Suroosh Alvi, founder of Vice Magazine and VBS.TV, ventures into an area which recently earned the moniker of the “world’s most dangerous area” – the Waziristan tribal area of Pakistan. Pulling some strings, he manages to find a political agent/guide and sets off to visit the world’s largest illegal arms market. Would it be disingenuous to question if there’s a relation between the world’s largest illegal arms market being the world’s most dangerous area? [VBS.TV via CNN]
The market is believed to have its humble origins in the Afghan-Soviet war for …

When it rains, it pours cats and dogs. That seems to be moral of the story in the past few months.
Back when we started UD, finding Desis in the media was a big deal. I remember posts in SM and SAJA titled “Identify this brown person”, not anymore. Without over analyzing the situation, the fact is that we find stories about our people everywhere. And it was only a matter of time before they showed up on the wrong side of the financial meltdown.
The Sri Lankan Raj …

Is 25 years enough? India inc., has opted to import the power engines for India’s indigenous aircraft and has invited bids from European and American companies.
This comes after the indigenous Kaveri engine failed to pass muster even after two decades of development at a cost of Rs 2,839 crore. While the first 20 Tejas will be powered by GE-404 engines, the next six Tejas Mark-II squadrons (16-18 jets in each) will have the new more powerful engines. Link

That’s approximately 6 billion USD over 25 years, not adjusting for inflation (very …

*missed call – calling someone with the callerID feature on, and terminating the call before  the receiver takes up the call and either of you gets charged a penny (or a paisa)
Ever been part of a conversation like this?
Caller 1: When will you start from your home?
Caller 2: About 5 PM.
Caller 1: Are you sure?
Caller 2: I’ll give you a missed call when I start, how about that.
–
This seems quite normal to me, and according to TOI, it’s because I’m an Indian. Though the report titled – “Only Indians make, …

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam silenced their guns and vowed to lay down their arms for good, raising hopes of an end to the 25 year long armed struggle on the island nation of Sri Lanka. [WaPo]
Meanwhile Sri Lanka’s state television announced that Velupillai Prabhakaran, the chief of the LTTE has been killed in fighting with government troops. [TOI]
Many on the island nation believed that the war would never come to an end until Prabhakaran was captured or killed. Under his leadership, the LTTE quickly rose to prominence and …

More American Workers Outsourcing Own Jobs Overseas
I know its from The Onion, but I don’t see why it could not become a real thing. Srsly.

On the third day of the second test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Lahore, the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked by masked gunmen numbering nearly a dozen. The players escaped with about five of them sustaining minor non-critical injuries. Five security personnel however were killed in the gun battle. Cricinfo link.

Speaking from Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayasuriya said that it was an “extremely unfortunate incident. “We’ve never had this kind of problem,” Jayasuriya told CNN-IBN. “They are all safe, that’s the good news I got when I …

In other news from the chronicles of the obvious, the sun rises in the east. After beating around the bush, under the pretext of not finding his name in a database, “unidentified” Pakistani officials have admitted Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, is a Pakistani. [Yahoo Reuters]
Not that it matters. Reuters has also listed a bunch of scenarios that could transpire between Indian and Pakistan with regards to Lashkar-e-Taiba and most of them end in lose-lose situation for either nation. [Yahoo Reuters]
PAKISTAN INVESTIGATES FULLY, DISMANTLES LASHKAR’S OPERATION

Satisfy India, but the Pakistani government risks …

Benazir Bhutto’s oldest daughter Bakhtawar releases a rap song titled “I would take the pain away” in tribute to her mother who was assassinated a little over a year ago. Powerpoint-style video and excessive usage of bass notwithstanding, girl can rhyme.

As news of initial polling results from the Bangladesh elections started to filter in, I contacted my Bangladeshi homey who I go to for his infinite knowledge on all things Bangladesh.
I wanted him to handicap the elections for me since with my limited knowledge of Bangladeshi politics, I can’t tell Khaleda Zia from Sheikh Hasina.
I believe his exact words were: “Both are useless”. He is right. [BBC handicaps the election]
There is very little difference between the two main protagonists, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, in terms of the policies they …