US, Russian presidents hold unplanned meeting

LISBON: US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had an unplanned one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Lisbon, a White House official announced.

“They were able to go aside into a room by themselves and talk for 15 to 20 minutes,” White House spokesman Ben Rhodes told reporters aboard Air Force One as it was flying to Washington. “It was informal, it wasn?t planned.”

NATO and Russia agreed earlier Saturday to jointly examine a missile shield to defend Europe and boost the flow of supplies to the Afghan war, burying a period of tensions between the former Cold War foes.

The day before, the Western military alliance had agreed to set up an anti-ballistic missile defence system to protect Europe’s populations against rogue rocket attacks and invite Russia to cooperate.

The two sides agreed to study how this

Digicon6 special: Inter BEE kick starts on promising note

Tokyo: With the support of Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) and National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan (NAB-J), the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) has hosted the Inter BEE 2010 – an audio-video and communications broadcasting equipment exhibition at Makuhari Messe from November 17 to 19, 2010.

Currently in its 46th edition, Inter Bee has achieved remarkable success, in its role as a promoter of broadcasting technology. This year, in addition to traditional broadcasting, Inter BEE displayed a comprehensive selection of exhibits that provided an overview of a wide range of technological fields such as communications, IT, audio and lighting.

Here are the key highlights of the event:

The Tutorial Session: Targeting young people in the industry and students, instructors actively working in the video and audio domains help to nurture competent technicians in the workplace by imparting knowledge about equipment and system use, and contents creation techniques.

The Technical Report Conference on Commercial Broadcasting: An annual event that has been in place since the inauguration of Inter BEE. Front-line experts in the field of commercial TV discuss the constantly changing state of and problems facing commercial TV. This provides a valuable opportunity to learn about the course and direction of future broadcasting.

IPTV, Mobile TV, Crossmedia Zone: Here, people gather under one roof to see the latest IPTV services, and create a place to check-up on post-digitization mobile TV business. In addition to this, adopting a theme of digital signage, digital cinema and 3D images, a pavilion exhibition is kept where one can experience the possibilities and technological advancements of new media.

On the sidelines of Inter BEE, TBS Digicon6 also hosted an ‘Asia Contents Forum’ where the winners of respective countries showcased their work and key notes were delivered from the prominent film makers and directors of Asian countries.

Japan, China ministers meet, agree to improve ties

HANOI: Japan and China have agreed to improve ties, Japan’s foreign minister said on Friday after talks with his Chinese counterpart likely to set the stage for fence-mending between the leaders of Asia’s biggest economies.

Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara told reporters after meeting China’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi that the leaders of both nations, whose ties have been strained by a dispute over islands in the East China Sea, were likely to hold one-on-one talks on the sidelines of an Asian summit in Hanoi.

“I think that Japan-China leaders’ summit will probably take place,” Maehara said, adding his talks with Yang, which lasted for about an hour, were held in a “very good atmosphere, in a calm and in a forward-looking manner.”

Speculation has swirled over whether Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, would hold direct

China refuses to change policy of stapled visa for Kashmiris

China said that its policy of issuing stapled visas to Kashmiris would remain unchanged, in crucial comments ahead of a meeting between prime ministers of the two countries.
Weeks after External Affairs Minister S M Krishna hoped that Beijing would maintain ‘neutrality’ on the affairs related to Jammu and Kashmir and respect India’s sensitivities on the issue, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said, Though China had friendly relations with India, its policy towards the stapled visas for residents of the state remained unchanged. The comments come ahead of this week’s meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of East Asia Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam. The issue of stapled visa is likely to figure prominently at the talks.

EU should not press China on yuan – Chinese PM

BRUSSELS: The European Union should stop pressing China to revalue the yuan as a rapid revaluation could cause turmoil, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Wednesday.

Wen told an EU-China business forum on the sidelines of a summit with European Union leaders that a sharp appreciation of the currency could lead to social unrest in China, with severe consequences for global stability.

However, he stressed Beijing would implement a reform in the exchange rate regime of its non-convertible currency which would lead to a gradual rise.

