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France backs India-style nuclear deal for Pakistan : "PARIS (Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy told his Pakistani counterpart he wanted the Muslim country to have a wide-ranging deal to buy nuclear equipment like the one obtained by its rival India, Pakistan said on Friday."

Islamist offensive leaves West's Somalia strategy in tatters | McClatchy : "NAIROBI, Kenya — A major offensive by Islamic rebels has brought Somalia's internationally backed government close to collapse and renewed the possibility that a militant Islamist regime that allegedly has ties to al Qaida could seize control of the East African nation. That would be a devastating blow to U.S. counter-terrorism and anti-piracy efforts in East Africa, where al Qaida operatives bombed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. American intelligence officials accuse the rebels' spiritual leader, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, of helping to shelter suspects in those attacks, and since 2007 U.S. forces have launched airstrikes at terrorist targets in Somalia."

US Drone Strike in North Waziristan Kills 40 -- News from Antiwar.com A US drone fired two missiles at a religious school (madrassa) in Pakistan’s North Waziristan Agency today, killing at least 40 and wounding an as yet undetermined number of others. Villagers are reportedly still recovering people from the debris of the destroyed school, and several of the wounded are in critical condition, so the final death toll may yet rise.

Palestinians and Israeli Jews to reach equal number by 2016, data shows : Information Clearing House - ICH : "By Haaretz Service May 13, 2009 'Haaretz' -- The Jewish and Arab populations in Israel and the Palestinian territories will reach an equal number by 2016, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. The data, which was published as part of a special study to mark 61 years since Israel's independence ? or Naqba, as referred to by Palestinians ? cites a growth of more than nine million self-identified Palestinians since 1948. There were 1.4 million Palestinians recorded in the area in 1948, whereas by 2008 the number of self-identified Palestinians worldwide hit a census of 10.6 million. According to the Bureau, 5.1 million of those who call themselves Palestinians reside in Israel or the Palestinian territories. Currently, there are 5.6 million Jews living in Israel. Palestinian refugees world...

From Phnom Penh to Islamabad by William Pfaff -- Antiwar.com : "Last September, during the American presidential campaign, I wrote a column declaring that the United States had again invaded Cambodia, only this time 'Cambodia' was Pakistan. President George W. Bush had ordered U.S. ground attacks on the Taliban inside Pakistan’s Tribal Territories, without Pakistan’s authorization. That was also when Barack Obama’s foreign policy campaign platform was promising withdrawal from Iraq and military emphasis on Afghanistan and Pakistan, location of the 'real' problem in the great war on terror. A younger generation than mine, including senior military officers (not to speak of Barack Obama), may not know exactly why the United States and the South Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia in 1970, and what the result was. The invasion was a failure, and the result a humanitarian catastrophe."

Afghan official: 95 kids died in US-Taliban clash : "KABUL – Ninety-five Afghan children are among the 140 people said to have died in a recent U.S.-Taliban battle in western Afghanistan, according to a list drawn up by Afghan officials, a lawmaker said Wednesday. The U.S. military disputed the claim."

Most Americans oppose probe of Bush officials on torture: poll WASHINGTON (AFP) – Most Americans do not believe Congress should investigate officials in the previous administration for authorizing the use of harsh interrogation procedures, including waterboarding , a poll released Wednesday found. The poll by CNN television and the Opinion Research Corporation found that 60 percent of those surveyed believed the procedures constituted torture, but were sharply divided over whether they approved of their use.