embraced democracy if it were to keep step with the wider world.

"The Dalai Lamas held temporal and spiritual leadership over the last 400 to 500 years. It may have been quite useful. But that period is over," said the Nobel prize winner. "Today, it is clear to the whole world that democracy is the best system despite its minor negativities. That is why it is important that Tibetans also move with the larger world community."

Pauk Tait | Islamabad | June 22

Thousands leave Waziristan before new Pakistan battle

More than 40,000 Pakistanis are moving even before a military offensive begins in the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan and are headed for communities already stretched to the limit, officials said on Monday.

Nearly 2 million people have fled fighting in northwest Pakistan, most since early May when the military began an offensive against Taliban insurgents, prompting the United Nations to launch an appeal for $543 million in aid to avert a long-term humanitarian crisis.

** Pakistan faces challenge of cementing victory against Taliban(pic)
** Taliban gains money, al-Qaida finances recovering
** Unclear if Pakistan offensive serves US
** Pakistan says Swat push nears end as clashes flare

Did you see that article back in February that predicted this Iranian revolution? No? Neither did I. As far as anyone can tell this revolution was unexpected. When millions of people in Iran take to the streets to shout “death to the dictator” – meaning President Ahmadinejad – and when hundreds of demonstrators are injured with many killed by roving militias, something of great significance is occurring. Too bad the world was unprepared for this.

In the United States it is easy to blame the press. After all, this trouble in Iran was brewing right during the middle of American Idol, when the US takes time out to vote for the least objectionable amateur singer. The UK was equally preoccupied this year what with all the fuss over Susan Boyle. It was only a week before the election in Iran than most people who follow the news in the US or Europe even heard about Moussavi vs. Ahmadinejad. But you had to search for the news – the main stream press coverage was spotty or non-existent.

Tokyo | June 20

AFP - (Alleged pictures of Kim Jong-Un)

Kim Jong-Il's third son, the likely successor to the North Korean leader, has been appointed acting defence chief under his ailing father, a Japanese newspaper reported on Saturday.

Kim Jong-Un started supporting his father as acting chairman of North Korea's National Defence Commission, the evening edition of the Mainichi Shimbun said, quoting unnamed sources close to North Korean leadership.

Kim Jong-Il has ruled the reclusive country, and held its two highest posts of defence commission chairman and secretary general of the Workers' Party of Korea, since his father, Kim Il-Sung, died in 1994.

As acting chairman, which is still considered informal, the 26-year-old son appears to be securing his succession to his father, 67, who reportedly suffered a stroke last August, the newspaper said.

William Maclean | London | June 19

Reuters - Under pressure in his Pakistan enclaves, Osama bin Laden is facing a familiar quandary: Where to go next? The answer is unlikely to be Yemen or Somalia, despite their new prominence as regional al Qaeda sanctuaries.

U.S. drone attacks and a looming Pakistan army offensive against one of al Qaeda's main allies in a northwestern tribal area have stirred speculation that bin Laden's men are seeking a less risky refuge for their anti-Western campaign.

But simply leaving Pakistan's remote Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) could expose the world's most wanted man and his entourage of planners and bodyguards to satellite detection and the curious gaze of a local population of uncertain loyalty.

Related thread: Yemen could be "another Afghanistan" -EU official

Ewen MacAskill | Washington | June 19

The Guardian -

Kang Nam vessel suspected of transporting weapons, a violation of UN sanctions imposed last week

Tension was growing in the Pacific today as the US navy prepared to intercept a North Korean cargo ship suspected of carrying weapons in defiance of a United Nations ban.

The US navy has been tracking the Kang Nam since its left a North Korean port on Wednesday.

It would be the first ship to be intercepted since the UN last week imposed sanctions on North Korea as punishment for conducting an underground nuclear test last month. The sanctions ban the import and export of nuclear material, missiles and all other weapons other than small arms.

A USS destroyer, the John McCain (named after the father of the Republican senator, who was an admiral), was awaiting orders to intercept the ship off the Chinese coast.

The UN sanctions only allow the US to hail a North Korean ship and demand to be allowed to conduct a search, but not forcibly board it. North Korea has said a forcible search would be regarded as an act of war.

This has the ability to tremendously backfire

Pakistani journalist Nadeem Paracha, in a superbly referenced post on The Dawn Blog, takes his colleagues in the Pakistani media to task for their self-serving coddling of Islamic extremists.

It is a rather stunning experience watching certain TV talk show hosts, journalists and assorted ‘experts’ continuing to find newer and more bizarre ways to stick to an obviously reactionary and, if I may, paranoid line in this respect, especially at a time when a majority of Pakistanis, including well known religious scholars, have started to freely exhibit anger and bitterness towards phenomenon like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

Beijing | June 20

Reuters - Google has been "ordered to comply with China's laws and regulations and completely filter pornographic content to prevent pornographic material from entering from overseas", Xinhua said.

The order coincides with plans by the city of Beijing to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers to monitor the Internet.

The volunteers would be asked to report to the authorities if they came across "lewd" content or find Internet users exhibiting "uncivilised behaviour" when surfing the Internet, Xinhua said.

LoL! What will be left?

Saeed Shah | Islamabad | June 18

McClatchy - As Pakistan pursues delicate negotiations before launching a major military operation in South Waziristan, the United States launched a drone strike Thursday that could offend a warlord the government here is trying to win over, analysts said.

The bombing exposed the divergent priorities of Washington and Islamabad. The United States strongly backs the Pakistani offensive announced Sunday against warlord Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban. Washington also wants to destroy the leadership of the Afghan Taliban and its Pakistani allies, however, some of whom are potential allies for the Pakistani government.

One such potential ally, who just came under attack, is warlord Maulvi Nazir, whom Pakistan is courting in hopes he'll stay out of the fight, according to a senior Pakistani security official who declined to be identified as he wasn't authorized to discuss the issue.

Mehsud is also seeking a pact with Nazir, however, in what officials and militants described as a fierce competition with the government.