COVER FEATURE
OUTNUMBERED AND OUTGUNNED: COP MARGAH
When 120 Taliban insurgents attacked Combat Outpost Margah, troops from Task Force Currahee took lightening speed action. It would be a bloody firefight with Taliban coming within 20 feet of the Army troops.
By Spc. Luther L. Boothe Jr., Task Force Currahee Public Affairs

AMERICA AT WAR
WHO IS THE REAL FATHER OF SPECIAL FORCES?

TRAINING DUBIOUS REBELS

Thai and Cambodian soldiers have exchanged gunfire along their shared border and there are reports of fewer than 10 casualties among the two armies.

Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged fire Friday afternoon with both sides blaming the other for starting the fighting.

Gunfire and artillery shelling could be heard and civilians were evacuated from the area.

An Australian AP-3C Orion aircraft assisted a merchant vessel under attack by pirates in the Arabian Sea, Jan. 28.

The Orion was conducting a routine surveillance patrol for the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) when it was re-tasked to investigate a pirate attack taking place on the MV New York Star.

Islamist leader Rachid Ghanouchi has been in Tunisia's spotlight since returning to the North African country after more than two decades in exile.
In the past, Tunisian authorities have cracked down hard on political Islam. Many are wondering what role it will play as Tunisia tries to build a multiparty democracy.
Ghanouchi is quick to stress his brand of religious politics is open, moderate and tolerant. It is something he has stressed repeatedly, including in an interview with VOA.

Burma's new parliament has settled on a list of five candidates to become the country's first civilian president in more than half a century, with a final vote expected Thursday.

Delegates say the most prominent of the five candidates is Thein Sein, who heads the dominant military-backed party in parliament and served as prime minister in the outgoing military government. The full list of names is not available because reporters are barred from the parliamentary session, Burma's first in 20 years.

A prominent U.S. newspaper says Pakistan has doubled its nuclear arms stockpile in recent years to exceed 100 weapons.

The Washington Post reported Monday that Pakistan now has a larger arsenal than its nuclear-armed neighbor and arch-rival India based on estimates provided by non-governmental analysts.

Based on recently accelerated production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium, analyst David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security told the newspaper that Islamabad may now have up to 110 nuclear weapons.

Much of Mexico is now under the grip of drug-related violence that has claimed 30,000 lives since president Felipe Calderon declared war on organized criminal gangs in December, 2006. While polls show support for the president's policy, they also show that a large percentage of people believe the government is losing the war.

While crime is a big concern in Mexico City, people feel far removed from what is happening along the northern border or in other violence-plagued areas.

The Thai government is under increasing pressure from thousands of street protesters. Red-dressed anti-government protesters are holding monthly demonstrations to express anger at last year’s bloody crackdown. And now yellow-dressed protesters have surrounded the seat of government, demanding tough action against Cambodia over a border dispute.

Thailand’s Red Shirts are back on the streets of Bangkok, holding monthly demonstrations.