Saudi beheading fuels backlash in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia — As leader of Indonesia’s — and the world’s — largest Muslim organization, Said Aqil Siraj used to get pelted with angry e-mails and text messages whenever he questioned Saudi Arabia’s rigid, ultra-puritanical take on Islam.
But the often menacing messages recently stopped — cut off by a single stroke from a Saudi executioner’s sword to the neck of an Indonesian maid in Mecca. Read more

Iraq Less Safe Than a Year Ago

A report on Iraq five months before the US withdrawal doesn't exactly inspire confidence: "It is less safe, in my judgment, than 12 months ago," declares Stuart Bowen, the official appointed by Congress to keep an eye on the transition. He cites an increase in bombings and assassinations, rampant corruption, continued trouble training Iraqi police, and even electricity problems, report AFP and the New York Times.

The shift in control away the US military is occurring "against the backdrop of a security situation in Iraq that continues to deteriorate," says Bowen, who runs the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. His assessment contradicts rosier statements by US and Iraqi officials. “There are failures and shortcomings in the government and the security forces, but it is not as bad as the report says it is," says a member of the Iraqi parliament.

Pakistani Father Kills Six Daughters

FAISALABAD: A man killed six of his daughters on suspicion that two of them had relations with boys in the neighborhood.

Taliban Hanged Eight Year Old Boy

Suspected Taliban militants hanged an eight-year-old boy in southern Afghanistan after ordering his father, a local police commander, to surrender, a government spokesman says.

Infants Killed In Pakistan

Karachi, Pakistan (CNN) -- At a morgue in Pakistan's largest city, five linen pouches -- each the size of a loaf of bread -- line the shelf of a walk-in freezer.

Video of brutal Taliban Execution of Pakistani Policemen Emerges

The Taliban videotaped the brutal execution of more than a dozen Pakistani policemen who were captured during last month's raid in a remote area of northwestern Pakistan. read more