Barack Obama's Country's Migrants Plan Shift Gets Combined Reactions

 

Barack Obama’s country's immigrants shift to stop expulsion of youthful unlawful immigrants, under some conditions, has made some satisfied but many others somewhat irritated.

President Barack Obama has recently declared, to avoiding the expulsion of unlawful immigrants who joined the U.S as kids with immediate effect, a shift that has received varied responses around the nation. At the moment those who are outdated 16 - 30 and have resided in the U.S. for five years can request for job allowance.

In his statement, Barack obama said, "It is unnecessary to expel skilled adolescents who, for all means and requirements, are citizens of America." This statement is perceived as a significant governmental transfer in an election season, however as stated by Obama is "the exact thing to carry out".

While on the other hand, Mitt Romney, who is the presidential challenger of Obama, believes that this is the incorrect way to move towards the challenge. This shift is perceived to instantly affect nearly around 80 million youthful immigrants in the United States.

At this moment majority of unlawful immigrants who were scare of rapid expulsion will now be able to perform in the United States without being reluctant, on the condition they fulfill the required requirements.

At the same time as perceptibly the shift had the awe-inspiring assistance of all the young immigrants, there were many others who did not approve too. If truth to be told, throughout his conversation, President Barack Obama was disturbed by the journalist, who inquired him, why he preferred visitors over real citizens of America? Barack Obama plainly reacted by stating that it was not the right occasion for queries, and that he did not take queries in the center of any conversation.

Most up-to-date viewpoint forms expose that President Barack Obama and Republican competitive Mitt Romney are operating throat to throat before elections planned for Nov this season.

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1. United States Growing Operations Against Al-Qaeda in Africa 
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United States Growing Operations Against Al-Qaeda in Africa

United States specific arms and secret companies have escalated intelligence gathering routes over great part of African area, looking for Al-Qaeda and identical categories.

A variety of United States armed and intellect companies are increasing their monitoring operations all the way through the African place, collecting details on residences of Al-Qaeda along with other known combative systems.

Besides Al-Qaeda, Joseph Kony’s opposition military and Somalian enemy systems have also been focused. At this junction, it is uncertain if any of these U.S operations have guided United States military attacks on those categories, however one must believe that to be an ultimate item of this objective.

Since 2007, the United States secret aircraft operations have been efficient in African countries, additionally appears to be increasing quickly while the United States existence in Afghanistan and Iraq chill out. A latest tale published in the Washington Post offers to some extent details about where some of the secret aircraft abodes are situated and their journey tracks over the African Countries.

In nations where an organized governmental framework prevails, the United States appears to be at home to initiate their intelligence operations. The Western Africa country of Burkina Faso is considered to be the abode of at minimum one main detective aircraft’s shed exploited by the United States.

The Foreign Minister, Djibril Bassole, of that nation described his issues about Al-Qaeda and identical categories getting hold in the place. “We call for to battle and secure our boundaries. After their integration in your nation, it becomes quite challenging to get rid of them."

At this junction, there has been no discuss of the United States drones traveling identical tasks in the place, but they would appear to be a match for such kinds of tasks. With enough intellect from the present navy of secret air carriers, maybe upcoming drone tasks will be more efficient at focusing on activists without as much security harm to simple citizens.

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1. Barack Obama's Country's Migrants Plan Shift Gets Combined Reactions
2. He Remained Buried Alive For Two Months Under Snow
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Defeat the Libyan regime. And then?

Vehicles belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi explode after an air strike by coalition forces

In 1975, Muammar Gaddafi told the Italian journalist Mirella Bianco: "When the people takes power it becomes its own government; and at that moment it is I who will find myself in opposition." Now, with British and French combat jets targeting the Libyan regime's murderous campaign to regain rebel-held cities, part of that statement appears prophetic: 42 years after Col Gaddafi seized power, dusk appears to be upon a man Anwar Sadat, Egypt's late president, once described as "100 per cent sick and possessed by the devil".

Libya's anaemic military won't be hard to defeat. From the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, though, we have learnt that the real test of an intervention isn't the defeat of the regime it targets: it is what comes next. There is good reason to fear that the people's own government of which Col Gaddafi spoke won't be much better than the dystopia that preceded it.

Power in Libya's rebel-held regions now lies with a disordered mosaic of tribal patriarchs and mid-ranking military officers who have abandoned the regime for more primordial allegiances.

Eastern Libya's Zuwaya and Misratah tribal chieftains, who enjoyed great power before Col Gaddafi took over, sense an opportunity to seize control of oil revenues. In the west, the Warfala, under pressure from the regime since an abortive 1993 rebellion, see a chance to settle scores.

For the most part, this leadership seems to have a moral compass that points in much the same direction as that of the regime. Tarek Saad Husain, a Benghazi-based rebel commander, warned the residents of Col Gaddafi's home town: "Either you join us, or we will finish you."

