WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s foreign minister said Wednesday that his country has asked the United States to provide unmanned planes that would allow Pakistan to strike extremists hiding in rugged terrain along the Afghan border. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in an Associated Press interview with reporters and editors that Pakistan, and not the United States, […]
WASHINGTON: The US on Tuesday pledged close strategic consultations with Pakistan on plans for the high-stakes region along the Pak-Afghan border. The pledge came after a meeting between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the State Department – marking the formal start of a three-way American policy […]
WASHINGTON: Pakistan is on a rapid trajectory to failure as a stable, democratic state and needs a boost of $4 billion in US aid and loans each year to begin turning around, a private foreign affairs group has concluded. “Time is running out,” said the Atlantic Council, which urged more training and deployment of 15,000 […]
New Commerce Secretary with ties to China President Obama’s new nominee for the position of commerce secretary, Gary Locke, could help strengthen economic ties between China and the U.S. Locke, son of Chinese immigrants, has shown extensive commitment to U.S.-China relations during his two terms in office as governor of Washington state. The nomination of […]
Chinese trade delegation to Europe A trade delegation of about 200 Chinese entrepreneurs led by Commerce Minister Chen Deming arrived in Germany yesterday as the first leg of their four country tour. Following Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s Europe tour earlier this month the trade delegation will also visit Switzerland, Spain and Britain and is expected […]
Recently, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani lauded the role Sufi Islam could play in keeping the society away from religious extremism. Lest we consider this a personal bias, since he represents the Sufi tradition himself, similar sentiments were expressed by others as well. One such example is the 2007 RAND Corporation paper, Building Moderate […]
Multinational corporations’ commitment to China In a recent survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce and the consulting firm Booz&Allen ten percent of multinational corporations said they were planning to relocate their manufacturing facilities from China to lower cost countries like India or Vietnam. This number, down from 17 percent last in last year’s […]
The US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Mr Richard Holbrooke, has told a meeting in Washington that the “militants involved in 9/11, the Mumbai attacks and unrest in Swat have common roots” and that “the US was troubled and confused about the development in the Swat valley”. Some other reports appearing in the press […]
PESHAWAR: A curfew was imposed in Dera Ismail Khan on Friday and the army called in to quell riots immediately after a suicide bomber killed at least 30 Shias and injured another 157 who were attending a funeral in southern Dera Ismail Khan district, police and locals told Daily Times. Witnesses said police ‘ran off’ […]
Creating jobs: highest priority China’s Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang urged the labor department to step up efforts create more employment opportunities for the country’s millions of migrant workers. In his appeal he stressed the importance of employment for China’s social stability. Official numbers now state unemployment in China up 0.2 percent at 4.2 percent but […]
ISLAMABAD, Feb 19: Pakistan would make a formal request to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next month for an additional loan of $4.5 billion, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin said on Thursday. “I will visit the Washington offices of the IMF in March to make a formal request for more […]
ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday dismissed as speculative the growing criticism of the accord signed with the Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi for introduction of Nizam-i-Adl in Malakand, warning speculations would not be helpful. ‘Establishing peace, security and stability are matters of highest priority for Pakistan government and it will use all necessary means to achieve these […]
More stimulus packages for struggling industries China’s State Council announced plans for further support packages aimed at helping struggling industries and boosting domestic demand. Stimulus packages for six industries–auto, textile, steel, shipbuilding, electronics, and machinery–were already announced earlier. Following the new announcement China will provide support packages for ten more industries, among them the oil […]
China’s trade unions to help 10 million migrant workers In a new effort to ease the negative effects of an increasingly severe economic slowdown China’s trade unions announced to extend their help on 10 million migrant workers unable to find employment. The unions’ help, which was previously reserved for local workers with residence permits only, […]
China eases Hukou restrictions for college graduates Faced with surging numbers of unemployed college graduates China has asked its municipalities to ease the Hukou restrictions for non-local college graduates. The Hukou system is a left-over restriction from the Cultural Revolution that allowed the Chinese government to control for migration and settlement of its population. The […]
