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Posts Tagged ‘Secretary of State Hillary’

Egyptians up the ante

January 31st, 2011 | No Comments


CAIRO (Agencies) – Egyptian protesters on Monday called for an indefinite general strike and said they planned a “million man march” on Tuesday (today) to mark one week since the start of deadly anti-government protests.
“It was decided overnight that there will be a million man march on Tuesday,” Eid Mohammed, one of the protesters and organisers, said.
“We have also decided to begin an open ended general strike,” he said.
The strike was first called for by workers in the canal city of Suez late on Sunday.
“We will be joining the Suez workers and begin a general strike until our demands are met,” Mohammed Waked, another protest organiser, said.
In Tahrir square, hundreds of protesters camped out overnight, in a bid to keep up the biggest anti-government protests in three decades.
Troops backed by American-built tanks paid for with US aid made no effort to disperse the crowd well after dark, hours after a curfew started. Military helicopters flew overhead.
In the square, protesters insisted they will not leave until Mubarak does, chanting “We will stay in the square, until the coward leaves.”
The army said it would not use force against Egyptians staging protests demanding President Mubarak step down, a statement said.
It said “freedom of expression” was guaranteed to all citizens using peaceful means.
A number of businessmen holding economic posts have been removed. Some Egyptians have resented the influence of the tycoons.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak overhauled his government to try to defuse a popular uprising against his 30-year rule but angry protesters rejected the changes and said he must surrender power.
The President removed Interior Minister Habib al-Adly, who is widely despised by protesters. He named General Mahmoud Wagdy, previously head of Cairo criminal investigations department, as the new interior minister.
There are few major changes in the new cabinet line-up, with Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and Defence Minister Gen Mohamed Hussein Tantaw both keeping their posts.
The President also slapped curfew across the country to stem ‘a million man march’ on Tuesday (today).
The opposition is declaring a general strike and talks of bringing a million people onto the streets tomorrow but itÂ’s far from clear that they have the coherent structure to keep sustained pressure focused on the Mubarak administration.
Many protesters dismissed the new cabinet appointments.
Looters have pillaged a number of warehouses containing ancient Egyptian artefacts, stealing and damaging some of them, archaeologists and warehouse workers said on Monday.
A group of looters attacked a warehouse at the Qantara Museum near the city of Ismailia on the Suez Canal that contained 3,000 objects from the Roman and Byzantine periods, a source at the tourism police said.
Many of the objects had been found in Sinai by the Israelis after they occupied the peninsula during the 1967 war with Egypt, and had only been recently returned to Egypt.
The United States, which has poured billions of dollars of aid into Egypt since Mubarak came to power, stopped short of saying openly that it wanted him out. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton instead urged reform and spoke about “an orderly transition.”
Israeli officials said Egypt has moved about 800 troops into the Sinai peninsula with IsraelÂ’s consent to beef up security as protests aimed at toppling President Hosni Mubarak spread across Egypt.
Meanwhile, foreign governments, airlines and tour operators worked together on Monday to fly their nationals out of Egypt where protesters pressed their campaign to topple President Hosni Mubarak.

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Menon meets Clinton to prepare for strategic dialogue

January 28th, 2011 | No Comments

Hillary ClintonNational Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon is here to review implementation of initiatives launched during President Barack Obama’s visit to India and prepare the ground for the India-US Strategic Dialogue in New Delhi in April. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who would lead a high level US team to the dialogue co-chaired by Indian External Affairs [...]

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US to find ways to boost Pak economy