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Libya's tribes, moreover, aren't the only ones flying their flags on the streets. Fighters have established an Islamic emirate in Derna, 775 miles from Tripoli, while jihadists trained in Sudan and Afghanistan are said to be fighting alongside tribal rebels.
To make sense of this exceptionally muddy landscape one needs an understanding of Libya's complex political history. Libya has been described as "anti-state": deriving power not through taxation but rents from oil; through the provision of patronage, rather than real institutions; through terror rather than a functional military. The country's armed forces, for example, were only 91,000 strong at their peak in the 1980s – about a third of the number needed, the expert Anthony Cordesman has estimated, to operate its gargantuan equipment stockpiles.
In 1969, when a group of military officers led by Col Gaddafi overthrew King Idris bin Muhammad as-Senussi, they won neither a nation nor a state – and kept it that way.
Libya's Ottoman rulers had left large swaths of the country ungoverned. Italian colonialism brought together Tripolitania in the west, Cyrenaica in the east, and arid central Fezzan, through a ferocious war that ran from 1922 to 1935, and involved the liberal use of poison gas against tribesmen.
Eastern tribes, who played a key role in the struggle against the Italians, won out in the negotiations that led to Libya's independence. King Idris, their figurehead, received the throne as a Christmas Eve gift in 1951.
King Idris was the grandson of Sayyid Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi, the founder of a religious order inspired by the fundamentalist Wahhabi order of Saudi Arabia. The Senussi commanded great influence in eastern Libya, where they successfully arbitrated between feuding tribes.
The monarchy soon accumulated unprecedented wealth. In 1953, Britain obtained the rights to station troops in Libya for £3.75 million a year; the United States leased an airbase at $4 million a year. The last nine years of King Idris's rule also saw Libya become the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.
But the boom led to growing income disparities and a surge of migrants into Tripoli. The city doubled in size between 1960 and 1964, creating joblessness and social tensions on a scale the monarchy simply couldn't handle.
King Idris's regime, the scholar Carole Collins has noted, needed "to perform the functions of a national bourgeoisie – to regenerate and reinvest capital, and to develop infrastructure".
Instead, the monarchy, described by the former American diplomat James Akins as "one of the most corrupt in the world", survived by funnelling funds to its clients among the eastern tribes.
Following the coup, Col Gaddafi continued with the system – though his own Qadhafa tribe and its allies became the principal beneficiaries of the patronage system, instead of their eastern rivals.
In return for their loyalty, tribal leaders received benefits such as key jobs and contracts in projects like the £7.5 billion man-made river that sucks water from underground aquifers to feed Libya's cities and farms.
Gaddafi's manifesto, The Green Book, applauded the tribe as a form of "natural social protection". The state, by contrast, was an "artificial political, economic and sometimes military system which has no link to human values".
Luis Martinez, in his book The Libyan Paradox, pointed to the pre-modern regime-building practices of revolutionary Libya. Khuwaylidi al-Hamidi, the chief of police, married his son, Khalid, to Gaddafi's flamboyant daughter, Aisha Gaddafi, and one of his daughters to the ruler's son, Saadi.
The army became the stage on which tribal tensions were played out – just as they had been before the coup.
In 1993, for example, Abdel Salam Jalloud – Libya's long-standing second-in-command and a trusted lieutenant who had, in 1970, been dispatched to offer China £75 million for a nuclear weapon – attempted to seize power.
Mr Jalloud's Magariha tribe backed him, along with the Warfalla and al-Zintan – much the same coalition that is fighting Col Gaddafi today. Intense fighting was seen in the Bani Walid area, 80 miles south-east of Tripoli. But the air force, packed with recruits from Col Gaddafi's Qadhafa, held fast and the regime won.
Eight plotters were executed in January 1997. Later that year, new laws institutionalised collective punishment of tribes through the denial of entitlements as the punishment for rebellion.
Even as Col Gaddafi moved to suppress tribal tensions, though, a new threat was emerging. In the 1980s, he had encouraged thousands of Libyans to join the jihad in Afghanistan, as part of his desire to emerge as a leader of the Islamic world. But when they returned to Libya, they served a different god.
In 1984, Libyan authorities hanged two students alleged to have been members of Islamist groups on the campus of the al-Fateh university in Tripoli; nine more were executed at Benghazi in 1987.
Fighting between the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and regime forces in Benghazi claimed dozens of lives in 1995. In 1996, there was further fighting around Derna and Benghazi. Britain, according to David Shayler, a former MI5 officer, funded the LIFG, to punish Col Gaddafi's support of terrorists in the west. Even though the LIFG was eventually crushed, and, following the events of 9/11, internationally proscribed, the jihadists had gained political legitimacy. In May 2009, thousands attended the funeral of Ali Mohamed al-Fakheri, a high-ranking al-Qaeda member who died in a Tripoli prison.
Libyan Islamists have, worryingly, been winning battles for the first time this year. Last month, jihadists led by rebel military officer Adnan al-Nawisri seized hundreds of weapons and vehicles from depots in Derna and proclaimed what they are calling the Islamic Emirate of Barqa, the ancient name for western Libya.
Abdelkarim al-Hasadi, who fought with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, appears to have de facto control of the Derna Emirate. Men like al-Hasadi are certain to get what support al-Qaeda can muster. Osama bin Laden's inner circle includes Muhammad Hassan Qayid, known also as Abu Yahya al-Libi, the younger brother of the LIFG leader Abdul Wahhab Qayid Idris.
For decades, the social conditions for an Islamist insurgency did not exist in Libya. In a 1999 interview, LIFG spokesperson Omar Rashed lamented that Libya's people had not "passed beyond the stage of sentiments to the stage of action".
Paradoxically, the neoliberal economic policies ushered in by Shokri Ghanem, the prime minister, and Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the ruler's son, may have helped just that to happen, by weakening the patronage networks on which the regime was built.
Libya's tribal patriarchs may wish only for a redistribution of the spoils of power, not a revolution.
But many young people see the regime's pro-western policies as the root of their problems and want more fundamental changes.
If the Libyan war drags on, warring tribal factions will seek support where they can find it – and the jihadists will be happy to oblige them.
"War is the father of all things," wrote the Greek poet and philosopher Heraclitus, "the king of all: some it has shown as gods, some as men; some it has made slaves, some free." His lesson is simple: we must beware the consequences not just of defeat, but also of victory.

Military Offers Assurances to Egypt and Neighbors

CAIRO — As a new era dawned in Egypt on Saturday, the army leadership sought to reassure Egyptians and the world that it would shepherd a transition to civilian rule and honor international commitments like the peace treaty with Israel.

Exultant and exhausted opposition leaders claimed their role in the country’s future, pressing the army to lift the country’s emergency law and release political prisoners and saying they would present their vision for the government. And they vowed to return to Tahrir Square next week to celebrate a victory and honor those who had died in the 18-day uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak after nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule.
In an announcement broadcast on state television, an army spokesman said Egypt would continue to abide by all its international and regional treaties and the current civilian leadership would manage the country’s affairs until the formation of a new government. But he did not discuss a timetable for any transfer of power, and it was unclear how and when talks with opposition figures would take place.

The army spokesman said the military was “aspiring to guarantee the peaceful transition of power within the framework of a free democratic system that allows an elected civilian power to rule the country, in order to build a free democratic state.”
The impact of Egypt’s uprising rippled across the Arab world as protesters turned out in Algeria, where the police arrested leading organizers, and in Yemen, where pro-government forces beat demonstrators with clubs.
The Palestinian leadership responded by announcing that it planned to hold presidential and parliamentary elections by September. And in Tunisia, which inspired Egypt’s uprising, hundreds demonstrated to cheer Mr. Mubarak’s ouster.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will travel to Jordan and Israel for talks as both countries deal with the reverberations from Egypt’s revolution.

