the late unpleasantness

BBC: more rioting in Kashmir, Hindu nationalist BJP gets in on the outbidding action
"The area's Muslim majority continued to demonstrate even though the state government has said it will revoke its decision to transfer the land.

In protest, the state's Hindu-majority Jammu region is also witnessing a strike with crowds out on the streets."

NYT: Algerian insurgents link up with Al Qaeda
"Today, as Islamist violence wanes in some parts of the world, the Algerian militants — renamed Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb — have grown into one of the most potent Osama bin Laden affiliates, reinvigorated with fresh recruits and a zeal for Western targets."

WashPost: Zimbabwean officials keep it classy
" Asked about criticism from Britain, Zimbabwe's former colonial ruler, about Mugabe's violent reelection campaign, Charamba answered: "They can go hang a thousand times, they have no basis, they have no claim on Zimbabwe politics at all."

Guardian: viral video of Sarkozy getting a little worked up
"When you're invited on, you are entitled to have people say hello to you, or you're not on in the public sector," he growls. "It's all demonstrators here ... It's incredible ... And serious. That will change."

WashPost: bombs and whatnot in northwestern Pakistan

The News: a skeptical, if anecdotal, glimpse of the limits of the current Frontier Corps offensive outside of Peshawar
"And now the truth: It's all hogwash. It's a drama being staged to placate a nervous public, please the cooperative militias by giving them sufficient advance warning, and confuse the Americans who of late have been displaying the audacity to ask for verifiable deliverables against all the money they have been pumping in for the last eight years. A desperate appeasement attempt for the visiting Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Boucher, if you may."

Hindu: Indian government tries to push through nuclear deal with US

BBC: LTTE (probably) launches apparent attack on President's helicopter but fails to bring it down

BBC: Malaysian government accuses opposition leader of sodomy; no wonder Rick Santorum resigned from the Parti Readilan Rakyat