Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday embarked on a visit to China to attend a regional meeting on war-torn Afghanistan.
The third meeting of ‘Foreign Ministers of Neighbouring Countries of Afghanistan’ is being held on March 29 to 31, according to the Pakistan Foreign Office (FO). The meeting will be held in Tunxi, central China’s Anhui province.
“Besides attending the Neighbouring Countries Ministerial meeting, the Foreign Minister will interact with counterparts from participating countries,” said the FO.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to host a dialogue between the foreign ministers and the acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan’s interim government, Amir Khan Muttaqi, on the sidelines of the meeting.
Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Qatar have been invited to the meeting as “guests”.
Pakistan had initiated the ‘Neighbouring Countries’ format in September 2021 with a view to evolving a regional approach on the situation in Afghanistan after the hardline Taliban seized power in Kabul in August last year.
The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has not been recognised by the international community amidst severe economic and humanitarian problems faced by the country.
Pakistan hosted the first meeting on September 8, 2021.
The FO said Pakistan fully supports a regional approach on Afghanistan for promoting durable peace and stability in the region.
Pakistan will continue to support the international community’s efforts to advance the shared objectives of a peaceful, stable, sovereign, prosperous and connected Afghanistan, said the FO.
Qureshi has been invited by State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Wang.
Vuln!! Path it now!!
Russia made two overtures to ease tensions around Ukraine reporting a pullback of troops near its neighbour and welcoming talks with the West. But the United States and its allies said they needed evidence of the troop movements and that the threat of a Russian invasion still loomed.
For the second day Tuesday, there were signs of hope that Europe might avoid war following weeks of escalating East-West tensions as Moscow massed around 150,000 troops on three sides of Ukraine and held massive military drills. Those moves led to dire warnings from Washington, London and other European capitals that Russia was preparing to roll into Ukraine.
But the tenor changed this week. President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia does not want war and would rely on negotiations in its efforts to eliminate any chance that Ukraine could one day join NATO his key demand in the crisis. At the same time, he did not commit to a full pullback, saying Russia’s next moves in the standoff will depend on how the situation evolves.
Russia also offered few details of the pullback, and President Joe Biden said American officials had not verified Russia’s claim. He promised that the U.S. would give diplomacy every chance, but he struck a skeptical tone about Moscow’s intentions.
Two paths are still open,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “But let there be no doubt: If Russia commits this breach by invading Ukraine, responsible nations around the world will not hesitate to respond. If we do not stand for freedom where it is at risk today, we’ll surely pay a steeper price tomorrow.
Even amid the glimmers of hope, Biden said 150,000 Russian forces are now massed near Ukraine and in neighbouring Belarus an increase from an earlier U.S. estimate of 130,000 troops.
Russia’s claim that it pulled back troops “would be good, but we have not yet verified that, Biden said. Indeed, our analysts indicate that they remain very much in a threatening position.
Russia has denied having any invasion plans. It wants the West to keep Ukraine and other former Soviet nations out of NATO, halt weapons deployments near Russian borders and roll back forces from Eastern Europe.
The U.S. and its allies have roundly rejected those demands, but they offered to engage in talks with Russia on ways to bolster security in Europe.
Speaking after meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Putin said the West agreed to discuss a ban on missile deployment to Europe, restrictions on military drills and other confidence-building measures issues that Moscow put on the table years ago.
He said Russia is open to discuss some of those elements,” but added that it would do so only in combination “with the main issues that are of primary importance for us.
While Scholz reiterated that NATO’s eastward expansion is not on the agenda everyone knows that very well, Putin retorted that Moscow will not be assuaged by such assurances.
They are telling us it won’t happen tomorrow, Putin said. Well, when will it happen? The day after tomorrow? What does it change for us in the historic perspective? Nothing.
Scholz also said diplomatic options are far from exhausted, and he praised the announcement of a troop withdrawal as a good signal, adding: “We hope that more will follow.
The Russian Defense Ministry released images of tanks and howitzers rolling onto railway platforms and more tanks rolling across snowy fields. It did not disclose where or when the images were taken, or where the vehicles were headed, other than to places of permanent deployment.
Ukraine expressed skepticism.
We won’t believe when we hear, we’ll believe when we see, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
And NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that there have been no signs, so far, of a reduced military presence on Ukraine’s borders.
Meanwhile, a series of cyberattacks knocked out the websites of the Ukrainian army, the defense ministry and major banks. There was no indication that the relatively low-level denial-of-service attacks might be a smoke screen for more serious cyber mischief. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. has not yet determined who was behind the attacks.