January 15th, 2011 | No Comments


WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama Friday assured President Asif Ali Zardari President of United StatesÂ’ help in overcoming PakistanÂ’s difficulties and challenges when the two leaders met at the White House, according to the Pakistani envoy.
The US President offered to look at new ways to help PakistanÂ’s troubled economy as he showed support for President Asif Ali Zardari at a White House meeting, officials said.
President Zardari flew into Washington Thursday afternoon for a memorial service later in the day for the late US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke who died last month at the age of 69.
“He (Obama) was very clear in asserting that the US wants to help Pakistan in overcoming its difficulties and challenges and also recognizes the successes that have been accomplished in fighting terrorism, building democracy and instituting economic reforms,” Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani said in a post-meeting Press briefing.
On his part, President Zardari said Pakistan wants to stand up on its feet economically and not remain a permanent recipient of aid.
Haqqani said Zardari expressed appreciation for assistance from the US, which in 2009 approved a five-year, 7.5-billion-dollar package for the key but complicated war partner.
Ambassador Haqqani said the top-level US-Pakistan meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere, countering media reports about a strain in the relationship between the two countries and that Zardari would come under pressure for starting military operations in North Waziristan.
“Nobody scolded anybody, nobody raised the question of Pakistan not doing enough, nobody said anything negative about the lack of support of either country for the other,” he said
“We continue to work positively in all areas of cooperation, political, economic, diplomatic, strategic, intelligence and military,” Haqqani said, underscoring the cooperative nature of ties.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Adviser Douglas Lute and, White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan assisted the US president while Ambassador Haqqani accompanied President Zardari for the meeting.
President Zardari, speaking about Pakistan’s priorities and requirements, told his US counterpart that “Pakistan does not want to be a permanent recipient of aid. We want to be able to stand up on own two feet. And for that we need economic reforms and we are cognizant of that, and working on that and that Pakistan and the US are partners” in this respect, according to Haqqani.
For their part, President Obama and Secretary Hillary said over the next few days, they would try to find new ways to strengthen Pakistan’s economic reform process “while taking into consideration social and political factors as well as the overwhelming reality of the floods, which disrupted the economic growth last year,” the Pakistani envoy said.
Obama expressed his condolences over the assassination of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer. He appreciated Islamabad’s resolve to build a “moderate democratic Pakistan which is the strongest guarantee against terrorist threat in our region,” Haqqani told reporters.
“He appreciated the stance of the government of Pakistan in wanting to pursue the perpetrators of this crime as well as to continue to work towards building a moderate, democratic Pakistan, which is the strongest guarantee against the success of terrorists in our region.”
President Obama “unequivocally” stressed US support for democracy in Pakistan, the envoy added.
“Both presidents acknowledged the services of the late ambassador (Richard) Holbrooke and the great energy and strength that he had brought to the US-Pakistan relationship and agreed there was need to continue with that momentum to build the strategic partnership.”
However, Ambassador Haqqani said, President Obama made it clear that the meeting could not be a substitute for formal talks between the two anti-terror partners during an official visit to Washington by President Zardari later this year and President ObamaÂ’s own visit to Islamabad.
According to a White House statement, Obama told Zardari Friday that he was “looking forward” to visiting Pakistan later this year.
It also said the two leaders’ “discussion focused on our shared efforts to fight terrorism and promote regional stability, specifically on the importance of cooperating towards a peaceful and stable outcome in Afghanistan” and that Obama “underscored the importance of the US-Pakistan relationship and our continued support for Pakistan.”
The US President emphasized the importance of cooperating to promote stability in Afghanistan, the White House said.
Husain Haqqani, the Pakistani ambassador in Washington, told reporters that the two leaders voiced concern about rising extremism worldwide that he said was behind the recent assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and this monthÂ’s shooting rampage in the US state of Arizona that killed six people and critically wounded a member of Congress, Gabrielle Giffords.

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Envoy post to remain after Holbrooke death

December 15th, 2010 | No Comments

The State Department said the post of U.S. envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan will be continued following the death of Richard Holbrooke, VOA reports.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed Holbrooke as an indispensable colleague.

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WikiLeaks: Concern over corruption in Uzbekistan

December 13th, 2010 | No Comments

U.S. diplomatic messages released by WikiLeaks express concerns about corruption in Uzbekistan and alleged Uzbek government links to organized crime. The messages speak of one occasion last year where Uzbek President Islam Karimov threatened to cut Uzbek cooperation with U.S. supply links to Afghanistan after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented an award to an Uzbek human rights advocate, according to Britain’s Guardian newspaper.

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Pak-Iran gas deal is pipedream

