First figures ut from authorities in Pakistan show 160 people died in a powerful earthquake that hit Pakistan’s Baluchistan Province Wednesday. Reuters

Tensions are escalating between the United States and Pakistan, who are allies, as the number of incidents grows on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, following a “US campaign of attacks on militant targets inside Pakistan.” Troops exchanged fire Thursday, but there were no casualties. Reuters

A suicide bomb attack that killed 53 people Saturday night at the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, has the hallmarks and sophistication of an Al Queda operation, according to US and Pakistani authorities, reports Reuters.

According to the New York Times and based on information from senior US officials, in July President George W Bush for the first time sent US troops on raids inside Pakistan without prior permission from the Pakistani government. The decision highlights concern in the White House about Pakistan’s lack of control and the increasingly solid Al Queda and Taliban bases in the tribal areas in Pakistan. According to writers of the front page story, Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti, the US will now notify Pakistan, but not ask for permission for future raids.

Pakistan’s new President Asif Ali Zardari, widow of the country’s former leader, the slain Benazir Bhutto, was sworn into office Tuesday and immediately met with and held a press conference with Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai. The two often at-odds neighbours vowed to fight terrorism together.  AFP