W O R L D

Hillary urges world support for interim Libyan authority
Washington, September 2
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on the international community to maintain their support towards Libya's emerging new leadership, while asserting that NATO's air mission will continue in the north African state till "civilians remain under threat of attack".

Gaddafi calls for guerrilla war
Tripoli, September 2
Libya’s fallen leader Muammar Gaddafi has called for a guerrilla war against rebel forces who have seized control of the country, in audio tapes aired on an Arab satellite television.

China honours Indian with highest literary award
Beijing, September 2
China has conferred its highest literary award on Prof BR Deepak for his book, which is a translation of 88 classical Chinese poems into Hindi.

Zardari dreams of free borders between China, Pakistan
Beijing, September 2
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said he wants to take China-Pak friendship to the “next level” by opening the borders for citizens of both the countries to travel without passports. “I have a great dream that Chinese can travel to Pakistan and Pakistanis to China without passports in the near future. “The future of China and Pakistan is intertwined and history is looking forward for that time,” Zardari said in an interview to Chinese TV channel.

Asif Ali Zardari 

Militants hold 30 Pakistani kids hostage in Afghanistan
Islamabad, September 2
Thirty Pakistani children, who had gone for a picnic to celebrate Eid and had mistakenly crossed into Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province, have been taken hostage by militants, officials said.

Turkey expels Israeli ambassador
Ankara, September 2
Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador to Ankara today and suspended all military ties with its one-time ally after a UN report slammed the "excessive" force used in a raid on a Gaza aid flotilla.

Gaddafi’s Philippine maids appeal for help
Manila: The Philippine government said on Friday that four Filipina maids who had been working for deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s family were missing and had made a tearful call home for help. The four had been working for one of Gaddafi's nieces in Tripoli before the rebel advance sent the strongman and his relatives fleeing the Libyan capital. Over recent days one of the four made a phone call to her sister in Philippines appealing for help, although little information about their location was given, said Vice President Jejomar Binay's spokesman. Binay has asked the foreign department to help find the four but no progress has been made due to the chaos in Libya, according to Salgado. — AFP

Hillary urges world support for interim Libyan authority

Washington, September 2
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on the international community to maintain their support towards Libya's emerging new leadership, while asserting that NATO's air mission will continue in the north African state till "civilians remain under threat of attack".

At this critical juncture, the international community must maintain the same sense of resolve and shared responsibility which it has so far in the past few months, Clinton said.

"We know from experience that winning a war is no guarantee of winning the peace that follows. That is why even as we sought to protect civilians and pressured Gaddafi to step down, we have supported the Libyans as they laid the groundwork for a transition to democracy that is just, inclusive, and sustainable," Clinton said during a media availability at the 'Friends of Libya gathering' in Paris.

"First, as I told my counterparts earlier today, we need to continue NATO's military mission as long as civilians remain under threat of attack. For the sake of the Libyan people, we have called on Gaddafi and those around him to recognise that their time is over and lay down their arms," she said.

As the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) consolidates power, the US will support their efforts to demobilise and integrate fighters into a single security force, she said. — PTI 

Gaddafi calls for guerrilla war

Tripoli, September 2
Libya’s fallen leader Muammar Gaddafi has called for a guerrilla war against rebel forces who have seized control of the country, in audio tapes aired on an Arab satellite television.

“Prepare yourselves for a gang and guerrilla war, for urban warfare and popular resistance in every town ... to defeat the enemy everywhere,” he said in a second message of the day that could not be immediately authenticated.

“The aim is to kill the enemy wherever he may be, whether he be Libyan or foreigner,” Gaddafi, himself a revolutionary who led a 1969 coup against the country's monarchy, said.

“We will never allow our (oil) wells and our ports to be under their (the West’s) control. Our resistance will expand,” vowed the 69-year-old colonel. Earlier, in a less calm voice likewise broadcast on the pro-Gaddafi, Arab television Arrai Oruba which is based in Syria, Gaddafi reiterated he would not surrender and was prepared for “a long battle” even if Libya burns.

He urged his supporters to keep up their resistance to the insurgency which has forced him into hiding.

