The Specials

Brown took cheap option despite plea

When Gordon Brown was presented with four options on how best to boost the British campaign in Helmand, he chose the cheapest

ANALYSIS: what are we fighting for?

The initial reason for the campaign was to combat al-Qaeda, but since then there has been considerable 'mission creep'

Prime Minister Taro Aso calls snap election for Japan

An August election is almost certain to result in the defeat of the ruling LDP for only the second time in 54 years

Indian Army spends10m rupees on golf buggies

Increased funds to combat terrorism were wasted on poor equipment and fairways, an inquiry by civil servants has revealed

Army asked for 2,000 troops. Government sent 700

Gordon Brown rejected military chiefs' recommendation despite being told that Afghanistan mission could be jeopardised

Swat refugees in no rush to return home

Lack of financial help from the government and fears that the Taleban may return is likely to keep returnees to a trickle

Taleban bombs are homemade but lethal

Roadside bombs are simple but deadly, presenting the British bomb disposal squads in Afghanistan with a real challenge

Brown asks Afghans for troop surge in Helmand

The Prime Minister has asked the Kabul government for a 'substantial' increase in its troop numbers to help British forces

Swat Valley refugees reluctant to return home

Pakistani Government struggles to make refugee camp families return home before they receive compensation

Chinese police kill two Uighurs as unrest flares

Police make first official use of firearms to quell unrest in Urumqi after 184 people were killed in riot last week

Miliband — equipment is not the answer

Foreign Secretary says there is clear reason for British troops to be in Afghanistan, denies more helicopters would help

Ambushes kill three in Papua

Papuan separatists blamed for violence in restive Indonesian province as Australian mine worker ambushed on way to golf

Miners survive 25 days trapped underground

Three Chinese men licked moisture from the walls of a tunnel to survive for an extraordinary 25 days after their mine flooded

Kim 'has life-threatening pancreatic cancer'

North Korea's supreme leader, who appears frail and emaciated, is in danger of dying according to intelligence sources

Philippines militants free Red Cross worker

Eugenio Vagni freed after being held in jungle for six months by al-Qaeda linked militants in restive southern Philippines

The platoon that was effectively wiped out

Five friends and comrades from C Company 2 Rifles died in the explosion that hit a patrol from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles

Can Army vehicles survive the Taleban test?

Experience shows that as soon as Britain strengthens the protection of its soldiers the militants adapt their tactics

Urumqi violence extinguishes brother’s hope

Yu Xinli and all her family were among the 184 killed in riots in the Xinjiang region of China, her brother discovered

Late-night TV ‘to slow India’s birth rate’

Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Health and Family Welfare Minister, says TV is a great medium to tackle the population explosion

India's imperfect storms

After weathering the global financial storm, India waits anxiously for the annual rains on which its economy depends