In Tahrir, or Liberation, Square, some members of the broad movement that toppled Mr. Mubarak vowed to continue their protests, saying that all their demands had not yet been met.
A long list included an end to the emergency law that allows detention without charges, the dissolution of the Parliament, seen as illegitimate, and for some of the protesters, the prosecution of Mr. Mubarak. About 50 stood in the square on Saturday morning, as the military removed barricades and concertina wire on the periphery.
But the uprising’s leading organizers, speaking at a news conference in central Cairo, asked protesters to leave the square.
The group, the Coalition of the Youth of the Revolution, which includes members of the April 6 Youth Movement, the Muslim Brotherhood Youth and young supporters of Mohamed ElBaradei, a prominent opposition figure, said that it had not yet talked with the military and that on Sunday it would lay out its road map for a transitional government.
The coalition said that Ahmed Zewail, a Nobel laureate in chemistry, and other respected figures would work as intermediaries between the youth group and the country’s new military chiefs.
“The power of the people changed the regime,” said Gehan Shaaban, a group spokeswoman. “But we shouldn’t trust the army. We should trust ourselves, the people of Egypt.”
Again, there were signs that not all the protesters were willing to give up. During the news conference, a woman yelled: “We should all head to Tahrir and stay there, until we ourselves are sure that everything is going as planned! The government of Ahmed Shafiq has to go!” Mr. Shafiq is the prime minister. The woman’s shouts brought the news conference to a close.
As the protesters and opposition groups prepared an agenda, they sought clues about exactly whom they were negotiating with. On Friday, Vice President Omar Suleiman said that Mr. Mubarak had authorized the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to manage the state’s affairs, marking the transition from civilian to military rule.
Mr. Suleiman, a former general who became Egypt’s foreign intelligence chief, straddled the two worlds. But Hosam Sowilam, a retired general, said Mr. Suleiman no longer played a leadership role. “Omar Suleiman finished his time,” he said. “He’s 74 years old.” Others were not so quick to dismiss Mr. Suleiman, a close ally of Mr. Mubarak who was mentioned as his successor.
In interviews, protest leaders said they assumed that the defense minister, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, 75, who was considered a loyalist of Mr. Mubarak, was now the country’s de facto leader. On Saturday morning, his convoy tried to drive to Tahrir Square, according to a paratrooper stationed there. But he did not leave his car.

The military chiefs worked quickly to exert their influence, calling on citizens to cooperate with the police, after weeks of civil strife, and urging a force stained by accusations of abuse and torture to be mindful of the department’s slogan: “The police in the service of the people.” 


Security officials said that the recently appointed interior minister, Mahmoud Wagdy, visited units of the department’s feared security services on Saturday, in the hope of returning police officers to work. The officers vanished from Egypt’s streets on Jan. 29 after violent clashes with protesters, and only small numbers have returned.
Reuters reported that Field Marshal Tantawi met with Mr. Wagdy to discuss the officers’ return.
That security force, including plainclothes officers widely accused of abuse, are loathed by the protesters, who have demanded police reform to end brutality and, in particular, torture in police stations. Prosecutors are weighing charges against the previous interior minister, Habib al-Adly, who seemed to ignore or encourage police abuses. But some analysts have suggested that he is a scapegoat, and that the real problem was a government that relied on harsh tactics.
At the same time, neighborhoods in Cairo and other cities have for weeks been forced to function without the police. The lack of public safety was underscored on Friday, when security officials said hundreds of inmates, freed by armed gangs, escaped from a prison in Cairo.
While the Egyptian military’s commitment to international treaties reassured the United States and Israel, there was no indication whether such a pledge would survive a new government. The protesters in the square made it clear that they would reconsider all of Mr. Mubarak’s foreign alliances, and many frequently referred to the deposed president as an Israeli or American agent.
Hamdy Hassan, a former member of Parliament from the Muslim Brotherhood, said the military had “acknowledged the revolution’s legitimacy,” but added that there were still doubts about its intentions. “We want a guarantee that we do not have another tyrant.”
In Cairo, citizens embraced their new reality with humor, mild arguments and celebrations. The official state press gave a measure of the changes.
“The People Toppled the Government” said the headline in Al Ahram, the flagship state-owned national newspaper and government mouthpiece, borrowing a line from the protest movement. Another article noted that Switzerland had frozen the assets of Mr. Mubarak and his aides.
On state television, which for weeks depicted the protesters as a violent mob of foreigners, an anchor spoke of the “youth revolution.”
Security officials said Saturday that the information minister, Anas el-Fekky, who many of the protesters say should be fired, was placed under house arrest.
In Tahrir Square on Saturday, thousands of volunteers who brought their own brooms or cleaning supplies swept streets and scrubbed graffiti from buildings. On the streets around the square, the celebrations from the night before continued, spurred on by honking drivers.
At night, the party started early, as tens of thousands of Cairo residents and visitors from all over Egypt filled the square, dancing and snapping pictures of their children standing on vigilant tanks.
The president’s departure to his home by the Red Sea in Sharm el Sheik seemed for some to have stripped the country’s political woes of some urgency.
Mr. ElBaradei’s brother, Ali ElBaradei, said Mr. ElBaradei was taking the day off and had not been contacted by the military. “They will call when they call,” he said.
Amr Hamzawy, who has acted as a mediator between the protesters and the government, said that “everyone is taking a break,” though he expressed concern with the vague nature of the army’s most recent statements.
“What is the timeline we are looking at?” he said. “Is it September?” He also said it was unclear whether the army council ruling the country favored amending the Constitution or starting from scratch, which is the preferred solution for many of the protesters.
There was also no clear sign from the military about whether it intended to dissolve Parliament, Mr. Hamzawy said, adding that so far the military’s tone had been “very, very positive.”

LATEST NEWS : Obama talks to Mubarak, urges speed-up of promised reforms

President Barack Obama has stated that he urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that he must carry out the reforms he pledged to carry out for the Egyptian people.

In an astonishing speech on state television in Egypt earlier, Mubarak said he would dissolve his cabinet and establish a new government tomorrow – but he gave no indication at all that he would step down.
“Going forward this moment of volatility has to be turned into a moment of promise,” Obama said.
Apparently, Obama and Mubarak spoke by phone for about half-an-hour after the Egyptian president’s speech.
Obama said he was “very clear” that Egyptian security officers must refrain from violence in their dealings with protestors. But he also urged the protesters themselves must be peaceful.

“Ultimately the future of Egypt will be determined by the Egyptian people,” Obama said. “Governments have an obligation to respond to their citizens.”
Earlier, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs suggested the U,S. government would “review” the $1.3-billion of aid Egypt would receive, subject to how Mubarak’s soldiers and police treat the populace.
“The United States will continue to stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people,” Obama said.
Anti-government demonstrations have swept across Egypt despite a 6 am-7 pm curfew imposed by the state and a vow by President Hosni Mubarak to get tough with protesters demanding his ouster.
Following midday prayers, tens of thousands of Egyptians fanned out across streets in Cairo, Suez and Alexandria and other cities, resulting in some cases in violent clashes with policemen. Security forces have reportedly fired rubber bullets and teargas at protesters.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog and an opposition leader in Egypt, returned to his native homeland yesterday, but was placed under house arrest at his home on the outskirts of Cairo.
Upon arrival in Egypt yesterday, ElBaradei told reporters "it is a critical time in the life of Egypt. I wish we didn't have to go into the streets to impress upon the regime that they have to change."

