Washington, April 16: The Pakistan Government, led by President Asif Ali Zardari, has been "playing a particularly cheap form of politics" by secretly allowing the United States to increase drone strikes in the tribal areas on the one hand, and complaining about them publicly to shore up its waning popularity on the other hand, a US newspaper has said.

"Islamabad''s U. S. cooperation has also been double-edged. The government of President Asif Ali Zardari allowed the U. S. to increase the number of drone strikes," The Wall Street Journal said in an opinion piece.

Washington, April 16: The Central Investigation Agency (CIA) has established its own spy network in Pakistan, a US newspaper has quoted an official, as saying.

According to the US official, the CIA established its spy network in Pakistan's tribal areas during the last two years.

A summit of spymasters that was held this week eased tensions, but failed to resolve issues over US drone attacks and espionage, which have imperilled the vital relationship between the CIA and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), The News quoted a US official, as telling a news agency.

Washington, Apr. 15: US President Barack Obama has said that Donald Trump and other Repubublicans who challenge his US citizenship would only gain a short term political benefit with conservative voters.

In an interview with ABC News, Obama said that the whole `birther' issue would be a problem for the Republicans as it was the independent voters who were the deciding factors in the general elections.

Washington, April 15: The fact that Lashkar-e-Tayyiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, one of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks accused, had been instructing LeT operatives while in Pakistani custody, raises questions over whether the Pakistanis were "protecting" rather than "prosecuting" him, noted South Asian affairs analyst Lisa Curtis has said.

Washington, Apr 15: Al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri has praised the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak and urged Arab armies also to overthrow Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi before "Western aid... turns into invasions."

In his first video appearance in recent months, al-Zawahiri also said that Egypt's future depends on the destruction of Israel and the establishment of Islamic law.

Western officials believe that al-Qaeda is trying to turn the Arab world protests in their favour.

Washington, Apr. 15: United States President Barack Obama has written a joint article with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron, committing their countries to pursuing stronger military action against Libya.

Writing in the Washington Post, the Times and Le Figaro, the three leaders say the world would have committed an "unconscionable betrayal" if Gaddafi is left in place, putting rebels who have been fighting against the Gaddafi regime at the mercy of his government, and adding that Libya risks becoming a failed state.

Washington, Apr 12 : The US Army General Martin Dempsey has said he will lay out a plan by June for facing the challenges of the future in a better manner.

General Dempsey said the all-volunteer army is in transition and must evolve and hone new expertise in order to be ready for adversaries the US will face in 2020 and beyond.

"This particular transition is somewhat unique in that we have persevered through a decade of war with an all-volunteer force," news. com. au quoted Dempsey, as saying.

Washington, Apr 12: United States President Barack Obama has welcomed the "decisive turn" of events in the Ivory Coast and the end of former President Laurent Gbagbo's "illegitimate claim to power" as a victory for democracy.

"For President Alassane Ouattara and the people of Cote d'Ivoire, the hard work of reconciliation and rebuilding must begin now," News. com. au quoted Obama, as saying in a statement.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that Gbagbo's departure sends a message that dictators around the world will face consequences for failing to meet the expectations of their people.

Washington, Apr. 11: Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has said she appreciates Trump using his resources and paying researchers to confirm President Barack Obama's birthplace.

Palin approved of Donald Trump''s efforts to investigate Obama's birth in Hawaii and hiring investigators to look into the matter but refused to support the notion that he wasn''t born in the US.

Washington, Apr. 10: A White House adviser, David Plouffe, has criticized businessman Donald Trump''s comments questioning President Barack Obama’s place of birth, saying it will not sway American public opinion.

"I hope he keeps on rising (in the polls) because there''s zero chance that Donald Trump would ever be hired by the American people to do this job. There may be a small part of the country that believes these things, but mainstream Americans think it''s a sideshow," Fox News quoted Plouffe as saying.

Washington, Apr. 9: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has condemned China for what she alleged as its worsening human rights record, and expressed concern over reports of Chinese intellectuals and activists being "arbitrarily detained" in recent weeks, including the arrest of prominent artist Ai Weiwei on Sunday.

Clinton expressed her views as the State Department released its annual report on human rights around the world.

Washington, Apr. 9: Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin appears to have peaked politically, as the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows her running in fifth place - with 10 percent - in a hypothetical Republican presidential primary race.

A March Washington Post/ABC News poll showed Palin's approval rating among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents had dipped below 60 percent - a far cry from her stratospheric near-90 percent approval ratings when she was named John McCain's running mate in 2008.

Washington, Apr 9: US Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have struck a deal to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year, averting a threatened shutdown.

The deal came an hour before a deadline that would have forced the government to close many services, the BBC reports.

The deal to fund the federal government for the next five months will include 39 billion dollars in spending cuts, and will drop language related to Planned Parenthood.

The White House will now take up a short-term stopgap bill to keep the government operating for a few more days while the budget deal is finalized.

Washington, April 9: Pakistan’s security forces enjoy “a culture of impunity” in relation to human rights abuses in the country, and police have often failed to protect members of religious minorities from attacks in the Islamic nation, a US report on human rights practices in 2010 has said.

The US State Department’s ‘2010 Human Rights Report’ noted that the major human rights problems in Pakistan included extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and torture.

Washington, April 9: Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir will visit Washington later this month on the invitation of the United States, for crucial talks to mend bilateral ties tattered by the drone campaign, visa-related administrative issues and the latest bi-annual assessment by the White House to Congress.

Bashir and his delegation would meet American officials at the State Department on April 20-21, US diplomatic sources told Dawn.

Both sides are expected to prepare the agenda for the next round of US-Pak strategic dialogue likely to be held in Islamabad in May.