|
|
|
|
|
Bridging gap: Turkey hosts Af-Pak talks
New silk route on agenda
of Istanbul conference
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Libya elects interim PM
China launches Shenzhou-8 for maiden docking mission
A modified model of the Long March CZ-2F rocket carrying the unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8 blasts off from the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on Tuesday. — AP/PTI
|
|
Bridging gap: Turkey hosts Af-Pak talks
Istanbul, November 1 Turkish President Abdullah Gul held separate talks with Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan in an ancient Ottoman palace overlooking the Bosphorus before the three-way talks later on Tuesday. The meeting ahead of an international conference on Afghanistan on Wednesday in Turkey is the first between the two neighbours since the assassination of the former Afghan leader and peace negotiator Burhanuddin Rabbani on September 20. Kabul has accused Islamabad of refusing to cooperate in the investigation of the murder, which according to Afghan authorities, was planned in Pakistan and committed by a Pakistani suicide bomber. “The regional environment is deteriorating. We will try to resolve differences and play a facilitator role to address the mistrust between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” said a Turkish diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that all countries in the region have a duty to work for peace in Afghanistan. The meeting comes just days after 17 people died in the deadliest attack yet in Kabul against the US-led NATO mission, including 10 Americans, and three days after a US-run base in Kandahar was targeted. The three Presidents will also discuss their fight against the Islamist insurgency and sign agreements enshrining their commitment to cooperate in the field of security, according to the same source. The meeting is the sixth in Turkey, a NATO member, since the regular consultation mechanism was established in 2007 to encourage both countries to cooperate against extremism. The previous meetings between the two countries’ Presidents, military leaders and intelligence chiefs resulted in the parties’ commitment to improve cooperation. Kabul, like the US, has said Islamabad is not doing enough against the Taliban and Al-Qaida which have found refuge in the Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and regularly carried out attacks against the Afghan, US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The trilateral summit will be followed by an international conference Wednesday in Istanbul on the theme “Security and Cooperation in the heart of Asia.” Twenty countries and organisations are expected to attend the Istanbul event. — AFP
|
|
New silk route on agenda
of Istanbul conference
New Delhi, November 1 External Affairs Minister SM Krishna will represent India at the conference. The last time around when Turkey hosted a conference on Afghanistan in January 2010, it did not invite India, acting ostensibly acted under pressure from Islamabad. New Delhi protested strongly against attempts to isolate it on the Afghan issue when Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited India shortly after hosting the meet on Afghanistan. The result is that India too will be on the high table when key world leaders and regional players meet in the historic Turkish city to push forward a Washington-backed regional integration plan for Afghanistan. The conference is being held within a month of India signing a strategic partnership pact with Afghanistan under which it will also train Afghan forces. Indian officials here said Krishna is expected to inform the participants about the salient features of the accord, which has irked Pakistan since it is pitching for gaining strategic depth in Afghanistan once the US-led NATO forces complete the drawdown in 2014. The conference will deliberate on reconciliation efforts and security in Afghanistan after the US and NATO drawdown. Strategic experts have termed the Istanbul meet a prelude to the Bonn conference on Afghanistan to be held in December where delegations from some 90 countries are expected to formulate a practical roadmap for 2014, when the withdrawal of foreign troops is set to be completed from the war-ravaged country. Know the project n
The project linking the economies of Afghanistan and Pakistan with other Central and South Asian countries is a part of a plan to boost regional peace and stability n
The proposed road would extend through Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India n
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna will represent India at the conference
|
|
Libya elects interim PM
Abdel Rahim al-Keib, an academic and wealthy businessman who is a native of Tripoli, was elected interim PM in a public vote carried out by the members of the National Transitional Council (NTC) yesterday night. Keib told a news conference shortly after beating four other candidates in the vote that he would set human rights as a priority. "We guarantee that we are going to build a nation that respects human rights and does not accept the abuse of human rights. But we need time," he said. Keib spent decades abroad as an opponent of Gaddafi before joining the pro-democracy revolution that overthrew him. He replaces Mahmud Jibril, who resigned three days after Gaddafi was captured and killed when NTC fighters overran his hometown Sirte on October 20. Under a political roadmap, Keib now has until November 23 to form an interim government that, parallel to the NTC, will run Libya for eight months after which elections for a constituent assembly will be held. — AFP
|
|
|
China launches Shenzhou-8 for maiden docking mission Beijing, November 1 The launch of unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8 in the early hours today from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest Gobi desert was successful, Commander-in-chief of China’s manned space programme Chang Wanquan announced. The spacecraft was sent into the designated orbit by Long March-2F rocket. It is heading for rendezvous with Tiangong-1, or “the Heavenly Palace” that was put into space on September 29 for the country’s first space docking, which was expected to take place in the next two days. The move, if successful, will pave the way for China to operate a permanent space station around 2020 and make it the world’s third to do so after the US and Russia. This will be the second space station after the Mir space lab launched in 2001 by Russia. Mir is currently managed by Russian and US space programmes. The docking of the Shenzhou-8 will take place at a height of 343 km above the Earth’s surface. It will return to the Earth after two docking tryouts. Chinese and German scientists will conduct 17 life science space experiments on the Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou-8, Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China’s manned space programme, said. — PTI
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Beijing, November 1
Tripoli, November 1