Politics in Iraq Casts Doubt on a U.S. Presence After 2011

Sgt. Leonard Cortze, from left, Ala Hassan of the Iraqi Army and Rahim Ahmed, a Kurdish security officer, at a Diyala checkpoint


BAGHDAD — The protracted political turmoil that saw the resurgence of a fiercely anti-American political bloc here is casting new doubt on establishing any enduring American military role in Iraq after the last of nearly 50,000 troops are scheduled to withdraw in the next 12 months, military and administration officials say.
Given Iraq’s military shortcomings, especially in air power, intelligence coordination and logistics, American and Iraqi officials had long expected that some American military presence, even if only in an advisory role, would continue beyond 2011. That is the deadline for a troop withdrawal negotiated under President George W. Bush more than three years ago and adhered to, so far, by President Obama.
Even as contingency planning for any lasting American mission has quietly continued in Baghdad and at the Pentagon, however, the shifting political landscape in both countries has made it increasingly possible that the 2011 withdrawal could truly be total, the officials said. Both Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq and Mr. Obama, struggling to retain the support of their political bases, have repeated their public vows to adhere to the deadline.
The military and administration officials emphasized in interviews that the White House had made no final decision on whether any troops might remain beyond the scheduled withdrawal — and that it would not even consider one unless asked by Mr. Maliki’s government.
The question is so politically delicate — here and in Washington — that officials would speak only on condition of anonymity. Further, they say the topic has not been broached in detail even in recent private meetings between senior Iraqi and American officials, including one in Baghdad last week between Mr. Maliki and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen.
“Maliki can’t start asking right now for a large, extended American footprint,” a senior administration official said. “First of all, there is no Maliki government. And second, it would introduce a hugely controversial issue just when he doesn’t need it.”
It could remain so for many more months, even after Mr. Maliki completes his cabinet of ministers and submits it to the new Parliament, now scheduled to happen within a week. That has raised anxieties among American officials and military commanders presiding over what the Obama administration calls a “responsible drawdown” to end the American war here.
They are already planning a steady reduction of troops and bases, which will begin in earnest by spring and is to reach zero by this time next year. Those plans have been complicated by the uncertainty over what troops will replace them — or whether any will at all.
“They’re going to have to sort their way through that,” Maj. Gen. Terry A. Wolff, the departing commander of American forces in central Iraq, said in an interview, referring to administration officials. “At this point, I just don’t know. I don’t know how that’s going to look in 2012.”
After parliamentary elections in March led to a protracted period of deadlock and deal-making, Mr. Maliki now leads an unwieldy coalition with parties pursuing conflicting agendas, including lawmakers allied with Moktada al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric in exile whose fighters actively battled against American and Iraqi forces until they were routed in 2008.
Their new partnership, which propelled Mr. Maliki’s nomination to a second term, will make it politically risky for him to now reverse himself. Even Ayad Allawi, the leader of a multisectarian bloc who has long been supportive of the Americans, said in an interview last week that there was not yet any consensus among Iraqi leaders to request an extension of the American military presence.
A growing confidence in Iraq’s security forces, coupled with national pride, has also become a factor. Mr. Maliki and others have adamantly ruled out the need for foreign troops to help the country protect itself.
That may reflect a degree of political posturing, but officials in both militaries point to the maturing capabilities of Iraq’s army and federal police, which now conduct day-to-day security without a great deal of direct American involvement.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari, said in an interview that the American military role in Iraq “must take another shape,” providing training and weaponry, but not necessarily American boots on the ground.
“We are different than Afghanistan,” the general said, noting the comparative maturity of Iraq’s government ministries, including those overseeing security.
Among Iraqis, the question of the American military presence is deeply conflicted, and often nuanced. Many loathe what they view as a foreign occupying force, even as some consider the Americans a reassuring bulwark against insurgent attacks and simmering ethnic disputes.
Along the internal border between Iraq’s Kurds and Arabs, for example, American soldiers continue to operate checkpoints jointly with troops from both sides, defusing potential clashes.
Assad Ismail, a local council president in Sadiya, a village along the disputed territories northeast of Baghdad, said that only the Americans were able to settle a recent dispute that flared when Iraqi soldiers trying to restrict the movement of insurgents closed off local farmers’ access to their date palms, tomatoes and peanuts.
“Thank God, the American Army was with us,” Mr. Ismail said. “We want them to stay for 5 or 10 years.”
The administration has already drawn up plans for an extensive expansion of the American Embassy and its operations, bolstered by thousands of security contractors. The embassy in Baghdad, two satellite offices in Mosul and Kirkuk, and two consulates in Erbil and Baghdad are scheduled to take over most of more than 1,000 tasks now carried out by the American military.

Ahmadinejad says Iran is ready for justifiable and respectful talks

Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that Iran would reconsider ending their uranium enhancement in case world powerful bodies send them nuclear fuel for their medical research reactor. While addressing the house full of conference in New York he said that Iran is ready to resume their talks with six world powers to discuss Nuclear program. He further said that October would be suitable time for negotiations.

Iran’s President said that we had no interest in enriching Uranium to 90% purity levels required for developing nuclear weapons but forced to enrich uranium to lower levels of 3.5% to 20% purity when world powers refused to supply nuclear fuel required for producing medical isotopes for patients in Tehran and this percentage is too low for producing weapons which requires 90 % purity is required . However, U.S. officials have expressed their concern over Iran’s ability enriching uranium to higher levels required for producing nuclear weapons. Iran strictly denies U.S. claim that Iran is seeking to build a nuclear weapon. He emphasizes on respectful talks. 

He further said that U.S. is politicizing the issue and showing reservations having no basis. Even then we are ready for justifiable and respectful talks. He said that Iranian leader may meet the five permanent members of Security Council and specific date for talks could be set in case European Union foreign chief contact Iran. He said that world powers. should give up their policy of ruling world with carrot and stick. Even such words are insulting to nations. He added that Iran won’t give in to pressure and they are at fault if they think that they can trample the rights of Iranian nation through oppression in postponing the talks.

He continued that U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are overreaction to the September 11 attacks and they have no right to occupy the whole Middle East and obliterate the whole village just because one terrorist is hiding there. Ahmadinejad said that the world commission should investigate the Sep 11 incident rather we just keep on believing what U.S. government tells us. He said it should come to light by fact-finding mission that who is Al-Qaida?, Where does it exist and who is backing and supporting them.

U.S. diplomats walkedout during Ahmadinejad's speech to the U.N. General Assembly Thursday afternoon and all the 27 delegations from European Nations followed the American diplomats. U.S. diplomat said president Barak Obama responded to Ahmadinejad's remarks while giving interview to BBC Persian service on Friday that “Well, it was offensive, It was hateful.”

Iran is under series of U.N. Security Council sanctions as punishment for its failure satisfying the U.N. for producing higher level uranium.

