Two suicide car bomb attacks killed at least 15 people today in the Pakistani garrison town of Rawalpindi, the military said. The two blasts, on the eve of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's return from exile, heightened fears of insecurity as Pakistan heads towards a general election in early January amid political convulsions under emergency rule.

Thereis something terribly wrong with a society that parades and locks up its greatest hero like a petty criminal. You know, since Musharraf came up with this barmy idea of emergency, I've fought an almost physical urge to offer my take on the issue, for what it's worth, like everyone else. But then one thought: What's the point of adding yet another voice to the already deafening cacophony that the General's crackdown has sparked! From global television networks to think tank heavies, just about everyone has been holding forth on the General mayhem in Pakistan from every possible angle.

An agrarian crisis is brewing because of climate change that could jeopardise global food supplies and increase the risk of hunger for a billion poorest of the poor, scientists have warned. South Asia and Africa would be hardest hit by the crisis, which would shift the world's priorities away from boosting food output year after year to bolstering the resilience of crops ......