Britain’s Labour elects Ed Miliband as new leader
September 25, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
MANCHESTER: Britain’s opposition Labour Party chose former Energy Secretary Ed Miliband as its new leader on Saturday after a cliffhanger vote.
Miliband, 40, defeated his older brother David, a former foreign secretary, by a wafer-thin margin to take over the helm of the centre-left party.
He succeeds former prime minister Gordon Brown who resigned after the party lost the May election, ending 13 years in power.
David Miliband was favoured by centrists in the party whereas Ed has slightly more left-leaning views and won the backing of major trade unions who help finance the party.
Miliband won in the fourth round of the vote count, by a margin of a little over one percent, to steal the prize that had seemed within the grasp of his older brother for much of the leadership campaign.
“David, I love you so much as a brother and I have such
UN Removes Taliban Leaders From Sanctions List
January 27, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under Breaking News
UN Removes Taliban Leaders From Sanctions List, United Nations Security Council has removed the names of five former Taliban leaders from its sanction list besides restoring their assets.
According to United Nations press release, Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, former foreign minister; Fazl Mohammad Faizan, former deputy commerce minister; Abdul Hakim Monib, former deputy minister of frontier affairs; Shamsus Safa Aminzai, former foreign ministry press officer and Mohammad Musa Hottak, former deputy minister of planning have been delisted and the travel embargoes on them have also been lifted.
The five were high-ranking officials of the former Taliban government, which was toppled by US-led coalition forces shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
Abdul Hakim Monib renounced Taliban some three years ago and currently he is Arzdagan’s Governor. UN has blacklisted all these people in 2001, however, no evidence has so far been found against them regarding anti-peace activities. Their de-listing from the UN list came after a recent announcement by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that he would propose lifting UN sanctions against some Taliban leaders at the upcoming international conference on Afghanistan in London.
UN Removes Taliban Leaders From Sanctions List was first posted on January 27, 2010 at 1:31 pm.
Back Channel Contacts for Pakistan and India Dialogue
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Back Channel Contacts for Pakistan and India Dialogue, Pakistan and India have been engaged in back channel diplomacy as Kashmiri leaders and interlocutors are in contact with Hurriyat.
The sources of Foreign Office in Islamabad have confirmed former foreign secretary Riaz Mohammed Khan has been engaged in dialogue with Indian representatives in Hong Kong.
The president had given responsibility of restoration of the track II dialogue to Riaz Mohammed Khan.
According to the sources, in the first phase the sides were focusing on restoration of the composite dialogue and back channel diplomacy to create a consensus over the mechanism.
In second phase Kashmiri leaders would also taken into the fold of the dialogue and a Hurriyat delegation led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooque will visit Pakistan after Eid ul Azha.
“We will be visiting Pakistan immediately after Eid ul Azha. We want the separatist leadership other than Hurriyat to join us as well. Pakistan wants to get input from Kashmiri leadership before entering into any sort of composite dialogue with New Delhi.
Back Channel Contacts for Pakistan and India Dialogue was first posted on November 18, 2009 at 4:04 pm.
Riaz Khan May Appoint As Special Envoy On India Affairs: Qureshi
NEW YORK: Pakistan is contemplating appointment of veteran diplomat and former foreign secretary Riaz Mohd Khan as its special envoy on Indian affairs, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in New York.
“Yes, we are considering very senior former diplomat, former foreign secretary – a gentleman called Riaz Mohd Khan,” Qureshi told a news channel, referring to reports that Pakistan was to name a special envoy for informal talks with India.
Khan held the post of Foreign Secretary from 2005 to 2008 and retired from it citing personal reasons.
Qureshi’s remarks came on the eve of his crucial talks with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on the margins of the UN General Assembly session in New York.
“We, want good neighbourly relations with India. (But) that does not mean we don’t have issues with them. We do have outstanding issues and we want them resolved,” Qureshi said.
Riaz Khan May Appoint As Special Envoy On India Affairs: Qureshi was first posted on September 27, 2009 at 1:33 pm.
©2009 “News Trends“.
