March 2013 News 24: POLITICAL CRISIS IN PAKISTAN PAK SC ORDERS ARREST OF PM ASHRAF

POLITICAL CRISIS IN PAKISTAN: PAK SC ORDERS ARREST OF PM ASHRAF

Pakistan on January 15, 2013, was plunged into a fresh political crisis with the Supreme Court ordering the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf for allegedly receiving bribes in power projects.

Already rocked  by fiery cleric Tahirul Qadri's ongoing protest seeking dissolution of provincial and national assemblies, Pakistan appeared headed for uncertainly with the court setting a 24-hour deadline for authorities to implement its arrest orders that may cost a second Prime Minister to lose office in less than a year. Ashv, 62-year-old Ashraf, who became Prime Minister after the exit of Yousuf Raza Gilani in June last year, has been accused of receiving kickbacks and commission in the Rental Power Projects (RPPs) case as federal minister for water and power.

Gilani had to quit in the midst of a raging battle with the Supreme Court over his refusal to write to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari there. After Ashraf assumed power, the government wrote to Swiss authorities.

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March 2013 News 23: PAKISTAN GIRL MALALA TOP NAME OF 2012

PAKISTAN GIRL MALALA TOP NAME OF 2012

Pakistani school girl Malala Yousufzai, who was shot in her head by Taliban, has become the top name of 2012 along with Apocalyse, reflecting a growing fascination with 'end-of-the-world' scenario, which emerged as the top word.
Korean rapper Psy's infectious viral hit song 'Gangnam Style' was the top phrase of the year, according to the 13th annual global survey of English language done by Global Language Monitor, which analyses the latest trends in word usage and their cultural impact, Apocalypse was followed by deficit, Olympiad, Bak'tun, and meme. Completing the top 10 were MOOC, the Cloud, Omnishambles, Frankenstorm and obesogenic. The top 10 names of 2012 were Newtown and Malala (tie), Xi Jinping, Kate Middleton, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, London Olympics, Higgs Boson, Europe (EU/Eurogeddon), Felix Baumgarter (skydiver) and Senkaku Islands, says Global Language Monitor which analyses latest trends.

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March 2013 News 22: CHINA FIRM ON ABSOLUTE MEDIA CONTROL

CHINA FIRM ON ABSOLUTE MEDIA CONTROL

• Scribes' protests leave Communist Party unfazed.

• Govt. calls US support interference.

Unlike democratic countries like India, the UK, the USA etc., the media in China is absolutely under the control of the government and censorship there is resorted to despite journalistic protests and an outcry from the democratic world.

A rare protest by journalists of a state-run Chinese weekly against official control started on January 8, 2012 amid tacit support from other media outlets not-with-standing the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC)'s assertion that it had an 'absolute and unshakeable' control over them.

Separately the Chinese foreign ministry also denounced the US for expressing support for the journalists' agitation against the press censorship for saying it amounted to interference in China's internal affairs.

“China is opposed to any country’s, any person’s interference in internal affairs in any form” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told the media in Beijing.

His comments came in response to state department spokesperson Victoria Nuland’s statement that the US has long defended and supported the right of media freedom for Chinese journalists and for international journalists in China.

While several media outlets backed the journalists, news portals carried a state-sanctioned editorial criticizing the journalists. But, they added a disclaimer saying that the piece did not mean that they shared the views expressed in it, the report said.

Journalists of the Southern Weekly, a Chinese language weekly published from Guangzhou, in an unprecedented move, held a demonstration outside their office protesting against the interference by a Communist Party official.

Reports from Guangzhou said the protests continued and police intervened to stop scuffles between scribes and a small group of government supporters.

But the most decisive response came from the CPC, which in a memo circulated to various media units firmly stated that the official media would remain in its complete control. "The party has absolute control of China's media.
This basic principle is unshakeable," the memo issued to party chiefs and media officials said.

Earlier China had shut the website of a leading pro-reform magazine on January 4, 2012 apparently because it ran an article calling for political reform and constitutional government, sensitive topics for the Communist Party which brooks no dissent.

Yanhuang Chunqiu (China Through the Ages) is an influential Beijing magazine that features essays from reformist retired officials. In a message posted on its official Sina Weibo microblog, the magazine said that it had been informed that the site's registration had been cancelled and that it had not been given a reason.
Wu Si, the magazine's chief editor, did not answer calls seeking comment.  Attempts to open the website (www.yhcqw.com) bring up a cartoon picture of a policeman holding up a badge and the message that the site has been closed.

