A senior Iranian cleric has raised allegations the United States used a small nuclear weapon in the first Gulf War, a charge the U.S. denies.
Iranian state media reports former president Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Friday is questioning why journalists have not pursued a report that the U.S. exploded an atomic weapon in the final days of the 1991 war.

Few issues so clearly divide Barack Obama and John McCain as the war in Iraq. Their differences were stark even before the war began: Obama opposed it, McCain favored it.
Then there was the troop surge: Nobody pushed harder for sending additional troops than McCain. Obama didn’t just oppose the surge, he proposed the opposite, calling for the withdrawal of troops.

MANILA (AFP) — Fighting with Muslim rebels on the Philippine island of Mindanao is unlikely to escalate into full-scale war but foreign Islamic militants could stage attacks in retaliation, the International Crisis Group said Thursday.
While returning to the peace table remains an option for the government and the 12,000-member Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which has been waging a decades-long rebellion, any final agreement remains a long way off, the ICG said in a policy briefing paper.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, (UPI) — Suspected drone missile attacks killed eight people in a theology school in a Taliban-stronghold village in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region.
CNN, quoting military sources, reported two missiles were fired from the drone during the Thursday attack in which six others were injured.

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, – A grenade exploded outside the office of former separatist rebels in Indonesia’s once-restive Aceh province on Thursday, but no one was reported injured, a police official said.
Resource-rich Aceh was torn by conflict for nearly 30 years before a peace deal between Jakarta and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in 2005.

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s Cabinet is meeting to review a proposed security pact with the United States that would keep American troops in the country three more years.
The Cabinet must sign off before the draft agreement goes to Iraq’s parliament.
The biggest Shiite alliance has expressed reservations over the agreement and some Sunni lawmakers are also opposed.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh says the Cabinet meeting began Tuesday with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki chairing the session.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) – Pakistan said Saturday that China will help it build two more nuclear power plants, offsetting Pakistani frustration over a recent nuclear deal between archrival India and the United States.
The agreement with China was among 12 accords signed during Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent visit to Beijing, said Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Troops of Task Force 1 this morning cut-off Mannar- Poonaryn (A-32) road at 8 Km north of Nachchikudha, said the defence sources. Accordingly, troops have encircled the main Sea Tiger stronghold on the northwestern coast of the Island, and are now engaged in mop up operations towards Nachchikudha build-up, from the south Pallawarayankaddu area, the sources added.
Troops of Task Force 1, launched their offensives to dominate the strategically vital northwestern coast of the Island in September 2007. Opening the Mannar front troops advanced for about 40 Km along the …