Kachin ethnic minority rebels in war-torn northern Myanmar accused the military of launching a fresh attack on Sunday, just days after a ceasefire pledge by the country's reformist government. The clashes came despite a new offer by President Thein Sein of peace talks to end Myanmar's last active civil war, which has marred widespread optimism about the regime's dramatic political reforms.

Two Indian naval ships were cruising about 40 km off the Maldives coast on the morning of Feb 7, 2012, hours before then president Mohamed Nasheed was ousted from power. But he decided not to seek India's intervention, a Maldivian newspaper reported.

India Friday welcomed the “positive statements” coming from Pakistan on talks to defuse their border tension and said the border flare-ups of the past 10 days, including the Jan 8 brutal killing of two Indian soldiers, would not undermine their peace process.

On a day when Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar's offer for talks received lukewarm response here, Pakistan high commissioner Salman Bashir turned out be the real game-changer as he said that Islamabad was willing to address all Indian concerns over LoC, including its demand for a probe into the mutilation of the bodies of Indian soldiers.

India-Sri Lanka relations are multi-faceted and have tremendous scope for expansion and improvement, says a joint study group of both the countries.

The Indian and Pakistani armies held a flag meeting on Monday, after Army Chief General Bikram Singh said Pakistan is still sending terrorists to India.
On Sunday night, Pakistani troops opened fresh fire at Indian border posts in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

The 8th conference of the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA), from January 6 to 9, was pointedly held in the twin cities of Amritsar and Lahore, one sacred, the other historic. Both were reminders of the bloodied severing of one subcontinent. And both flanked the Wagah border, where jack-booted soldiers play-act a war every evening to the jingoistic screams of tourists packing the tiered stands on either side.

India was to decide its response on Wednesday as Pakistani troops on Tuesday murdered two Indian soldiers, cutting off the head of one and slitting the throat of the other, along the tense border between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Foreign minister Salman Khurshid said India would deliver a "proportionate response" to the "ghastly" killings in Kashmir on Tuesday which he said were designed to sabotage an already fragile peace process.

Myanmar on Friday said it will allow private daily newspapers starting in April for the first time since 1964, in the latest step toward allowing freedom of expression in the long-repressed nation. The information ministry announced on its website that any Myanmar national wishing to publish a daily newspaper will be able to submit an application in February.