Despite the worst East-West tensions in decades, few Russians expect a war. In a village in Russia’s Belgorod region, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Ukraine’s border, residents carried on with life as usual, even as more military personnel have been passing through village streets.
We are really on the border, we really have relatives here and there, everyone has somebody on the Ukrainian side, villager Lyudmila Nechvolod said. “No one wants war.
Russian lawmakers urged Putin to recognize rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine as independent states. The State Duma, Russia’s lower house, voted to submit an appeal to Putin to that effect.
Putin said the request reflects the Russian public’s sympathy for the suffering of people trapped in the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed over 14,000 since 2014. He noted, however, that Russia continues to believe a 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany should serve as the main vehicle for a settlement of the separatist conflict.PTI
An appeal has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the direction of the Karnataka High Court that has asked students not to insist on wearing any cloth on campuses of educational institutions which can instigate people, till the matter is resolved.
The plea filed by a student has sought a stay on the direction of the high court, which is hearing the hijab issue, as well as the proceedings going on before the three judge bench.
The appeal contended that the high court has sought to curtail the fundamental right of Muslim student women by not allowing them to wear the hijab.
The high court has posted the matter for Monday and also said educational institutions can resume classes for students.
The three-judge full bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna S Dixit, which was formed on Wednesday, also said it wants the matter to be resolved at the earliest but till that time peace and tranquillity is to be maintained.
“Till the disposal of the matter, you people should not insist on wearing all these religious things,” Awasthi had said.
“We will pass an order. Let the schools-colleges start. But till the matter is resolved, no student should insist on wearing religious dress”, he had said.
On Wednesday, Justice Dixit, who was hearing the case, referred the case to Justice Awasthi’s consideration with a view that a larger bench may look into the case.
The Hijab row started in December end when a few students started coming to a government pre-university college in Udupi wearing Hijab. To protest against it, some Hindu students turned up wearing saffron scarves.
The row spread to other educational institutions in different parts of the State, and the protests took a violent turn at some place earlier this week, prompting the government on Tuesday to declare three days holiday for the institutions. PTI.
Australia will open its borders to all vaccinated tourists and business travellers from February 21 in a further relaxation of pandemic restrictions announced Monday.
Australia imposed some of the world’s toughest travel restrictions on its citizens and permanent residents in March 2020 to prevent them from bringing COVID-19 home.
When the border restrictions were relaxed in November in response to an increasing vaccination rate among the Australian population, international students and skilled migrants were prioritised over tourists in being welcomed back to Australia.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his senior ministers agreed on Monday that the border would reopen to all vaccinated visas holders from February 21.
Morrison said visitors must have proof of vaccination. He referred to Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic being deported by the Australian government last month because he was not vaccinated against coronavirus.
Events earlier in the year should have sent a very clear message, I think, to everyone around the world that that is the requirement to enter into Australia, Morrison said.
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said visitors who could provide proof of a medical reason why they could not be vaccinated could apply for a travel exemption.
Tourist operators have been lobbying the government to bring tourists back sooner. The southern hemisphere summer is in its final month.
Vuln!! Path it now!!
Beijing has reported its first local omicron infection, according to state media, weeks before the Winter Olympic Games are due to start.
The infected person lives and works in the city’s northwestern district of Haidian and had no travel history outside of Beijing for the past two weeks. The individual experienced symptoms on Thursday and was tested on Friday for COVID-19, officials said in a news conference Saturday during which they confirmed the infection.
The infection comes less than three weeks before the Winter Olympic Games’ opening ceremony on Feb 4., and around two weeks before the start of Lunar New Year celebrations in China.
So far, multiple cities in China have reported omicron infections, including Shanghai, the western city of Xi’an, cities in southern Guangdong province such as Zhuhai and Zhongshan, and the city of Tianjin, which is 30 minutes from Beijing by high-speed rail.
Officials across the country have urged residents to stay in their cities for the new year, instead of traveling back to their hometowns. China has adopted a strict zero-Covid policy, with authorities locking down residential compounds and even entire cities such as Xi’an when a local outbreak has been discovered in an effort to stamp out community transmission.
The Beijing patient’s residential compound and workplace have been sealed off and authorities are mass-testing people linked to either location for the coronavirus. Some 2,430 people had been tested as of Saturday night, according to The Global Times, a state-owned newspaper.
China reported 119 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, of which 65 were domestic cases. The country has reported 104,864 infections since the beginning of the pandemic.
