aunt, but in the mean time snippets about Benazir continue to emerge from the memories of other associates, including journalists and writers from across the globe.

Among them is U.S. journalist Ron Suskind who reveals in his recently published book, The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism, that Benazir believed she had been abandoned by a Washington administration that preferred 'illegitimate power over spoken principle.'
Suskind, who met Benazir in Quetta shortly before she was killed, quotes her as saying, 'Frankly, my success and his failure are now the same things. There's not going to be coexistence. It's putting the United States in a choice position. They've got to choose. And clearly, they've chosen Musharraf over me.'
In the book Musharraf is cited as telling Benazir that her safety 'is based on the state of our relationship', prompting Suskind to comment, 'It's all but a-like a Mafia threat. And this is something that the United States, frankly, deep down understands, too. They let this process unfold. And ultimately, folks around (Benazir) Bhutto now are saying that she was abandoned by America.'

Suskind describes Benazir as a 'South Asian political boss' and 'corrupt, right down to her socks', but says she finally understood towards the end of her life the need for world communities to work together. In fact the title of his book is taken from something Benazir said to him just 10 days before she died, 'The way of the world, when it really works, is such that we save each other. Everyone rises together. That's always been the tradition of humanity.

According to some analysts, such as former national security council director Bruce Reidel, Al Qaeda was no more and no less than a creation of the Pakistani army's jihadist culture.

This connection was a matter of indifference to Washington, but Bush was forced to change his tune after the 9/11 attacks. Shortly after the 9/11 outrages, U.S. under secretary of state Richard Armitage allegedly threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the stone age unless Musharraf agreed to cooperate with the U.S. in taking on both Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Musharraf had no choice but to fall into line, but even though he became Bush's favourite ally in the fight against Islamic extremists, his Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) experts continued to maintain close links with both Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. As of now Taliban leader Mullah Omar continues to operate with impunity from a series of safe houses in the Pakistani city of Quetta. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is harder to locate, yet even he uses Pakistan as his base for maintaining contact with the outside world.

As if Musharraf's links with the Islamists were not bad enough, the general-turned-president also turned out to be the principal sponsor of renegade nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. Without Musharraf's backing it is doubtful if Khan could have played such a major role in transforming Pakistan into a nuclear weapons power.

Nor without Musharraf could he have implemented a series of daring plans to export nuclear hardware to each of Libya, Iran and North Korea. All this and more Bush knew and chose to ignore because it would have imperilled an agreed quid pro quo that allowed U.S. special forces to operate with impunity along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Hence the White House decision to exonerate Musharraf after Khan's public confession in 2004 that he had indeed participated in exporting nuclear hardware to 'rogue' regimes.

Extraordinarily, Bush went on to reward Musharraf in 2004 by designating Pakistan as a 'Major Non-NATO Ally' agreeing to sell the Pakistani Air Force advanced F-16 fighter planes, reversing a decade-old policy of denying U.S. military technology to Islamabad.

Now that Musharraf has gone, the new democratic government of Pakistan is free to reveal what it chooses about the dirty deals that were done and the mutual support deals agreed between Musharraf and Bush. Just how much will be revealed remains to be seen, but for the first time in years an opportunity has been created to uncover many of the dark secrets kept hidden by the Pakistani and U.S. governments.

Newspapers in news

country boasts more than 2,000 daily newspapers in 100 languages with a combined circulation of 90 million.

Rising literacy levels and greater disposable income have contributed to the surge in Asian newspaper sales in general so that Indian newspaper sales last year grew by 11.22 per cent. The comparable figure for China was 3.84 per cent.

In the tiny island state of Singapore, newspaper circulation went up 16 per cent, making Singaporeans the world's fourth biggest newspaper buyers with 449 sales per 1,000 adults, according to WAN statistics.

But falling circulation and advertisement earnings have contributed to a gloomy picture where North America and Europe are concerned.

According to WAN statistics, U.S. circulation dropped by 3 per cent last year and in the European Union it went down by 2.4 per cent. Among individual European countries the worst single drop was Latvia where circulation fell by an astonishing 26.5 per cent, compared to the UK's decline of 3.5 per cent and Denmark's 2.1.

Where newspaper revenues are concerned, these fell by 3 per cent in the U.S. – the world's largest newspaper advertising market – and 1.79 per cent in the UK. Elsewhere in Europe most countries managed to increase revenues even though circulations fell.

Richest monarch?

The report estimated the combined wealth of the 15 monarchs it surveyed at U.S. $131 billion, an increase of U.S. $95 billion from the previous year, 'despite controversy ranging from tax evasion to the dissolution of parliaments in Swaziland and Kuwait.'

In Bangkok, however, a statement released by the Thai Foreign Ministry described the Forbes report as incorrect because Forbes included land and other assets that actually belong to the Crown Property Bureau and are not part of Bhumibol's personal fortune.

The Crown Property Bureau explained that much of the land it controls is leased at low prices to state agencies, non-governmental organisations, for community housing and shops. Only about 7 per cent of land in its charge is leased at commercial prices.

Among other royals surveyed by Forbes, Sheikh Khalifa, head of the oil rich United Arab Emirates, is estimated to be worth $23 billion. Following close behind in third place with U.S. $21 billion is Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, aged 84, who controls some of the world's largest known reserves of oil.

Fourth place went to Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, worth estimated at $20 billion, followed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid of Dubai with $18 billion.

Only two Europeans made it to the list of 15. They were Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein, who ranked sixth with $5 billion and Prince Albert II of Monaco whose personal fortune is estimated at U.S. $1.4 billion.

Fiji faces suspension

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