By Muhammad Irfan Zafar

Content Writer

6 U.S. troops, 12 civilians killed in Afghan attacks

Afghan rescue and security personnel are seen at the site of a bomb explosion in Kandahar.

Afghanistan —

Six American service members and at least a dozen civilians died in attacks Saturday in Afghanistan's volatile east and south, adding to a summer of escalating violence as Taliban militants push back against stepped-up operations by international and Afghan forces.

NATO said four U.S. service members died in the east: One as a result of small-arms fire, another by a roadside bomb, a third during an insurgent attack and the last in an accidental explosion. Two other U.S. troops died in separate roadside bombings in southern Afghanistan. Their deaths raised to 23 the number of American troops killed so far this month in the war.

Also, unknown gunmen killed 11 Pakistani Shia tribesmen in the east and at least one person died when a bomb planted on a motorbike exploded in Kandahar city in the south, officials said.

Explosions also hit two convoys of international troops in different parts of the country, with Germany saying two of its troops were wounded by a roadside bomb in the northern province of Kunduz. Another explosion targeted NATO troops in Khost in the east, but the alliance said there were no casualties.

Afghan and international forces also said a combined commando unit killed a Taliban operative and captured eight others in an overnight raid in Paktia province in the east, though local villagers claimed the men were innocent civilians. In the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, thousands of Afghan's staged an anti-U.S. protest over another night raid that killed two security guards.

Insurgent attacks have intensified across the country and the international coalition has been stepping up raids to root out militant leaders as 30,000 more American troops arrive to try to turn around the war and build a stable Afghan government nine years after U.S.-backed forces toppled the Taliban's hard-line Islamist regime.

Last month was the deadliest of the war for the multinational force, with 103 international troops killed, 60 of them Americans.

A remotely detonated motorcycle bomb killed one person Saturday in Kandahar city, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, authorities said.

The blast set cars ablaze and shattered windows at a popular shopping center. One man was killed as he drove by in a car just as the bomb exploded, the provincial government said in a statement.

The province is the site of a U.S.-led military operation to strengthen government control.

In the eastern border province of Paktia, unidentified gunmen killed 11 Pakistanis who had crossed into Afghanistan to buy supplies, according to Rohullah Samon, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Samon said 11 Shia minority Muslim tribesmen died and three people, including a child, were wounded in the ambush of their minibus in Chamkani district.

Elsewhere in Paktia, a combined Afghan-coalition commando force raided a compound in Ahmad Abad district overnight, killing one person and arresting nine others, officials said.

The Ministry of Defense said the elite force killed an insurgent operative and captured eight others with weapons. The ninth person arrested was determined to be a civilian and turned over to local authorities, it said in a statement.

Paktia spokesman Samon complained that local authorities were not informed of the raid. He said villagers protested outside government offices Saturday, saying the dead man and those captured were innocent civilians. They promised a larger demonstration the next day if the eight prisoners were not released.

Combined coalition and Afghan forces have been stepping up night raids across the country trying to break up Taliban leadership and operations capability.

In the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, more than 1,000 people protested Saturday against the deaths of two security guards in another night raid near a market.

The crowd chanted "Death to America! Long live Islam!" Protesters said the security guards were unjustly killed when combined Afghan and international forces landed by helicopter at the bazaar before dawn Wednesday.

NATO spokesman Col. Wayne Shanks said the two guards were shot when they raised their weapons at the commandos and refused orders to put them down. He said the raid succeeded in capturing a Taliban operative who supplied bomb-making material.

The coalition says the new wave of raids has captured more than 100 senior- and midlevel Taliban figures since April and killed dozens more. But the success rate has not made much of a dent in insurgent attacks.

On Saturday, an explosion tore through a NATO convoy traveling in the eastern province of Khost, though no one was killed. The German army later said two of its soldiers were slightly wounded by a roadside bomb in the northern province of Kunduz — the second homemade explosive attack on German troops in the area that day.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force has been in Afghanistan since shortly after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, when U.S.-backed forces toppled the regime that sheltered the al-Qaida terrorist leadership following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

India wants more Pakistanis tried for Mumbai raid

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik (2nd R) walks with Indian counterpart Palaniappan Chidambaram (2nd L) after his arrival in Islamabad June 25, 2010. India urged Pakistan on Saturday to put more people on trial for the 2008 Mumbai attacks which killed 166 people in India's financial capital.

India urged Pakistan on Saturday to put more people on trial for the 2008 attacks on Mumbai as the two nuclear-armed nations promised to join efforts to combat terrorism.
Relations between the uneasy neighbours, who have fought three wars since 1947, went into a freeze after Pakistani-based militants killed 166 people in the Indian financial capital.
"All the masterminds and the handlers behind 26/11 must be brought to justice," Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram told a joint news conference with Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik a day after their meeting in Islamabad.
"At the same time, we must ensure that terrorists have no free run, either in Pakistan or (in) India."
Although Chidambaram did not mention him by name, India also wants Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group and the man New Delhi says masterminded the bloodshed, to face trial.
Malik said Pakistan was committed to bringing those responsible for the Mumbai attacks to justice and both countries had promised to coordinate their efforts to confront terrorism.
"We have resolved together that both (investigating) agencies of India and Pakistan will be working together and we will not allow any such incident in future."
Chidambaram said he had held "positive" talks with Malik. Chidambaram is the first Indian government minister to visit visit Pakistan since Mumbai attacks, signalling a thaw.
The meeting came a day after the two nuclear rivals' top diplomats expressed optimism that relations would improve after Mumbai.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani met on the sidelines of a regional conference last month in Bhutan and agreed to get talks going, which India broke off after the assault.
Pakistan has acknowledged the Mumbai attack was plotted and partly launched from its soil but has maintained that India has not provided sufficient evidence against Saeed.
Pakistan's Supreme Court last month upheld a lower court's decision to release Saeed, who also leads an Islamist charity, Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The U.N. Security Council put Saeed and his charity on a list of al Qaeda associates.
The foreign ministers of Pakistan and India will meet on July 15 in Islamabad to push forward efforts aimed at normalising ties.

Germany defends cuts ahead of G20

Merkel says her government’s plan to save $100-billion is growth oriented

Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed Thursday to defend Germany's planned austerity measures at this weekend's G-20 summit as she shrugged off U.S. concerns that budget cuts could threaten the global economic recovery.
“We, the Europeans and the Germans in particular, think that reducing the deficits is indispensable for achieving sustainable growth,” the chancellor told journalists.
Merkel's government has pledged to save €80-billion ($100-billion U.S.) by 2014 by cutting welfare benefits and raising new taxes. But U.S. President Barack Obama has urged leaders to refrain from pushing through austerity plans in a bid not to threaten the recovery.
Ms. Merkel acknowledged that there are differences “about the philosophy, the approach of how to overcome the financial crisis,” and said she expects discussions at the summit of the world's wealthiest nations plus emerging economies in Toronto to be “fruitful, but very controversial.”


