Lhasa, Tibet - China's secret police are just terrible at keeping themselves secret.
The detective, dressed in her business suit and pumps appropriate to urban Lhasa, did not expect to be trailing my wife and me up the steep hillside to a monastery 15,000 feet up an ice-crusted ridge. Even at 200 yards behind us, I could see her shivering in the thin, frozen air, trying, absurdly, to look like just another hiker on the barren slope.
The final results are in on this historic November day. Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars he raised, Barack Obama has lost the 2008 presidential election. American voters have boldly spoken truth to arrogance. Turned out that all those pre-election opinion polls that showed Obama's inability to get over 50 percent support were prescient.
Pastor Martin Niemöller, a contemporary of Adolf Hitler wasn't a saint in his younger days, I hear, but he repented of his omissions and commissions later in life. He is probably most remembered for the following lines that we have all heard at least once:
PAKISTAN: The people defeat Pakistan’s military dictator, General Musharraf
The Asian Human Rights Commission salutes and congratulates the people of Pakistan for their resilient and determined struggle to oust the dictator, General (Ret.) Pervez Musharraf from the post of president. This completely non-violent struggle of various sections of society which included lawyers, judges, the ordinary folk, the media as well as the legislators is a clear example of the development of democracies on the basis of consensus. In the recent years there was clear consensus that the people did not want a military regime but instead a democratic government.
VANCOUVER- Sun owner CanWest has launched an unprecedented civil lawsuit against local activists. In this direct attack on freedom of expression, the activists are being sued for a four page parody of the Vancouver Sun satirising CanWest’s well-known bias for supporting the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
Georgia has said there are still no signs of Russia withdrawing its troops from deep inside the country as Nato foreign ministers meet in Brussels to work out a response to Moscow's military action.
Nato foreign ministers have warned there can be "no business as usual" with Russia, and called for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia.
A vital oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea oilfields, through Georgia, to Turkey's west coast is set to reopen soon, according to Turkey's energy minister.
Tropical Storm Fay has passed over the US state of Florida's Keys islands without major damage, but fears remain it could grow to hurricane strength as it hits land, officials say.
Hezbollah has signed a memorandum of understanding with a local Sunni faction in Lebanon, a move that could help defuse sectarian tensions that have cost the lives of more than 100 people.
News_Alerts 
Pakistan's government has started the procees of choosing a new president, election commission officials have said.
