Indian President meets Chinese premier

Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, currently on a six-day visit to China, met the host country’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao at Zhongnanhai in Beijing on Thursday.
The Zhongnanhai is a complex of buildings in Beijing which serves as the central headquarters for the Communist Party of China and the federal People’s government of the People’s Republic of China.
India’s junior Minister for Food Processing Subodh Kant Sahay, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and India’s ambassador to China, S Jaishankar took part in the discussions of President Pratibha Devisingh Patil while Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and a team of senior officials accompanied Premier Wen.
The Indian president lauded China’s constructive role in taking the strategic partnership with India forward. Bilateral issues of interest to the two countries were reportedly discussed in the meeting. Three bilateral co-operation pacts, including two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were also signed by India and China. The agreements were signed after the Indian president held talks with her Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of The People in the Chinese capital Beijing.
India’s Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue signed an agreement streamlining the visa application formalities for airline staff of the two countries. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Chinese Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Indian Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, for co-operation in the field of civil services.
The Indian Ambassador to China, S. Jaishankar, and Chinese Sports Minister Liu Peng signed another MoU on co-operation in the field of sports. The two leaders, who were accompanied by their respective delegations, also exchanged views on issues of global, regional and bilateral importance to the two countries.
The President’s visit coincides with the sixtieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Ties between India and China have warmed up recently against the backdrop of a trade boom and close co-operation on climate change since the Copenhagen world climate talks in December.

Denmark reopens all airspace: official

COPENHAGEN: Denmark is to reopen all its airspace from 0900 GMT, the national aviation authority Naviair announced on Wednesday.

Naviair had already reopened the major part of Denmark”s airspace, including Copenhagen airport, at 2.00 am (0000 GMT) after a clearing in the cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland over the country.

Only northern Denmark had remained out of bounds to flights below 6,000 metres.

“According to the latest reports, the cloud of ash has disappeared from the skies above Denmark, allowing all its airspace and airports to be reopened,” Naviair spokeswoman Camilla Hegnsborg said.

The opening would remain in force at least until 2:00am on Thursday.

UN Chief Announces Deal on Climate

COPENHAGEN: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says “we have a deal” after a climate conference in Copenhagen decided to recognize a political accord brokered by President Barack Obama with China and other emerging powers.

But Ban says he’s “aware that this is just the beginning” of a process to craft a binding pact to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. Still, Ban says the Copenhagen Agreement “will have an immediate operational effect.”

Many poor nations had bitterly protested the deal because it lacks specific targets for reducing carbon emissions

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UN Chief Announces Deal on Climate was first posted on December 19, 2009 at 5:57 pm.

Fury Erupts At UN Climate Talks

COPENHAGEN : Fury erupted at the Copenhagen climate talks Saturday over a draft accord agreed by a select group of leaders, with several poor nations saying it amounted to a coup against the United Nations.

“You are going to endorse this coup d’etat against the United Nations,” Venezuela’s representative Claudia Salerno Caldera told Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, the conference’s chairman, in a speech from the floor.

“Those of us who wish to speak have to make a point of order by cutting our hands and drawing blood,” she added, before opening a red-stained palm.

Tuvalu’s Ian Fry, whose country is one of the most at risk from global warming, said the agreement amounted to Biblical betrayal.

“It looks like we are being offered 30 pieces of silver to betray our people and our future,” he said to applause in the chamber.

“Our future is not for sale. I regret to inform you that Tuvalu cannot accept this document.”

Rasmussen, looking uneasy in his chair, faced a barrage of criticism during the highly-charged session which was convened several hours after US President Barack Obama said he had reached a political agreement with around two dozen fellow leaders, including from China and India.

Cuba accused Obama of “behaving like an emperor,” adding that the Havana government would not accept the draft declaration.

The plenary session was then suspended after Costa Rica demanded explanations for key text that had disappeared from a draft resolution while the leaders’ wrangling had unfolded.

That text said countries would strive for a “legally-binding” agreement in Mexico City at the end of 2010 — a position supported especially by Russia, Canada and Japan in order to lock the United States into a treaty.

Green delegates said they suspected the vital words had been deleted as a quid pro quo to placate the United States.

Obama flew out of Copenhagen late Friday before any decision among the 194 members of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on whether to accept the draft agreement.

