The security of all provinces will be under Afghan leadership within five years. This was the pledge made in London on Thursday at a conference aimed at aligning the international community with the reintegration plan set out by President Hamid Karzai.
A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com attends Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's presser in Chennai to tom-tom the government's achievements in its first 100 days in office.
'The Pakistani move to ban militant outfits and placate international opinion and Islamabad's openness to a UN security council resolution on Azhar -- instead of beseeching China to cast yet another veto -- enables Islamabad to occupy the high ground,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Japan is still preparing to host the Olympics, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Saturday, despite rising global concern about the viability of the summer Games due to the coronavirus outbreak. He said Japan has a relatively low infection rate and has not seen an explosion in cases as seen in South Korea, China, Italy, Iran and elsewhere. He said delaying the peak of infections is vital to ensure treatment of those in critical condition.
The perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attack, who shot dead 166 people, had confessed to details that should have been enough to hang him, but Pakistan enjoyed his anti-India rhetoric and let him spread his tentacles. A revealing excerpt from Khaled Ahmed's Pakistan's Terror Conundrum.
'In China there is capital punishment for heritage theft. That is how they treat criminals, unlike us.' 'Here we treat them like it's a house-breaking theft.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said production linked incentive (PLI) scheme, which is aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing and exports, is expected to increase the country's production by $520 billion in the next five years. Addressing a webinar on PLI scheme, organised by Department of Industry and International Trade (DPIIT) and NITI Aayog, through video conference, Modi said the government is continuously carrying out reforms to boost domestic manufacturing. In this year's Budget, about Rs 2 lakh crore was earmarked for the PLI scheme for the next five years and "there is an expectation that the scheme would result in increasing the production by about $520 billion in the next five years", he said. He added that there is also an expectation that the current workforce in the sectors, which will avail the benefits of the PLI scheme, will be doubled and job creation will also increase.
US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have already expressed their intention to attend the 15th conference of signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change slated to kick off on December 9.
Johnson will be only the second British leader since Indian independence to attend the annual Republic Day parade in New Delhi as Guest of Honour, after former prime minister John Major in 1993.
More than 600,000 Rohingyas from Myanmar's Rakhine state have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, creating one of the world's most dire refugee crisis.
The visit, Kim's third since March, is taking place amid sharp escalation rhetoric between Beijing and Washington over tariffs almost spiralling into a trade war.
India is among the top five contributors to the United Nations Ebola response with a contribution of $12.5 million (Rs 76 crore), according to a fact sheet released by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Influential world leaders on Thursday braced for a showdown at the G20 summit over an imminent US-led action against Syria, as United States President Barack Obama's plan to launch military strikes cleared the first hurdle with a key Senate committee narrowly approving it.
In a significant policy statement on the Taliban which is making big gains in its offensive in Afghanistan, China has asked it to make a "clean break" from all terrorist forces, especially the Al Qaida-backed Uyghur Muslim militant group ETIM fighting for the volatile Xinjiang province's independence.
The United States has announced the end of its 20-year-old war in Afghanistan as the last American military flight flew out of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul shortly before the August 31 deadline.
'I think they have done a very sad job. The United States pays them USD 450 million a year. China pays them USD 38 million a year'
The summit at Sentosa -- the first between the two countries -- is a turnaround of relations between the US president, 71, and the North Korean leader, 34, after a long-running exchange of threats and insults.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Ramaswamy Parthasarathy, who arrested Chidambaram in the INX Media case last year, has been conferred with the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service.
The conference held in New York from June 24 to 30 had agreed on a sweeping action plan to help blunt the impact of the economic downturn, especially for developing counties, but 'in the interest of all nations... to achieve more inclusive, equitable, balanced, development-oriented and sustainable economic development to help overcome poverty and inequality'.
Kadvi Hawa has some very bad news for us all.
Maria Sharapova became a goodwill ambassador for the UN Development Fund and donated $100,000 to the Chernobyl victims.
Ananya Agarwal, who led the Indian delegation to the UNESCO General Conference being held in Paris, told the panel that Pak is home to all shades of darkness; from extremist ideologies and darker powers of radicalisation to the darkest manifestations of terrorism.
Trump abruptly rejected the text of the consensus statement and bitterly insulted Canadian PM Trudeau.
Japan's Mima Ito took the bronze medal after beating Han Ying of Germany in straight games.
Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong says the country will spend 20 million dollars to host the summit.
'One cannot escape the conclusion that Pakistan has won the Paris-Bangkok-Islamabad round. To be able to resume the composite dialogue without making any progress on the Mumbai attack trials is a dream come true for Pakistan.'
Indian elections are won and lost on 'negative' imageries and campaigns - but not certainly on 'negativity' as a political trait and electoral creed, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Durban will create climate apartheid, under which rich polluters evade responsibility, but underprivileged people suffer the worst effects of climate change for which they are least responsible.
In a veiled reference to China's aggressive military behaviour, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said exercising self-restraint in the conduct of activities and avoiding actions that may further complicate situation will go a long way in bringing sustained regional peace.
Foreign Direct Investment into India rose by 13 per cent in 2020, boosted by interest in the digital sector, and while fund flows "declined most strongly" in major economies such as the UK, the US and Russia due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India and China "bucked the trend", the UN has said.
On Sunday, North Korea said it detonated a hydrogen bomb designed for a long-range missile and called its sixth and most powerful nuclear test a "perfect success", sparking world condemnation and promises of tougher US sanctions.
India is likely to send a high-level delegation, headed by the minister, given the conference's importance.
Acknowledging the strained diplomatic relations between Malaysia and India over his remarks, Mahathir said that it is necessary to speak out on the issues, even though such remarks could be disliked by some.
'Bharat Ratna and longest bridges, while necessary, will not promote the peace and prosperity of the citizens of India. Only just popular laws and foresight on the part of the leadership will'
Speaking at the Biennial Conference of CBI and state anti-corruption bureaux, the Prime Minister said India has ratified UN Conventions against corruption and to meet its requirements a slew of measures which include amendments in laws pertaining to anti-graft measures.
Gokhale and Pompeo expressed satisfaction over the significant progress and the quality of the India-US Strategic Partnership
Asserting that there was growing scourge of terrorism in view of fast growing linkages of terrorist groups across the globe, India on Tuesday strongly advocated stepped up cooperation through intelligence exchange and training with 54 African countries.
Andrabi, the founder of the Dukhtaran-e-Millat, an Islamist separatist organisation is also a member of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
Canada, a major energy producer, has become the first country to quit the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, saying the 1997 accord was an 'impediment' on cutting global carbon emissions with top emitters like the United States and China not covered by it.
'The new order cometh, sweeping out the old,' notes Ambassador B S Prakash.
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