Ms. Merkel points to Germany's dropping jobless rate – 7.7 per cent in May – and other indicators of positive growth in insisting that reducing the deficit is the right thing for her country.
The chancellor told ARD public broadcaster earlier in the day that she had explained to Obama in a telephone call earlier this week that the stimulus measures amount to more than 2 per cent of gross domestic product in the current budget and that “Germany has done much more to revive the global economy than most other nations.”
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble echoed Ms. Merkel’s tough stance in an editorial published in German daily Handelsblatt and the Financial Times.
“Governments should not become addicted to borrowing as a quick fix to stimulate demand. We need carefully considered exit strategies,” he said.
Mr. Schaeuble openly hinted that there is a rift between the U.S. and Europe as economic policy makers on both sides of the Atlantic are taking a fundamentally different course. While the U.S focuses on short-term corrective measures, “we take the longer view and are, therefore, more preoccupied with the implications of excessive deficits and the dangers of high inflation.”
But some experts caution Germany should not try to cut spending at a time when other, more indebted countries, such as Greece, Spain and Portugal, are already doing so.
U.S. billionaire investor George Soros on Wednesday in Berlin warned that Germany's insistence on fiscal tightening could initiate a “a period of prolonged stagnation or worse,” leading to widespread “discontent and social unrest” that could endanger the European Union.
But German economists have largely applauded the government's move as a return to fiscal orthodoxy.
“The economy at the moment is so strong that it can stand the moderate planned consolidation effort,” Ulrich Kater, chief economist at Germany's Deka Bank, said.
“The events on the financial markets showed a lot of countries in the euro zone that their amount of debt has reached the limit of sustainability,” Mr. Kater added, noting that the U.S., due to its size, can afford higher deficits.
Following a meeting of the G-8 starting Friday, the G-20 nations will meet on Saturday and Sunday in Toronto.
Shortly before her departure to Canada, Ms. Merkel said she expected the leaders to act to ensure that all financial products, trading places and market actors will be regulated in the future to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis.
She acknowledged, however, that summit participants are unlikely to agree on all proposals of how to get the financial sector to participate in shouldering the costs of the crisis, for example by introducing a bank levy.
An agreement on a global tax on financial transactions at the summit seems unlikely, she said. “But I would prefer to have a clear answer than no answer, because then we can try to go our own way on a European level,” she added.

EU approves new sanctions on Iran

Escorted by his bodyguards, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, center, flashes the victory sign to supporters as he arrives in the city of Shahr-e-Kord, 325 miles (543 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran, Iran, during a provincial tour, Wednesday, June 16, 2010. Iran's president says Tehran supports a dialogue with the outside world but that world powers must first be punished for the latest round of U.N. sanctions imposed on Iran.

BRUSSELS -- The European Union on Thursday adopted new sanctions against Iran, the latest in a series of measures taken by the international community in an effort to halt the country's nuclear program.
The restrictions come on top of a fourth round of sanctions imposed last week by the U.N. Security Council to curtail Iran's nuclear program over fears it is developing weapons. The council endorsed those sanctions after Iran rebuffed a plan to suspend uranium enrichment and swap its stockpiles of low-enriched uranium for fuel rods.
The EU "remains deeply concerned about Iran's nuclear program, and new restrictive measures have become necessary," EU president Herman Van Rompuy said after a European summit focused primarily on economic issues.
A statement said the sanctions will target dual-use items that could be used as part of a nuclear program, and Iran's oil and gas industry - including the "prohibition of new investment, technical assistance and transfers of technologies."
Iran's shipping and air cargo companies will be blacklisted and banned from operating in EU territory, and new visa bans and asset freezes will be imposed on Iran's Revolutionary Guard. The sanctions also encompass trade insurance and financial transactions.
The measures are meant to strengthen past embargoes imposed by the EU in response in response to U.N. Security Council resolutions.
They are also in line with similar measures adopted by the Obama administration, which imposed penalties Wednesday against additional individuals and institutions it says are helping Iran develop its nuclear and missile programs and evade international sanctions.
But Russia - which last week supported the fourth round of sanctions in the security council - on Thursday denounced the additional U.S. and EU measures. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said that unilateral sanctions are eroding international efforts to settle the Iranian nuclear standoff, and that the U.S. and EU moves demonstrate Western disregard of Russia's opinion.
The United States, Israel and the EU fear that Iran will continue to upgrade its uranium enrichment program until it can produce a nuclear weapon.
Iran vehemently denies the charge, saying that its program is only intended solely for peaceful purposes such as energy-generation, and that it has the right to enrich uranium under the international nonproliferation treaty.
Iran's parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani said that Tehran would retaliate against the EU for additional sanctions.
"Europeans should not think of imposing sanctions on Iran following the U.N. Security Council resolution," the country's official news agency quoted him as saying. "In case of imposing sanctions by the EU, Iran will consider the issue of reciprocity." He did not elaborate.
The new EU sanctions will now be passed on to government technical experts to work out the specifics of which companies and products would be targeted, and how. This could be a tricky procedure, given the different economic interests of EU countries involved.
Officials say the procedure would last a month before the final list is endorsed by EU foreign ministers at their next meeting at the end of July.
The union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has said the door remains open for negotiations with Iran.
She has on Monday she had invited the country's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, to discuss the issue. EU officials said Iran was expected to accept the invitation and that talks could resume later this summer. Ashton said Thursday she was still awaiting a reply.

Israel to ease Gaza blockade

Palestinian children at an ice-cream cart in Jebaliya, Gaza. Israel is to expand the number of products allowed into the territory.

