The Chinese government is considering imposing a pro rata carbon tax on coal and fossil fuels such as gasoline, jet fuel, and natural gas, Finance Ministry official Su Ming has told the country’s state-run media. For the past year, 20 experts from seven different government agencies have been investigating the development and implementation of a […]
Chinese growth increasingly driven by domestic factors The conventional view of China as an export-dependent, outbound-oriented economy needs to be adapted to a changing reality. Economic growth is increasingly coming from within, making China into an increasingly self-propelling economic player. There’s a number of indicators supporting this change of economic pattern. While the traditional markets […]
O.K Washington doubles Pakistan’s aid and Zardari is assured full support for his government. O.K Washington is doing everything possible to help Islamabad where according to Obama the government is fragile. While there, Zardari has said all the right things. So, what is next? Will the hunger and poverty, joblessness, and other economic problems in […]
Renewable energy plan ready for government approval China’s new plan for renewable energy development is finalized and waiting for government approval, according to the State Administration of Energy (SAE). The new energy blueprint calls for total investment in renewable energy projects of more than 2 trillion yuan ($293.3 billion). Priority will be given to wind […]
It seems that president Zardari’s trip to Washington has been a success, even though, before he arrived there, there were rumors of tension between Washington and Islamabad. Well, there is some truth to the rumors of serious differences between Pakistan and the U.S., so eloquently described by Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister (no relation) […]
First signs of recovery in China’s textile sector? Order volumes at the Canton Import and Export Fair, China’s biggest trade fair, exceeded forecast, sparking hope amidst exporters and producers for a recovery of the struggling textile sector. While orders fell 15.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2009, participants at the Canton Fair were […]
PESHAWAR: Shop owner Saeed Khan has already buried one child killed in fighting between the Taliban and government forces in northwest Pakistan. He cannot bear to lose another, AFP reports. So the 50-year-old bundled his wife, son and daughter onto a bus in the Taliban-infested town of Mingora in the Swat valley and […]
MINGORA/BATKHELA: Forty-seven militants, 15 security personnel and 36 non-combatants were killed and several others wounded on Wednesday in fierce clashes and explosions in the Swat valley and Malakand region. Sources said security forces killed 30 militants near emerald mines and 15 others in Takhtaband area, in the outskirts of Mingora. The ground forces […]
LONDON: Turbulent Pakistan has replaced Iraq as the place to go for militants bent on striking the West, but the threat of US attacks means al Qaeda recruits may spend more time out of sight in a classroom than on an assault course. Long a favoured destination of British militants of Pakistani descent, Pakistan’s […]
Many young men and soldiers hailing from diverse societies identify with the concept of dying for honour, the latter term referring to a willingness to die in battle. One of the ways of building up such an idea is through the process of indoctrination — as in the case of those who are recruited for […]
China’s updated renewable energy plan China is expected to announce a new blueprint for renewable energy development. The new industry plan will update a long-term industry plan released in 2007. Initial targets for wind, hydro-, solar, and biomass power as specified in the older plan will be raised significantly. The youngest renewable energy blueprint, for […]
Sufi Mohammad, the man on whom the government pinned its hopes after entering into a peace deal with the extremists, has declared that democracy amounts to kufr. Concurrently, referring to the ‘security forces and the rulers of Pakistan’ as the militants’ target, a TTP spokesman has said that the ANP that heads the NWFP government […]
On Monday, April 4, veteran journalist Ahmed Rashid addressed a select crowd at Karachi’s Mohatta Palace Museum. Not surprisingly, the subject of his talk was ‘Afghanistan and Pakistan: Quest for Peace or Recipe for War?’ He argued that Pakistan was facing a major existential crisis: ‘I no longer say that there’s a creeping Talibanisation in […]
As Taliban forces edged to within 60 miles of Islamabad late last month, the Obama administration urgently asked for new intelligence assessments of whether Pakistan’s government would survive. In briefings last week, senior officials said, President Obama and his National Security Council were told that neither a Taliban takeover nor a military coup was imminent […]
MOHRI PUR, Pakistan — The elementary school in this poor village is easy to mistake for a barn. It has a dirt floor and no lights, and crows swoop through its glassless windows. Class size recently hit 140, spilling students into the courtyard. But if the state has forgotten the children here, the mullahs have […]
