beyondBeijing2008.com

By NBC News’ Carol Grisanti and Mushtaq Yusufzai
ISLAMABAD – After weeks of consolidating their control over large areas of the Northwest Frontier Province, the Taliban are in retreat.
On Friday, Maulana Fazullah, the firebrand Taliban boss in the Swat Valley, ordered his most trusted military chief, Commander Fateh, to leave Buner, a neighboring valley [...]

By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent
 Will Howard used to think the biggest threat to the world’s oceans came from the things you could see - like the detritus clogging so many our estuaries and coastal regions. Now he’s found new evidence of how invisible changes in the chemistry of the water pose a disturbing new [...]

By NBC News’ Carol Grisanti and Mushtaq Yusufzai
ISLAMABAD – After weeks of consolidating their control over large areas of the Northwest Frontier Province, the Taliban are in retreat.
On Friday, Maulana Fazullah, the firebrand Taliban boss in the Swat Valley, ordered his most trusted military chief, Commander Fateh, to leave Buner, a neighboring valley [...]

By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA – President Barack Obama may have charmed audiences all around the world and been all smiles with strongmen such as Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez – but don’t count Fidel Castro as one of his fans.
In his latest blog, posted last evening, the former Cuban president took [...]

By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
QINGDAO, China – As China prepares to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy on Thursday, its normally secretive military has taken the unprecedented step of showcasing some of its best vessels and naval weaponry.
On Wednesday, sailors from China and 14 other [...]