 • Human rights groups say measures do not go far enough
• Construction materials among products to be allowed in

Israel will ease much of its land blockade of the Gaza Strip, it was revealed today.
The Israeli government is hoping to silence growing international criticism following the assault on a flotilla of aid ships bound for Gaza in which nine activists were killed.
A statement from the office of the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said Israeli leaders decided today to expand the number of products Israel will allow into Gaza, including construction materials. The naval blockade will remain.
"It was agreed to liberalise the system by which civilian goods enter Gaza [and] expand the inflow of materials for civilian projects that are under international supervision," the statement, which did not specify any product list, read.
The new arrangements, decided upon in a series of meetings between the Middle East Quartet envoy, Tony Blair, and Netanyahu, are expected to cover three areas:
• A list of prohibited goods not allowed into Gaza, replacing the current system of a list of approved goods
• Agreement to allow construction materials for UN-sponsored projects
• Israel to consider allowing EU monitors to be stationed at crossings between Israel and Gaza
An Israeli military official told the Associated Press that all foods would be freely let in to Gaza with immediate effect. Israel has previously allowed a narrow and constantly changing list of authorised food items.
Outside Israel, the announcement received a cautious welcome – although human rights groups said it did not go far enough. Hamas dismissed it as "window dressing."
"What is needed is a complete lifting of the blockade," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. "Goods and people must be free to enter and leave. Gaza especially needs construction materials, which must be allowed to come in without restrictions."
The EU said the Israeli announcement was "a step in the right direction", but the EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said officials wanted to see how it was carried out, adding: "The detail is what matters."
She said Israel must "make sure that many, many more goods can get in to Gaza to enable people to reconstruct their homes, to build schools, to place infrastructure, and also enable people to get on with ordinary lives".
Oxfam welcomed the move, but described it as "a far cry from the full lifting of the blockade that is urgently needed".
"Only a full opening of all crossings to people and goods, including exports, can be the breakthrough that will enable Gazan civilians to restore their economy and escape the poverty the blockade has entrenched," a statement read.
"The international community must press for the blockade to be fully lifted, rather than only eased."
Gisha, an Israeli human rights organisation, questioned whether the blockade had been effective.
"The time has come for Israel to ask serious questions about how three years of closure have promoted the goals it declared for itself and what has been the effect on 1.5 million people whose right to travel and to engage in productive work has been denied," the organisation said.
"We don't need cosmetic changes. We need a policy that recognises the rights of Palestinian residents of Gaza not just to consume but also to produce and to travel."
Salam Kanaan of Save the Children UK said Gazan families should be allowed to move freely across the border. "Save the Children would welcome any increase in urgently needed supplies into Gaza. More nutritious food, medical supplies and building materials in particular will make a significant difference to the quality of life of children living there," he said.
"But simply easing the blockade by allowing more goods in is not enough. What about sick children who need life-saving medical attention out of Gaza? Will they and their families be allowed to move freely across the border? Family businesses, orchards and crops have been destroyed by years of conflict and three years of life under a strict blockade. The people of Gaza need to start rebuilding their destroyed economy by exporting their goods out."

Davids hailed by protestors

Journo becomes focus of anti-Israel feeling

Gadija Davids may not have reached Palestine, but the previously little-known Cape Town reporter was yesterday the toast of thousands of protesters who chanted her name as they marched outside parliament. 

The 25-year-old radio journalist from Strandfontein, who until last week had never travelled more than two hours from her parents' home, is now at the centre of a massive international outcry over an Israeli air and sea attack on a humanitarian aid convoy to Gaza.
Nine people died in the attack.
As outrage grew across the globe yesterday, the South African government recalled its ambassador to Israel, Ismael Coovadia, for consultations.
Outside parliament, about 3000 pro-Palestinian protesters demanded government take further steps to distance itself from "Apartheid Israel".
"Viva Gadija Viva," the huge crowd chanted in unison, along with other refrains.
Many protestors praised Davids for her bravery. Mercia Andrews, spokeswoman for the Palestinian Solidarity Group, said: "We think it is very important that a young journalist is there and able to have first-hand experience. We're glad she is safe."
Addressing the angry crowd, former Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils - one of several high-profile Jewish critics of Israeli policies - spoke of a new groundswell against Israel's treatment of the Palestinian population in Gaza.
"Once again Israel has gone too far. We as South Africa must be in the lead. We want a total, total final break with Zionist Israel," Kasrils said.
Speaking to The Times late yesterday, Foreign Affairs spokesman Malusi Mogale confirmed the diplomatic recall of South Africa's ambassador "to register our strong condemnation of the government of Israel". Coovadia would consult with senior government officials, including President Jacob Zuma, Mogale said.
"However, I must stress that at this point in time there is no discussion in government about severing diplomatic relations with Israel," he said.
Meanwhile, back in the Davids household, Gadija's mother, Mogboeba Davids, was in high spirits after speaking to Gadija for the first time since her Monday ordeal.
"She sounded all right. She is with the South African ambassador in Ankara [Turkey] and she will be flying tonight [Thursday]," her mother said.
Gadija's dad, Mogamat Davids, said his daughter's biggest concern now was how to handle being a celebrity.
"We told her that the media is hunting her, and she said 'But I didn't do anything'," Mr Davids said. "She is worried she won't be able to walk to Claremont without being recognised - or go to Newlands to watch the Stormers."

 

 

 

More aid ships headed to Gaza

The Free Gaza Movement was on Wednesday preparing to send more aid ships to Gaza, amid claims that Israel may have sabotaged the aid flotilla, one of the founders of the pro-Palestinian movement told DPA.

The Irish cargo-ship MV “Rachel Corrie” could reach Gaza within two weeks, said Greta Berlin. Among the activists on board was Irish Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire as well as former UB assistant secretary-general Dennis Halliday.

Ms. Berlin refused to give the exact position of the vessel as she said the movement suspected Israel had been trying to sabotage the aid flotilla bound for Gaza.

The “Rachel Corrie” had been set to join the convoy headed by the Turkish Marvi Marmara but had suffered sudden damage, forcing it to interrupt its voyage at Cyprus. Another two vessels, the Challenger I and Challenger II had also malfunctioned suddenly, Ms. Berlin said.

Inspections of the ships had shown that the electric wires may have been tampered with, Ms. Berlin said, adding they were still awaiting the results of a full investigation.

The rest of the convoy headed by the Marvi Marmara was on Monday forcefully intercepted by Israel. Nine activists were killed when Israeli soldiers stormed the boats, prompting a wave of international outrage against Israel’s operation.

Four of the dead have so far been identified as Turks, Turkish officials said on Wednesday.

Ms. Berlin’s remarks followed comments by Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai on Israel Radio, clearly hinting Israel took covert action to sabotage the convoy.

Asked whether there had been alternatives to an assault, Mr. Vilnai said, “All possibilities had been considered”, adding: “The fact is that there were fewer than the 10 ships that were supposed to participate in the flotilla.”

The Irish cargo ship is loaded with 1,200 tons of aid earmarked for Gaza, including 560 tonnes of cement, 100 tonnes of medical equipment among them CAT scanners, a dental office and 200 electric and regular wheelchairs, as well as papers, sports gear and crayons for children.

“We’re determined to continue with sending boats to Gaza,” Ms. Berlin said.

She rejected Israel’s charges that the activists on board the Mavi Marmara had initiated the violence by attacking the Israeli commandos landing on deck from helicopters with iron rods, chairs and knives.

The Israelis had started to shoot into the crowd for no justifiable reasons, she said.

“And for anyone to be so awful as to says that some sticks are a match for machine guns, stun guns, teargas cannisters and a heavily armed Israeli militia that’s boarding our ships in international waters has a serious issue with who is the real terrorist,” she said.

