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World > Asia: South & Central from the May 31, 2002 edition India set to launch 'small war' US Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld will go to Asia next week to try to ease tensions between India and Pakistan. By Scott Baldauf and V.K. Shashikumar NEW DELHI – India and Pakistan are edging closer and closer to war. Pakistan confirmed yesterday that it is moving troops away from the Afghan border, where they have been helping the US hunt for Al Qaeda fighters, due to the looming military threat on its eastern flank. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will head to...

Bahrain Crowd Attacks U.S. Sailors After Car Accident By Adnan Malik Associated Press Writer Published: May 27, 2002 MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - A U.S. sailor and his Ethiopian bride remained hospitalized Monday after they were attacked by a crowd when their car hit a local woman outside a store. The newlyweds were under observation at the military hospital on this tiny Persian Gulf island, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, Navy spokesman Lt. Chris Davis said. He would not identify the patients but said their conditions were "not life threatening." However, a U.S. Embassy statement said the sailor's wife...

Ranking Taliban Move Relatively Freely in Pakistan, Say They and Al-Qaida Regrouping By Kathy Gannon Associated Press Writer Published: May 27, 2002 PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - Two former high-ranking Taliban talk of reorganizing their militant religious movement and describe a recovering al-Qaida - all while they sit secretly inside Pakistan, Washington's front-line ally in the war on international terrorism. In an interview with The Associated Press, they said the Afghan-Pakistan border can't be sealed to stop the movement of militants. Even more advantageous, they said, is the split within Pakistan's powerful spy agency between those who share the Taliban's ideology...

Colombia Grants Asylum to Venezuelan Coup Leader By Andrew Selsky Associated Press Writer Published: May 26, 2002 BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Colombia announced Sunday it has granted asylum to Pedro Carmona, who was briefly installed as president of Venezuela during a short-lived coup last month. The Colombian Foreign Ministry said in a communique that it "has decided to grant diplomatic asylum" to Carmona, who slipped away from house arrest in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on Thursday and fled into the residence of the Colombian ambassador. Carmona is facing a trial in Venezuela for rebellion and conspiracy for his role...

TENET OF ARABIA: NYT SET TO REPORT THAT CIA HAS BEEN TRAINING PALESTINIANS; CIA DIRECTOR PLAYED 'BROKERING ROLE' IN PEACE TALKS, TENET HAS CLOSE BOND WITH ARAFAT... Developing...