“Do not work to pressurise us on the renminbi rate,” the premier said, departing from a prepared speech. “Yes, we are going to proceed with the reforms.”

He noted that a U.S. congressman had predicted social unrest in China if there was a rapid rise in the yuan exchange rate.

“If China saw social and economic

MQM leader calls on British deputy PM

Staff Report

KARACHI: MQM leader Salim Shahzad called on British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and requested him to ensure the early arrest of Dr. Imran Farooq’s killers.

The meeting between the two took place on the sidelines of a local function in London on Tuesday.

The MQM leader urged Mr. Clegg to utilize all possible resources to nab the culprits. The British deputy premier said that the police was doing all it can to arrest the killers. SAMAA

Kapil asks Imran to save Pakistani cricket

NEW DELHI: Former India captain Kapil Dev called for severe punishment for the Pakistani players found guilty in the spot-fixing controversy, and asked legendary Pakistan cricketer Imran Khan to take the initiative to save the game in his country.

“I appeal to Imran Khan to take charge of the current situation in Pakistan. Being the cleanest player, it’s he who can save and look after Pakistan cricket,” Kapil Dev told newspersons on the sidelines of a programme here.

“None of us want the game in Pakistan to be finished, as this is one country that has produced some of the finest cricketers.”

Kapil said he felt saddened for the Pakistan cricketers but agrees the guilty need to be “severely punished”.

“I do feel sorry for Pakistani cricketers and Pakistan cricket. But at the same time, the alleged ones should be severely punished if proved guilty,” said

Stock prices at KSE end flat

KARACHI: The local stock market ended flat on Monday, in dull trade as investors remained on the sidelines ahead of the monetary policy for August and September announcement, due to be unveiled on Friday, dealers said.

The Karachi Stock Exchange”s benchmark 100-share index, rose 0.02 percent, or 1.64 points, to end at 10,297.68 points.

Volume fell to 40.19 million shares, compared with 67.39million shares traded on Friday.

Majority of market analysts expected the central bank to keep its policy rate unchanged at 12.5 percent when it sets monetary policy for August and September in a meeting on July 30, but further tightening could be coming when the central bank meets next in September.

However three analysts expected the central bank to raise its key policy rate by 50 basis points because of a widening fiscal deficit.

Dealers said investors were also waiting for the outcome of a meeting between the KSE authorities to approve recommendations for the reintroduction of margin buying.

The meeting started after the market closed on Monday.

Indo-Pak FSs talks today

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to rebuild detached Indo-Pak series of dialogue following Mumbai attacks in 2009, Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao arrived here Wednesday for holding the Foreign Secretary level talks between Pakistan and India starting here today (Thursday), Geo news reported.

Foreing Secretary Salman Bashir will lead Pakistan’s delegation while his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao will head her country’s delegation at the talks.

During the talks the two sides will prepare the agenda for the Foreign Ministers talks being held on 15th of next month.

The Secretary level talks between the two countries are the follow up of the meeting held between Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at Thimphu, Bhutan in April this year on the sidelines of SAARC summit.

Terrorism, bridging trust deficit, water, Kashmir and other important issues will be discussed during talks to include them in the final agenda for the foreign minister level talks.

Indian Foreign Secretary arrives

ISLAMABAD: Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao arrived here Wednesday to lead Indian side to meet her counterpart Salman Bashir on Thursday to prepare the agenda for the foreign ministers talks being held here on July 15.

The secretary level talks between the two countries are the follow up of the important meeting held between the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in Thimphu, Bhutan in April this year on the sidelines of Saarc summit.

Terrorism, bridging trust deficit, water, Kashmir and other important issues will be discussed to include them in the final agenda for the foreign minister level talks being held here on July 15.

The foreign secretary level talks will be prep work for the July 15 visit of foreign minister S. M. Krishna to Pakistan.

The Indian side has many things in mind to bridge “trust deficit” and these proposals will be put forward to the Pakistan side to include in final agenda for FM meetings.

Although, India and Pakistan”s first secretary level talks since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks ended in acrimony in New Delhi in February this without finalising any thing for future.

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