Israel on Wednesday released 449 of the some 600 foreign activists who had been on board the Gaza aid flotilla and were subsequently detained by Israel in a prison in the south of the country, a spokeswoman for Israel Prison Service told DPA.

They included 123 nationals from Arab states, among Jordanians and Kuwaitis, who were taken to Israel’s Allenby border crossing over the River Jordan with Israel’s eastern neighbour over night.

The rest were taken to Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv for deportation abroad, most of them Turks.

Israel also said it dispatched 10 truckloads of the aid on board the flotilla to the Kerem Shalom crossing point for transportation into Gaza over land, including medical equipment, wheel chairs, and some food, Major Guy Inbar told DPA.

Kidnapped Red Cross worker freed in Sudan

Sudan - a Red Cross worker has been freed after five months in captivity
 
A Red Cross worker with joint British-French nationality has been released after being held for five months.
Gauthier Lefevre, an employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross, has been released from detention in Sudan.
Mr Lefevre, who was kidnapped in Darfur last October, was freed on Thursday.

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"We are extremely happy that he has been released. This has been the longest kidnapping in the recent history of Darfur," ICRC spokesman Saleh Dabbakeh said.
"He has just been released after five months in captivity," the official said.
He is currently being taken by helicopter to El Geneina, the state capital of West Darfur.
Gauthier Lefevre, 35, who had worked for the ICRC for five years – 15 months of them in Darfur – was travelling in convoy of two vehicles clearly marked with the organisation's logo when he was seized by gunmen near the Chadian border on October 22.
He has the unenviable record of having spent the longest time in captivity of any hostage – 147 days – since a wave of kidnappings of foreign aid workers began in March last year.

Gilani calls for support of international community

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani talking to media persons after his arrival at airport. -APP Photo
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said that Pakistan had taken up the challenge to curb the menace of terrorism and extremism in the larger interest of international peace and security.
          
Talking to British High commissioner, Mr. Adam Thomson in Islamabad, Gilani said it was imperative for the international community to extend the requisite support to Pakistan in the capacity building of its law enforcement agencies as well as in the reconstruction of areas cleared from militancy.
Gilani also took up the matter of delay in the issuance of visas for Pakistani students and businessmen and asked British High commission to clear the backlog.
On the visas issue, The British High Commissioner said that the new visa system process introduced is not specific to Pakistan.
He, however, assured Gilani that the process would be made more efficient in response to difficulties being faced by Pakistani nationals intending to visit UK.

Baroness Ashton faces first big international test with Middle East trip

Baroness Ashton is struggling to assert herself in a Brussels turf war over her new "EU foreign office" empire

Baroness Ashton of Upholland faces her first big international test as the EU’s top diplomat this week after flying into the Middle East to plead for peace talks to start despite a dramatic increase of tension in the region.
She will find the atmosphere highly charged after the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Israel of “insulting” the Vice-President, Joe Biden, by announcing new settlement building during his visit to kickstart indirect talks last week.
With the Palestinians on the verge of abandoning negotiations and Syria seemingly stepping back from involvement with the EU, Lady Ashton will have a chance to test the “quiet diplomacy” that she promised would deliver results for Europe.
The role of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy was created in the Lisbon treaty to give the EU more clout on the world stage. Lady Ashton is struggling to assert herself in a Brussels turf war over her new “EU foreign office” empire but she will ultimately be judged on her handling of the big international issues such as the quest for Middle East peace.

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The organisation of her five-day trip to the region has been described as chaotic, with a constantly changing programme, but it is an ambitious attempt to meet key players in six countries.
Israel has sanctioned a visit to Gaza on Thursday but Lady Ashton’s office has cautiously said only that she “hoped” to visit a UN food project there. There are no plans to break the international ban on direct talks with the Hamas administration.
“She claims to have good people skills. Let’s see if she can use them to compensate for her lack of experience and convince the Palestinians and Israelis to get back round the table directly or indirectly,” said Charles Tannock, a Conservative MEP on the European Parliament foreign affairs committee. “She does not want to come back with nothing. She has to show that the EU is an engaged player and it is also even-handed.”
Lady Ashton and a small entourage of advisers flew to Egypt in a chartered aircraft last night and she will then travel to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories before heading to Moscow on Friday for a meeting of the international quartet on the Middle East. She will meet foreign ministers and presidents of Syria and Lebanon and possibly Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister.
In a statement, Lady Ashton said: “I am going to the region with a clear message to encourage all actors to engage in talks that lead us to a comprehensive regional peace.”
She will prepare for her trip with a telephone briefing from her old friend Tony Blair, the quartet’s envoy and the man who ennobled her in 1999 when she was head of Hertfordshire Health Authority.
Mr Blair’s lack of a breakthrough has shown how tricky the path to peace is. Last week he bleakly declared: “At the beginning of a process like this, in my experience, trust is always in short supply. You build it by actions on the ground. We are in a situation now where words actually won’t create the trust on either side.”
An Israeli announcement of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem overshadowed last week’s visit by Mr Biden and threatens to wreck Lady Ashton’s efforts to find a way of delivering tough messages as well as urging all parties back to talks.
Yesterday Israel deployed security forces around Jerusalem’s Old City, the scene of clashes with Palestinian protesters in recent days. The Israeli military also extended an order barring most Palestinians from entering Israel from the West Bank.
Tensions were further raised when Israel said that it had arrested Maher Audi, a senior Hamas figure, after a raid in Ramallah in the West Bank. An Israeli military statement described him as a founder of Hamas in the West Bank and claimed that he was responsible for the death of ten Israelis.
Lady Ashton’s office could not say yesterday whether she would raise again the issue of the use by alleged Israeli agents of British passports in the assassination of a leading Hamas member in Dubai. Nor could it say whether she would push the European Parliament’s call for the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit from Gaza.
Lady Ashton is under pressure from the European Parliament to prioritise human rights issues, including the plight of Coptic Christians in Egypt, where eight were gunned down in January. She is also keen to revive an EU-Syria Association Agreement believed to be held up by human rights concerns.
Above all she will be expected to get more for the EU from the enormous sums of money it spends on development programmes, especially the €1 billion (£907 million) a year spent in the Palestinian territories. Egypt will receive €449 million in 2011-13, Syria €129 million in the same period, Lebanon €150 million, Jordan €223 million and Israel €4 million.
“She will not solve the peace process on her first flying visit,” said Hugo Brady, of the Centre for European Reform.
“The full glare of the international media is on her now to see if she will make any mistakes but she simply has to show that she is an engaged player and not create a vacuum for criticism to flow into.
“The EU has yet to realise its full potential for influence in that part of the world and it should have some extra weight for all the money it is pouring in.”