W O R L D

Mixed feelings in Pak over Obama’s win
Barack Obama’s victory continues to be widely greeted in Pakistanis albeit with a mixed feeling of hope and some misgivings about his possible approach to ties with Pakistan in the context of its role in the war on terror.

University students hold a rally calling for U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's removal of U.S. troops from the Philippines in Manila on Thursday. — Reuters

Medvedev to meet Obama in Washington
Moscow, November 6
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet US President-elect Barack Obama in Washington, in mid-November, the foreign ministry said. “We hope that the principles and interaction areas formulated in the Sochi Declaration will ensure the continuity in our relations,” foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said here on Wednesday.

Obama’s victory ‘Masterclass in Democracy’: British media
London, November 6
The British press today described the victory of Barack Obama as the new President of the US as a “Masterclass in Democracy” and warned that no one should doubt the scale of challenge he faced and he had a monumental task ahead.

Sikhs ask Obama to end ethnic profiling
New York, November 6
United Sikhs, an international advocacy group, has asked President-elect Barack Obama to consider eradication of poverty, protection of religious freedom, climate change, conflicts around the world his top priorities and help end ethnic profiling.

Nepal to ban smoking
Kathmandu, November 6
Close on the heels of the no-smoking ban coming into force in India, Nepal too has decided to ban smoking in public places.

Plot to kill Obama:2 indicted
Memphis, November 6 
Soon after Democrat Barack Obama won the presidential election, a federal grand jury in Memphis, Tennessee, indicted two white supremacists accused of plotting to kill him and dozens of other black people.

Mixed feelings in Pak over Obama’s win
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

Barack Obama’s victory continues to be widely greeted in Pakistanis albeit with a mixed feeling of hope and some misgivings about his possible approach to ties with Pakistan in the context of its role in the war on terror.

Like elsewhere across the globe, most Pakistanis have seen Obama’s victory as history-making transformational change that will impact no only his own country in profound ways but the world beyond its borders. They expect a review of US policies under George Bush that are widely regarded here as fostering conflict and confrontation across the world in general and the Muslim world and South Asia in particular.

The 44th President-elect of the United States of America Barack Hussain Obama is no stranger to Pakistan as he had travelled to Karachi in 1981 as a college student at the age of 20 and stayed in the Sindh province for full three weeks. Among his classmates and friends, there are many Pakistanis some of whom have continued their contact with Obama.

Pakistan’s political leadership and the media have hailed Obama’s win hoping he would prefer engagement rather than insisting on unilateral “pre-emption” for resolution of Iraq, Afghanistan and the West Asian issues. His preference to helping Pakistan by strengthening democracy through aid in social sectors compared to the military has been welcomed.

President Asif Zardari and Prime Minsiter Yousaf Raza Gilani greeted Obama in separate messages and expressed the confidence that under him both countries would explore more opportunities to strengthen bilateral relations and to promote peace and stability in South Asia region and beyond.

Former Prime Minister and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in a letter to Obama said the people of Pakistan have welcomed his resolve to support the strengthening of democratic institutions in Pakistan.

“Having suffered from years of military dictatorships, we were particularly gratified at your categorical rejection of authoritarian regimes,” Nawaz said.

Medvedev to meet Obama in Washington

Moscow, November 6
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet US President-elect Barack Obama in Washington, in mid-November, the foreign ministry said. “We hope that the principles and interaction areas formulated in the Sochi Declaration will ensure the continuity in our relations,” foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said here on Wednesday.

“There is a basis to believe that contact between President Medvedev and the US president-elect will happen in the course of the summit of the G-20 in Washington. We shall be open for this mutually respectful, honest and responsible dialogue,” Lavrov told the media.

“We shall build our relations with the US on equal basis as we have repeatedly proposed, and as it is recorded in the Sochi Declaration that was approved by George Bush and Vladimir Putin in April,” the minister said.

“The importance of this declaration was confirmed by President Medvedev in his contacts with the US leadership,” he added.

The Sochi Declaration contained a programme of action looking into the future, Lavrov informed.

It put down the principles of interaction - equality, mutual benefits, taking into account each other’s interests, and concrete forms of our cooperation in the fight against terrorism, organised crime as well economic cooperation and a common contribution to economic sustainability, he pointed out.— UNI 

Obama’s victory ‘Masterclass in Democracy’: British media

London, November 6
The British press today described the victory of Barack Obama as the new President of the US as a “Masterclass in Democracy” and warned that no one should doubt the scale of challenge he faced and he had a monumental task ahead.

The newspapers said the euphoria triggered by Obama’s historic victory would soon give way to the hard work of presidential politics.

The Guardian said, “If Obama finds he has fewer levers to pull, he must regain global influence by brokering deals, launching dialogue and solving problems. His natural instinct will be to recognise and draw in such emerging powers as India, China, Russia - perhaps Brazil and sub-Saharan Africa.” It said, “Eight years of failed foreign policy is enough. Enough lives have been lost, enough countries ruined, by doing things the other way. America, welcome back into the world.” Describing the victory as “Masterclass in Democracy”, the Times, daily, said nowhere is the competition for power more open, inspiring or capable of real change than in America.

The Guardian said, “The weight of expectation that rests today on the frame of a 47-year-old senator with no real executive experience is too great for one man and, in all probability, too large for one term of office.”

Noting that no one should doubt the scale of the challenge, the newspaper said, “The elephant traps lie in the path of each step; how to disengage from Iraq without destabilising it; how to end the Pashtun insurgency in Afghanistan without sparking a bigger one in Pakistan; and how to achieve a break through over the ever-more intractable problems of Israel-Palestine.” — PTI

Sikhs ask Obama to end ethnic profiling

New York, November 6
United Sikhs, an international advocacy group, has asked President-elect Barack Obama to consider eradication of poverty, protection of religious freedom, climate change, conflicts around the world his top priorities and help end ethnic profiling.

In a letter to Obama, the group offered its support to Obama in his efforts to face enormous challenges.

Sikhs, it said, supported his broad moral agenda that included a deep concern for poverty, peacemaking, equality, and respect for the environment.

“During the campaign, you said, if elected, you would face powerful special interests trying to block change, and that you need a citizen’s movement to support and push you,” the group said, offering to work with him to achieve these aims.

It also urged the President-elect Democrat to work to end genocide, mass murders, enforced disappearances, use of torture, death penalty and secret detentions across the world.

Besides, it also urged him to work for fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals agreed by world leaders to drastically cut or eliminate several social and economic ills by 2015. — PTI

Nepal to ban smoking

Kathmandu, November 6
Close on the heels of the no-smoking ban coming into force in India, Nepal too has decided to ban smoking in public places.

“Places for smoking will be designated. If anyone smokes outside such designated places he or she will be fined. We’re soon bringing a law to this effect,” the Nepalnews.com quoted deputy PM and home minister Bamdev Gautam as saying.

In fact, the Supreme Court had ordered the Nepalese government two years ago to formulate laws to ban smoking in public places in Nepal where nearly 49 per cent of the men and 29 per cent of the women puff. — PTI

Plot to kill Obama:2 indicted