The agreement contains a commitment to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), but did not spell out the important stepping stones — global emissions targets for 2020 or 2050 — for getting there.

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Fury Erupts At UN Climate Talks was first posted on December 19, 2009 at 3:27 pm.

India Prepares Copenhagen Accord With Four Other Countries

TrendPK.com India Prepares Copenhagen Accord With Four Other Countries:India and other emerging economies prepared a Copenhagen accord late on Friday night in association with the US, to be presented to an overnight plenary session of the UN climate summit.
The accord came under attack from the Group of 77 almost at once, [...]

Obama Copenhagen Speech

Obama Copenhagen Speech, US president Barack Obama has met with China’s premier Wen Jiabao in what may be a potential breakthrough to stalled climate talks in the Danish capital Copenhagen, according to US sources.

The meeting took place as many look to the US and China – the world’s two largest carbon polluters – to deepen pledges to cut emissions and salvage a political agreement that will cut greenhouse gas emissions.

A senior Obama administration official spoke on condition of anonymity said that both Obama and Wen have directed their negotiators to work further on a deal after meeting for nearly an hour at the U.N. Climate conference.

He said Obama and Wen discussed greenhouse gas emission targets, financing for climate aid and transparency in monitoring nations’ pledges to cut emissions.

Obama addressed world leaders Friday, urging for coordinated, collective action, saying: “I have to be honest – as the world watches us today, I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now and it hangs in the balance. I believe we can act boldly and decisively in the face of a common threat. That’s why I come here today. Not to talk but to act.”

He referred to countries making demands on climate change action that he said were an obstacle to global action.

“No country will get everything that it wants. There are those developing countries that want aid with no-strings attached and no obligations with respect to transparency. They think that the most advanced nations should pay a higher price. I understand that.”

The US in turn has been heavily criticised this week for coming too late with an improved offer on money pledged to help poor countries cope with the effects of global warming.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced an alternative long-range climate aid program.

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Obama Copenhagen Speech was first posted on December 18, 2009 at 9:26 pm.

Protest Demo Against Climate Conference

Protest Demo Against Climate Conference, Above 30,000 people protested in Copenhagen against an ongoing conference on Climate Change.
The protestors hurled stones at buildings, which resulted into clashes between environmental friendly organization’s activists and police. Police nabbed over thousand people during the demonstration.
The representatives of 192 countries are attending a conference in Copenhagen to discuss ways to save the global climate.

Five US National Terror Suspects, Joint Probe Team Handed

TrendPK.com LAHORE: The five US national terror suspects, arrested for Sargodha over alleged links with terrorists, have been shifted to Lahore after they were handed under the custody of Joint Investigation Team of Punjab Interior Ministry on Saturday morning.Terrorest According to details five US nationals were arrested from Sargodha and recovered from their

TrendPK.com LAHORE: The five US national terror suspects, arrested for Sargodha over alleged links with terrorists, have been shifted to Lahore after they were handed under the custody of Joint Investigation Team of Punjab Interior Ministry on Saturday morning.Terrorest
According to details five US nationals were arrested from Sargodha and recovered from their [...]

Businesspeople Join The Ranks Of Climate Treaty Proponents

TrendPK.com U.S Businesspeople Join The Ranks Of Climate Treaty Proponents:An army of chief executives attending the international climate talks in Copenhagen urge government officials to curb emissions and unleash a new wave of so-called clean energy investment.

TrendPK.com U.S Businesspeople Join The Ranks Of Climate Treaty Proponents:An army of chief executives attending the international climate talks in Copenhagen urge government officials to curb emissions and unleash a new wave of so-called clean energy investment.
From the legions of environmental Cassandras gathered here for international climate negotiations, an unlikely batch of [...]

Pakistan will never compromise on nuclear program

Lahore, Pakistan News :- Pakistan will never compromise on nuclear program: FO

Foreign Office spokesman says that Pakistan will never compromise on its nuclear program and will defend it on every forum.

In a weekly briefing of FO in Islamabad its spokesman Abdul Basit said that subjective policies of some international forces for Pakistan and India were putting negative effects on the stability and peace of South Asia. Pakistan doesn’t need any help for operation in its territory, FO added.

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Pakistan will never compromise on nuclear program was first posted on December 10, 2009 at 7:50 pm.

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