The Londoner

Gilgit-Baltistan (Urdu: گلگت بلتستان, Gilgit Baltistān) is an autonomous region in northern Pakistan. It is the northernmost political entity within the Pakistan. It borders Afghanistan to the north, China to the northeast, the Pakistani state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to the south, and the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir to the southeast. The area became a single administrative unit in 1970 under the name "Northern Areas", formed from the amalgamation of the Gilgit Agency, the Baltistan District of the Ladakh Wazarat, and the states of Hunza and Nagar. With its administrative center at the town of Gilgit, Gilgit Baltistan covers an area of 72,971 km² (28,174 mi²) and has an estimated population approaching 1,000,000. This area is part of the larger disputed territory of Kashmir between India, Pakistan and China. Before the independence of Pakistan in1947, Maharaja Hari Singh extended his rule to Gilgit and Baltistan. After the Pakistani independen...

TSUNAMIS that struck in the South Pacific on Tuesday September 29th were nowhere near as devastating as the waves that hit countries around the Indian Ocean in December 2004. Then, an earthquake of 9.0 magnitude caused a tsunami that claimed an estimated 230,000 lives. According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, the waves this week were triggered by an 8.3 magnitude earthquake that took place some 120 miles (195km) south of the Samoa group of islands (see map). On Wednesday another earthquake, well over 7 magnitude, was reported off Sumatra, in Indonesia. Over 100 people were thought to have died in Samoa and American Samoa, which together have a population of some 250,000. American Samoa was reportedly hit by four separate waves. Another seven people were killed in Tonga, several hundred kilometres farther south. Witnesses described fleeing from waves 4.5 metres tall which swept people, cars and other debris as far as 100 metres inland. Many Samoan settlements are coastal and bo...

India were crushed out of Champions Trophy as Australia defeated Pakistan by two wickets in a nail-biting encounter here today. Pakistan and Australia have qualified for the Semi Finals fro Group B. Australia to meet England in the semi finals while Pakistan will take on New Zealand.

In an election campaign that has been interminably dull, even by German standards, the Sept. 4 missile strike on two oil tankers hijacked by Taliban insurgents in northern Afghanistan was always going to grab attention. The U.S. strike, called in by a German commander worried about the security of his troops, allegedly killed some 90 people, including dozens of civilians. It also reminded German voters that the distinction between supporting a combat mission — which is what they like to think their soldiers are doing — and tackling bad guys directly can blur pretty quickly in the Hindu Kush. The polite posturing of Germany's election campaign captures the mood in most European capitals at the moment. Both Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democrats and the center-left Social Democrats of Frank-Walter Steinmeier remain committed to Berlin's 4,000-strong troop deployment in Afghanistan as part of the multinational force there. But Die Linke, a smaller, left-...