Asia-Pacific - INTER PRESS SERVICEAsia-Pacific - INTER PRESS SERVICE
IPS, civil societyapos;s leading news agency, is an independent voice from the South and for development, delving into globalisation for the stories underneath.

U.S. Leak on Israeli Attack Weakened a Warning to Netanyahu
When Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told Washington Post columnist David Ignatius this week that he believes Israel was likely to attack Iran between April and June, it was ostensibly yet another expression of alarm at the Israeli governments threats of military action.


Lawmakers, Experts Spin Tales of Iranian Terror in Latin ...
Through its ties with Venezuela and other nations in Latin America, Iran is building an anti-U.S. alliance in the Western Hemisphere that poses a direct, imminent threat to the United States, an influential U.S. lawmaker said Thursday.


INDIA-PAKISTAN: Food Heals Historic Hostility
If the way to a mans heart is through his stomach, then the path to peace between India and Pakistan may lie in the commonalities in their cultures and cuisines.


Early End to U.S. Combat Role in Afghanistan Draws Cheers...
U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panettas surprise announcement Wednesday that U.S. troops will phase out their combat role in Afghanistan by mid-2013 is drawing mixed reactions, as well as a fair bit of confusion, from both critics and supporters of the 11-year-old war here.


Once a Food Chain, Now a Corporate Supply Chain ? Part 2
While Indian retailers are losing sleep over the possible entrance of multinationals like Walmart into the dense South Asian consumer market, very little thought has been given to the Indian small farmer, who stands to lose even more at the hands of the worlds biggest commercial food retailer.


LAOS-CULTURE: ASEAN Attempts to Build on a Shared Languag...
A landmark concert featuring artistes from eight of the ten South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) took place here on Jan. 21, in an effort to build a regional community through the common language of music.


BANGLADESH: Coup Bid Reveals Extremism Within Army
Bangladeshs army has won paludits as leading United Nations peacekeepers, but the January coup attempt against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas government has exposed lurking religious extremism within its ranks.


India Weighs Social Media Curbs
After Indias agriculture minister Sharad Pawar was slapped by a young Sikh man at a function in New Delhi, to record his protest against corruption in high places, social media sites went viral with musical spoofs and caricatured images of the incident.


Dempsey Told Israelis U.S. Wont Join Their War on Iran
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told Israeli leaders Jan. 20 that the United States would not participate in a war against Iran begun by Israel without prior agreement from Washington, according to accounts from well-placed senior military officers.


U.S. Group Urges More Credible Military Threat Against Iran
The administration of President Barack Obama should take steps to make threats of a possible U.S. or Israeli attack against Iran more credible, according to the fourth in a series of studies released here Wednesday by a 13-man bipartisan task force dominated by Iran hawks.


Pakistan Denies Intimate Taliban Links
Pakistan has rejected as frivolous a leaked NATO report which claims that the countrys security services are helping the Taliban, and suggesting that the group believes it is poised to regain power.


China Looks Both Ways on Iranian Oil
Chinas response to calls from the West to join an oil embargo penalising Iran for its nuclear programme so far has been to choose the middle course typical of its non-interfering foreign policy of the last 30 years ? denouncing sanctions on one hand yet working to protect its national interests on many fronts.


Indian Retailers on Edge as 800-Pound Gorillas Come Knock...
Home to over 44 million small retailers, many of them family- owned, neighbourhood stores no bigger than 200 square feet, India is a land renowned for its various wallas ? small traders who produce, hawk, repair or deliver just about anything you could want at any hour of the day or night.


Mekong Unquiet Over Contain China Moves
Six countries that share the Mekong River are being drawn into a development turf war, exposing initiatives by the United States government and its Asian allies ? Japan and South Korea ? to contain Chinas growing influence in the region.


CHINA: In Chains, And Writing Out
Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, has been placed at the forefront of the fight for human rights in China once again with a new collection of works published in translation this January.