On the 20th Aniversary of her worldwide career started as a child prodigy, the 7 international opera awards winner Gioconda Vessichelli singer from Italy, who has always said India is her second Land as she is spiritual connected to India and she is the inventor and pioneer of BollywoOPERA style, is telling us all her artistic journey.
She is a 360 degrees versatile artist, as she is not only a singer but also an actress and director as she got degrees in Performing arts from University of Rome Italy.
On 22 January 2022 a great concert in honor of her career Aniversary will be held with her as protagonist with the 3 tenors.
We have seen so much about her being the first singer ever in the world to build a fusion between Western and Eastern music and culture theough her BollywoOPERA style created and patented in Delhi. In fact she is the first non Indian woman to receive the Indian woman Award for fusing Bollywood music with Opera music and she has done collaborations with many eminent artists of Indian music (Sukhwinder Singh, Aari Aran, Mika Singh, Salim Sulaiman, Asha Bhosle, Zakir Hussain, Anup Jalota, and many others).
Hundreds of farmers in tractors started arriving at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border as Friday marked one year of the ongoing farmers’ protest against the central laws.
Many of them brought along vegetables, sacks of flour and lentils, spices and cooking oil on their tractor-trollies, saying they have come prepared for a long haul.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), an influential farmers’ union from western Uttar Pradesh, has been leading the charge at the Ghazipur border since November last year.
The BKU is part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a farmers’ collective, which is spearheading the protest for withdrawal of three contentious farm laws and for legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) of crops.
It has been a year of unmatched struggle mixed with happiness and sadness. We are fighting and winning. We will fight and win. MSP law is farmers’ right, BKU national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait tweeted in Hindi.
The outfit’s office-bearers claimed the police have been strengthening the barricading at Ghazipur border – both on the Delhi-Meerut elevated highway patch and at the UP Gate down below it — since Thursday, even as they said the crowd would swell at the protest site by evening Friday
We have a meeting of the SKM on Saturday and the future course of our action will be decided only after that.
We have planned a march towards Delhi on November 29, but SKM will take a call about it on Saturday, BKU spokesperson Saurabh Upadhyay said.
He said, Supporters in large numbers started reaching the border early Friday morning and by evening we are expecting over 50,000 people at Ghazipur alone.
A BKU supporter who reached Ghazipur in the morning from Muzaffarnagar on a tractor in a group said they have come to the protest with arrangements for food and accommodation.
It has been a year, the farmers can continue the protest for their rights for several years, the villager, draped in a shawl and a muffler, said.
Hundreds of farmers have been encamped at Delhi’s Ghazipur, Tikri and Singhu borders since November 26, 2020, with a demand that the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee MSP for crops.
PM Modi had last week announced his government’s decision to withdraw the contentious laws.
The Aam Aadmi Party today, held the Tiranga Yatra – a commemorative rally from Badi Masjid – Bandra West, to the August Kranti Maidan – Tardeo, to celebrate our Nation’s Constitution Day, and to honour the brave martyrs who lost their lives in the 26/11 Terror Attack. The procession was led by Mumbai Prabhari Preeti Sharma Menon and Pradesh Committee leaders Sumitra Shrivastav, Suresh Acharya & Ajay Singh; and witnessed the support of hundreds volunteers & citizens – who joined us in our tribute to the Indian Constitution and the 26/11 Martyrs.
26th November 2021 is the 7th Constitution Day celebration for India, and marks 72 years of the adoption of the principles upon which our Nation was conceived. It is imperative now more than ever before that we recognise the importance of upholding the values of our Constitution. Laws are being passed by overruling Parliamentary procedure, the role of our Institutions is being diminished, and local governments are being dismissed. As citizens continue seeing their rights being trampled upon, it is essential for us all to reflect upon & reaffirm our founding principles; and to express our gratitude to the Father of our Constitution – Dr. BR Ambedkar – a venerated man who stood for liberty, equity and justice.
By founding the AAP on 26th November 2012, the founding fathers of the the Aam Aadmi Party wedded each & every volunteer and leader of the AAP to the Constitution; and we pledge to uphold the Indian Constitution above all else. On the other hand, sadly for Mumbai, this day is a reminder of the horrific terror attack that the city and the country bore. The 26/11 attack led to the death of more than 150 citizens & security personnel, and the tragedy of losing the lives of loved ones can never be forgotten. “Today, as we commemorate the Constitution Day, and honour the sacrifice of those who were martyred during the 26/11 terror attacks – we must reflect upon the values that our founding principles uphold, and realise that it is in the spirit & fabric of this Country that we find the capacity to endure, to fight adversities and to overcome them together.” said Preeti Sharma Menon, National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhari.
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