http://tinyurl.com/7r3443w

“India and Pakistan agreed Tuesday to normalize two-way trade, signifying a gradual thaw in relations between the two bitter rivals.

At the end of two days of bilateral trade talks, Pakistan agreed to give its neighbor by early next year a small list of items that India cannot trade in with Pakistan. Both sides hope to do away with the list altogether by the end of 2012, freeing up all trade between the two countries, Indian Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar told reporters.”

http://tinyurl.com/82fljon

“Battered by Pakistani military operations and U.S. drone strikes, the once-formidable Pakistani Taliban has splintered into more than 100 smaller factions, weakened and running short of cash, according to security officials, analysts and tribesmen from the insurgent heartland.

The group, allied with Al Qaeda and based in the northwest close to the Afghan border, has been behind much of the violence tearing apart Pakistan over the last 4 1/2 years. Known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban, or TTP, the Taliban want to oust the U.S.-backed government and install a hard-line Islamist regime. They also have international ambitions and trained the Pakistani-American who tried to detonate a car bomb in New York City’s Times Square in 2010.

“Today, the command structure of the TTP is splintered, weak and divided and they are running out of money,” said Mansur Mahsud, a senior researcher at the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Area) Research Center. “In the bigger picture, this helps the army and the government because the Taliban are now divided.”

And today, Dec 4, 2011, could be the day Putin loses the Russian elections!