New Taliban rule book calls for fewer suicide attacks

A new Taliban military "code of conduct" calls for restrictions on suicide attacks aimed at avoiding the killing of civilians, but U.S. and Afghan military officials dismissed the document as propaganda, calling it hypocritical. The booklet, obtained by CNN in northwestern Pakistan, has emerged during a crucial moment in the fight between troops and militants in Afghanistan, where battles are raging in the country’s Helmand province and troops work to establish stability for the upcoming presidential elections.

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Daniel Boyd: A Homegrown Terrorist?

To hear his neighbors tell it, Daniel Boyd is one of the most upstanding citizens of Willow Springs, North Carolina. “If he’s a terrorist, he’s the nicest terrorist I ever met in my life,” one resident told reporters after Boyd, a 39-year-old drywall contractor, was arrested on July 27 — along with six others, including his twenty-something sons, Dylan and Zakariya — for allegedly plotting “violent jihad” overseas. According to the indictment, Boyd has spent the past three years stockpiling weapons in his rural home, recruiting and training would-be suicide bombers and orchestrating trips to Gaza, Israel, Jordan and Kosovo to scout potential attack sites

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India launches nuclear submarine

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the country’s first locally built nuclear-powered submarine on Sunday. “Today, we join a select group of five nations who possess the capability to build a nuclear-powered submarine,” Singh declared in his speech at the eastern naval base of Visakhapatnam. Although he billed the submarine as an outcome of a public-private partnership, the Indian leader did mention Russia in his address

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‘They circled above and watched U.S. soldiers die in front of them’

The Pentagon has revolutionized warfare during the past decade, making unmanned aerial vehicles, known as UAVs, a staple of modern combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Remotely-controlled drones, such as the Predator and the Reaper, have allowed the U.S.

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Court: Confession won’t stop Mumbai terror trial

Despite a confession by the sole surviving suspect in the Mumbai terror attacks and his lawyer’s offer to withdraw from the case, an Indian court said Thursday that it will continue with the trial. Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, 21, stunned the court Tuesday when he admitted his role in the attacks on India’s financial capital, which began on November 26 and continued for four days and three nights. Prosecutors said Kasab’s guilty plea was an attempt to deflect attention from his alleged handlers in Pakistan.

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