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Zardari set to make history; to address joint session
25-member Pak Cabinet sworn in
North Korea to reopen hotline with South
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Obama defends phone surveillance plan
Obama, Xi to meet in key California summit
Queen Elizabeth brings BBC news to a halt
UN seeks $5bn for Syria in biggest appeal
Bus fire kills 42 in China
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Zardari set to make history; to address joint session
Islamabad, June 7 Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said a presidential address was in the pipeline. The President will definitely address Parliament if he is invited by new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to do so, though no formal proposal for a joint session had been received by the presidency as yet, Babar told the media. According to constitutional provisions, the President has to address a joint session of Parliament at the beginning of the first session of the National Assembly after a general election as well as the first sitting of the National Assembly in every parliamentary year. The Constitution further says the President can summon either House or both Houses in a joint session "as he thinks fit". The joint session scheduled for June 10 will be the first formal session of the lower house of Parliament after the election of the new premier, Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
— PTI |
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25-member Pak Cabinet sworn in
Afzal Khan in Islamabad Nawaz named Sartaj Aziz as adviser on national security and foreign affairs. Ishaq Dar has been appointed as finance minister, Khawaja Asif minister for power, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan interior, Khaqan Abbasi petroleum, Zahid Hamid law and Pervez Rashid information. President Asif Zardari administered oath to the Cabinet.
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North Korea to reopen hotline with South
Seoul, June 7 Pyongyang's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said the hotline -- suspended by the North in March as military tensions flared -- would be restored from 2.00 pm (0500 GMT). Restoration of the Red Cross link used for government-to-government communications will facilitate discussions over proposed official talks, as the two Koreas seek to dial down tensions after a lengthy crisis triggered by the North's nuclear programme. But in a sign of the horse-trading to come, a CPRK spokesman said the talks should take place on North Korean territory and at a lower level than the dialogue proposed by Seoul. "It is our view that working contact between the authorities of the North and the South is necessary prior to ministerial-level talks proposed by the South side," the spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The CPRK spokesman also proposed that the talks be held on June 9, three days earlier than the date proposed by Seoul.South Korea's Unification Ministry said it was "studying" the counter-offer.
— AFP
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Obama defends phone surveillance plan
San Jose, June 7 "Nobody is listening to your telephone calls. That's not what this programme is about," Obama told reporters on a visit to California's Silicon Valley. He insisted that the surveillance programmes struck the right balance between keeping Americans safe from terrorist attack and protecting their privacy. Obama stressed that the programmes are overseen by federal judges and by theCongress, where senators and representatives are regularly updated on their use, and he said his administration has also instituted audits to make sure safeguards are observed. The Washington Post reported late on Thursday that federal authorities have been tapping into the central servers of companies including Google, Apple and Facebook to gain access to emails, photos and other files allowing analysts to track a person's movements and contacts. That added to privacy concerns sparked by a report in Britain's Guardian newspaper that the National Security Agency had been mining phone records from millions of customers.
— Reuters
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Obama, Xi to meet in key California summit
Rancho Mirage (US), June 7 Allegations of Chinese cyber hacking and espionage, North Korea's nuclear defiance and constant trade niggles between the world's two single largest economies and possible future superpower rivals will dominate the talks. But Obama also has a wider purpose -- trying to glean the strategic vision of the man who will likely guide rising China through the rest of his own presidency, and deep into the administration of whoever succeeds him. Xi makes his first trip to the United States as president months after taking control of the full machinery of the Chinese state, and US-based China watchers see the talks as the most significant Sino-US summit in years. Obama will get a new crack at forging progress in a geopolitical relationship likely to partly define his legacy, and which caused the White House frustration in stilted talks with Chinese former president Hu Jintao.
— AFP
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Queen Elizabeth brings BBC news to a halt
London, June 7 At one point, the 87-year-old monarch appeared directly behind the television newsreaders who were live on screen as she toured the new wing of Broadcasting House in central London. The sovereign -- whose husband was in hospital for an abdominal operation a few streets away -- walked through the packed newsroom directly behind live presenters Julian Worricker and Sophie Long. They turned to see the head of state watching them and quickly acknowledged her as the guided tour came to a halt, with staff breaking into applause.
— AFP
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UN seeks $5bn for Syria in biggest appeal
Berlin, June 7 UN aid agencies and independent relief organisations need $5.2 billion to fund their operations in Syria and neighbouring countries until the end of the year, the global body said. The figure presented at an international conference in Geneva represents a sharp increase from the $3 billion it had previously estimated. — AP
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Beijing, June 7 A BRT (bus rapid transit) bus caught fire in the city of Xiamen in Fujian Province at about 6.30 pm, said an official from the municipal government. "Forty-two persons died and 33 others were injured after a bus burst into flames on an elevated bus lane in Xiamen City," state-run Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying. — PTI
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Syrian troops capture central
villages from rebels Philippines says still studying forces pullout from Golan Men in burqas rob store in London Indian doc appointed to Texas Medical Board Stop now: Turkish PM to protesters 
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Asif Ali Zardari is set to create a record by becoming the first President to address a joint session of both houses of Pakistan's parliament for a sixth time, though he will be doing so at a time when his party is no longer in power.
