Pakistan Rebuffs US Demands

In further blow to power, president's political party calls for end to martial law

(NEWSER) - In a face-to-face meeting today with a top American diplomat, Pervez Musharraf remained tightlipped when pressed on when he would end emergency rule in Pakistan. Musharraf told John Negroponte he would cease martial law when security improves in the country, but his resistance is winning him few fans in Pakistan and the US, the New York Times reports. More»

General reiterates refusal to lift emergency, jibes back at Bhutto

(NEWSER) - Pervez Musharraf defended his 10-day-old emergency rule today, rejecting the US demand to lift it quickly and saying the edict is meant to protect elections. In a Times interview, Pakistan’s president said, “I don’t know, I don’t know” when asked the duration of the suspension of the constitution and the Supreme Court, and the jailing of 2,500 opponents. More»

Admitted giving secrets to North Korea, Iran

(NEWSER) - The Pakistani scientist who admitted to giving nuclear secrets to rogue states was freed from house arrest today, the BBC reports. Abdul Qadir Khan was pardoned in 2004 but has remained under tight restrictions; the former head of Pakistan’s nuclear program can now leave his house and receive visitors. Khan said he “didn’t damn care” what the international community thought of his release. More»

Like a good dictator, he kept N. Korea's nukes in check

(NEWSER) - The Bush administration felt a pending bittersweet goodbye when news leaked that North Korea's Kim Jong-Il likely had a stroke last month, the New York Times reports. True, officials had called Kim a "tyrant" and a "pigmy," but they knew he kept close tabs on his nation's nuclear arsenal. Now North Korea, like Pakistan, is a volatile country without a dictator to keep its nukes in check. More»

New administration will need to fix problems Bush has not addressed

(NEWSER) - Taking the attitude that "since we were now all-powerful, allies were no longer necessary," President Bush damaged the US' image and diminished its power, Fred Kaplan writes in Slate. How can the next president heal our diplomatic woes?

1. Visit all Middle East countries; leave a full-time envoy: "It is appalling that President Bush made his first trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories in his final year."