However, the article written in the form of a new year's message, is still up on the magazine's microblog.

"In more than 30 years of reform, the abuses caused by political reform lagging economic reform have become daily more visible, and the factors for social instability have gradually accumulated. Promoting reform of the political system is an urgent task," the piece says.

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March 2013 News 21 CHINA CLAIMS DISPUTED ISLANDS AS ITS OWN ON MAP

CHINA CLAIMS DISPUTED ISLANDS AS ITS OWN ON MAP

In the midst of maritime tensions with several neighbours, China for the first time has published maps of over 130 islands of South China Sea as well as the disputed islands with Japan linking them with the Chinese mainland.

STRONG REACTIONS

Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan strongly contest China's claims on the South China Sea islands. Publication of maps with Chinese claims in e-passports had already drawn strong reactions from Vietnam and Philippines.

The new vertical maps have marked clearly the major South China Sea islands and demonstrated their geographic relations with surrounding island countries as well as surrounding islands and islets, Xu Gencai, chief editor of Sinomaps Press said. In the bottom left corner, there is also a zoomed illustration of the Diaoyu Islands called Senkaku islands by Japan, displaying their positional relations and those of their affiliated islets with the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

The new maps will not be available to the public until the end of January, the Xinhua report said. "The maps will be very significant in enhancing Chinese people's

awareness of national territory, safeguarding China's marine rights and interests and manifesting China's political, diplomatic stance," Xu said.

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March 2013 News 20: PAK NEEDS DIPLOMATIC WORK OBAMA

PAKISTAN NEEDS DIPLOMATIC WORK: OBAMA

Concerned over the extremist safe haven in Pakistan, US President Barack Obama said the issue requires more than simply military actions.

"With respest to Pakistan and safe havens there, Afghanistan and the United States and Pakistan all have an interest in reducing the threat of extremism in some of these border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that's going to require more than simply military actions," Obama told reporters at a joint press conference with visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

That's really going to require political and diplomatic work between Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said in response to a question from a visiting Afghan journalist when he asked the question of continued safe havens inside Afghanistan.

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March 2013 News 19: US TO SPEED UP TRANSITION PROCESS IN AFGHANISTAN

US TO SPEED UP TRANSITION PROCESS IN AFGHANISTAN

President Barack Obama has promised to speed up a transfer of lead security responsibility from NATO to Afghan forces this spring, in a sign the pace of US troop withdrawal could quicken.

After meeting President Hamid Karzai, Obama said that NATO would have a very limited role in the country after 2014 and insisted that Washington has achieved its prime goal of 'decapitating' al-Qaeda. The leaders met at a crucial moment in final chapter of a long, bloody war and as Obama balances the future security of Afghanistan with US combat fatigue and a desire to spend America's resources at home. "Starting  this spring,  our  troops will have a different mission - training, assisting    Afghan forces. It will be a historic moment and another step towards Afghan sovereignty,” Obama said. NATO plans previously called for foreign forces to transfer the lead in fighting the Taliban by the middle of this year. Obama was careful to stress, however, that US troops will still fight alongside Afghans.

Karzai added that from the spring, "the Afghan forces will be fully responsible for providing security and protection to the Afghan people."

Obama said after 2014, American forces would have a 'very limited' mission is training Afghan forces and preventing a return of al-Qaeda.

But he warned that Karzai, with whom he has had a somewhat testy reel tionship, would have to accept a security agreement,s ' 1 under discussion, granting legal immunity to US troops whp remain behind.

"It will not be possible foes to have any kind of US troop presence post-2014 without assurances that our men and women who are operating there are (not) in some way subject to the jurisdiction of another country."

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March 2013 News 18: WORLDS OLDEST WOMAN DIES AT 115 YEARS IN JAPAN

WORLDS OLDEST WOMAN DIES AT 115 YEARS IN JAPAN

A Japanese official says a woman in his town near Tokyo who became world's oldest living female just previous month has died at 115. Koto Okubo died on January 13, 2013 at a nursing home in Kawasaki City, according to city official Mitsuhiro Kozuka. He said her relatives declined to release the cause of 999! her death and family details. Born on December 24, 1897, Okubo held her title forlessthan a monthfollowing the death of Dina Manfredini of the United States. Manfredini died within two weeks after becoming the world's oldest person.

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