The following is the message from Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on the occasion of Pakistan Day, March 23, 2012. ― Ed. Seventy-two years ago on this day the Muslims of the subcontinent formally committed through a Resolution to work for achieving a separate homeland for themselves. With the blessings of Allah and through the heroic struggle of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Jinnah and the founding...

Located in the heart of Asia, Pakistan is the gateway to the financially liquid Gulf states and the economically advanced Far Eastern tigers. This strategic advantage alone makes Pakistan a marketplace teeming with possibilities. A large part of the workforce is proficient in English, hardworking and intelligent. Pakistan possesses a large pool of trained and experienced engineers, bankers, lawy...

Northern areas of Pakistan, spread over 72,496 square kilometers, are as fascinating as the southern. Amidst towering snow-clad peaks with heights varying from 1,000 meters to over 8,000 meters, the valleys of Gilgit, Hunza and Skardu recall Shangri-La. The cultural patterns in this region are as interesting as its topography. Modern Pakistanis are a blend of Harappan, Indo-Aryan, Indo-Iranian, ...

The Lithuanian president has voiced safety fears over her neighboring countries’ nuclear power plans, saying one plant will be built “without proper safety assessments, providing no transparency and without sharing information” just 50 kilometers from Lithuania’s capital. President Dalia Grybauskaite said she would push at the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit for stronger and mandatory internationa...

Japan to deploy Aegis warships to intercept what neighbors see as missile North Korea has transported the main body of a long-range rocket to a launch site in the northwestern part of the reclusive state, a South Korean official said Sunday. “South Korean and U.S. military authorities understand that North Korea has moved the main body of a long-range missile to Dongchang-ri in preparation for ...

An Indian nuclear expert said India is not likely to commit much in terms of enhancing nuclear security at the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit, considering that in its view the U.S. and Russia are not doing enough to subsequently reduce nuclear materials. “I don’t think it’s going to do very much at this summit. Since the last summit, they have started an international center but that’s easy,” Ram...

As Korea’s biggest international summit kicks off Monday, the massive preparations involving thousands of people and countless man-hours would not be possible without the backbone of the events: the volunteers. And many of them have a story to tell, explaining their own reason for helping out at the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit. For Hwang Tae-ha, volunteering as a Media Liaison Officer was sim...

PANMUNJEOM ― U.S. President Barack Obama visited the Panmunjeom Joint Security Area on Sunday ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit. Obama is the fourth U.S. president to visit the JSA on the demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas. As Obama stepped down from his helicopter, he was greeted by U.S. Forces Korea Commander General James Thurman and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Jung...

New equipment and tougher training enhances response to underwater threats On March 26, 2010, North Korea carried out a torpedo attack on the South Korean corvette Cheonan, which sank off the coast of the northwestern island of Baengnyeong, taking with it 46 sailors. Since then, the South Korean Navy has updated its patrol combat corvettes, increased anti-submarine exercises in the West Sea and...

Lee, Obama say Pyongyang will get nothing from it, but face deeper isolation The leaders of South Korea and the U.S. raised pressure on North Korea on Sunday to withdraw its plan to launch a satellite on a long-range rocket next month, stressing that the communist state would achieve “nothing from the provocative act.” President Lee Myung-bak and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama discussed regi...

Two years have passed since the South Korean warship Cheonan was sunk by North Korea, but the soldiers who survived the attack continue to be haunted by the incident. “I think of Sergeant Cha Seok-gyun the most. We served together on the Cheonan, and he was a dong-gi (people who have graduated from or joined an organization at the same time),” said Petty Officer First Class Kim Hyo-hyung, who wa...