A senior rebel leader dismissed the statements as a reflection of Gaddafi's "despair" at the success of the insurgency. — AFP 

China honours Indian with highest literary award

Beijing, September 2
China has conferred its highest literary award on Prof BR Deepak for his book, which is a translation of 88 classical Chinese poems into Hindi.

Deepak, who is from Centre of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, JNU, was the first Indian to receive the “Special Book Award” for his contribution to Chinese studies, translation, publication of Chinese books and cultural exchange. The award was presented by the State Counsellor, Liu Yandong, at an investiture held in National Theatre of Performing Arts.

The book is first-of-its-kind translation of 88 classical poems from 11th to 14th Century BC into Hindi that have been selected from various periods of Chinese history starting from Shijing of pre-Qin to Xixiangji of the Yuan dynasty, Prof Deepak, currently visiting professor of Chinese and Dean of the School of Languages, Doon University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, said here today.

The book provides a kaleidoscopic view of the poetic tradition and genres such as Chu Ci, Han Yuefu, Tang Shi and Song Ci to the readers, along with the original Chinese text that has also been provided.

Deepak has also authored India and China 1904-2004: A Century of Peace and Conflict (2005), India-China Relations in first half of the Twentieth Century (2001), History of Chinese Literature with selected Texts (2001), Chinese-Hindi Dictionary (2003), China: Agriculture, Countryside and Peasants (2011), and My Life With Kotnis (2006), a translation of Wo yu Ke Dihua narrated by Kotnis’ wife Guo Qinglan and compiled by Xu Baohong. — PTI 

Zardari dreams of free borders between China, Pakistan

Beijing, September 2
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said he wants to take China-Pak friendship to the “next level” by opening the borders for citizens of both the countries to travel without passports.

“I have a great dream that Chinese can travel to Pakistan and Pakistanis to China without passports in the near future.

“The future of China and Pakistan is intertwined and history is looking forward for that time,” Zardari said in an interview to Chinese TV channel.

Zardari, who concluded his three-day visit to the troubled Chinese Xinjiang province that shares border with Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), said the region played a strategic role in firming up the relationship between China and Pakistan. Zardari had attended the first Eurasia Expo organised by China at Xinjiang’s provincial capital Urumqi.

His visit came in the backdrop of recent allegations by China that militants of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) creating unrest in Muslim Uygur majority of Xinjiang were trained in Pakistan-based terror camps. — PTI 

Militants hold 30 Pakistani kids hostage in Afghanistan

Islamabad, September 2
Thirty Pakistani children, who had gone for a picnic to celebrate Eid and had mistakenly crossed into Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province, have been taken hostage by militants, officials said.

The children were from Pakistan's Bajaur tribal region, TV channels quoted an official as saying.

It was not clear which group has held them hostage but Pakistan army said that deputy chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Maulvi Faqir, who belonged to Bajajur, was now operating from Kunar.

A 'jirga' or council of tribal elders, have been sent to Afghanistan to seek their release, the official said.

Dawn TV reported that militants had arrived in five vehicles and took the children to unknown destinations.

Tribal elders also asked the local administration to step up efforts for the early release of the children.

The parents of the children held hostage have asked the government and the tribal elders to ensure their safe return.

A jirga of the main Mamond tribe has been convened to explore ways to rescue the children. — PTI 

Turkey expels Israeli ambassador

Ankara, September 2
Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador to Ankara today and suspended all military ties with its one-time ally after a UN report slammed the "excessive" force used in a raid on a Gaza aid flotilla.

A day after leaked extracts of the report into last year's commando raid appeared in the media, Turkey’s foreign minister said the government in Ankara had decided on a series of steps as a mark of protest.

Although the report has yet to be released, Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul said Ankara would reject it, regarding it as “null and void”. The Israeli Government, meanwhile, indicated it would accept most of the findings, but claimed vindication over its right to impose a blockade on the Palestinian territory which was run by the Islamist movement Hamas.

Turkey pulled its ambassador out of Tel Aviv in the immediate aftermath of the raid and, speaking at a press conference in Ankara, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said ties would now be further downgraded.

The measures announced by Turkey came after a leaked copy of the UN-mandated report criticised Israeli troops for using "excessive and unreasonable" force when boarding the ferry Mavi Marmara on May 31, 2010, leading to the deaths of nine people. — AFP