November 30th, 2010 | No Comments


NEW YORK – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has described the group of four countries – India, Brazil, Germany and Japan – as a ‘self-appointed frontrunnersÂ’ for a permanent seat in an expanded UN Security Council, according to classified documents released by WikiLeaks.
ClintonÂ’s cable, which was posted by The New York Times, gave directions to US diplomats to collect information on key issues, including the UN Security Council reform, which is stalled because of rivalries between countries and regions as well as difficult UN procedures.
Earlier this month, President Barrack Obama announced support for IndiaÂ’s bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council, which, at present, has five permanent veto-wielding members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United Nations – and 10 non-permanent members elected for a two-year term. But most analysts said the process could take years.
The cable asked US diplomats to ascertain deliberations regarding the UNSC expansion among key groups of countries like ‘self-appointed frontrunnersÂ’ for permanent UNSC seats (Group of Four or G-4); Uniting for Consensus group – especially Mexico, Italy and Pakistan – that opposes additional permanent UNSC seats; African Group; and European Union, as well as key UN officials within the Secretariat and the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Presidency.
Meanwhile, Turkey kept India out of a meeting on Afghanistan that Ankara sponsored earlier this year to address Pakistan’s ‘sensitivities’, according to US secret documents released by WikiLeaks.
At a meeting with the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, William Burns; Rauf Engin Soysal who then was the TurkeyÂ’s Deputy Under-Secretary for Bilateral Political Affairs responsible for the Middle East, South Asia and Africa; said Turkey had not invited India to the Afghan neighbours summit in deference to PakistanÂ’s sensitivities.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met in Istanbul for a Turkish-sponsored talks to discuss cooperation against extremists in Afghanistan earlier this year.
“He (Soysal) said Turkey had not invited India to the neighbours summit in deference to Pakistani sensitivities; however, he said, Pakistan understands attempting to exclude India from the nascent South Asian regional structures would be a mistake,” says the confidential State Department cable dated February 25, 2010.
Soysal, a former Turkish Ambassador to the Pakistan from 2007 to 2009, and his countryÂ’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan in September was appointment by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, as the Special Envoy for Assistance to Pakistan.
“He (Soysal) reported Indian Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh had requested (Turkish) President (Abdullah) Gul’s assistance with Pakistan during the latter’s visit to New Delhi the previous week.
Acting on that request, President Gul had phoned Pakistani President Zardari, who was sceptical of Indian intentions.
“Gul is planning to visit Pakistan later this year,” the cable said.
“Soysal said Iran is proposing a quadrilateral summit, which would include Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but that proposal had yet to generate enthusiasm,” it said.
Meanwhile, top Israeli and American officials discussed the impact of the possible downfall of then President Pervez Musharraf in August 2007 in a meeting on US efforts to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan, according to a State Department cable leaked by WikiLeaks.
The cable contained record of the meeting between Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns and Meir Dagan, then chief of Israeli spy agency Mossad on a wide range of issues, including the situation in South Asia.
The leaked cable shows Burns detailed US efforts to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan after the Mossad chief alerted the US about MusharrafÂ’s possible downfall.
“Dagan said that President Musharraf is losing control, and that some of his coalition partners could threaten him in the future. The key question, Dagan said, is whether Musharraf retains his commander-in-chief role in addition to his role as president,” the cable reported.
“If not, he will have problems. Dagan observed that there has been an increase in the number of attempts on Musharraf’s life, and wondered whether he will survive the next few years,” it said.
“Under Secretary Burns replied that South Asia has assumed vital importance in American foreign policy since September 11.”
“The US is committed to denying Afghanistan as a safe-haven for Taliban and Al Qaeda activity. The US (government) will continue to support Pakistani President Musharraf, and is seeking to boost his military defensive capabilities.”
Agencies add: According to the revelations made by the WikiLeaks, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi described President Asif Ali Zardari as ‘dirty but not dangerous’ and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as ‘dangerous but not dirty’.
The revelation is part of a massive dump of more than 250,000 diplomatic cables by the Website WikiLeaks.
The cables provide candid and at times critical views of foreign leaders as well as sensitive information on terrorism and nuclear proliferation filed by US diplomats.
In July 2009, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and de facto defence chief, said Zardari was ‘dirty but not dangerousÂ’. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was ‘dangerous but not dirty – this is PakistanÂ’. He said Nawaz Sharif, who heads the main opposition party to Zardari, could not be trusted to honour his promises.
According to leaks, a rail link between Iran and Pakistan would be delayed for the foreseeable future because of unrest from Baloch nationalists in both countries.
Likewise, a natural gas pipeline agreement between Iran and Pakistan, signed with great fanfare earlier this year, is unlikely to bear fruit anytime soon because ‘the Pakistanis don’t have the money to pay for either the pipeline, or the gas’.
Meanwhile, US intelligence believes Iran has obtained advanced missiles from North Korea that could strike Europe. The documents also show frustration among US diplomats who have been pressing for China to block shipments of missile parts from North Korea to Iran, BritainÂ’s Guardian newspaper reported.
US diplomatic cables include remarks from a source in 2009 saying that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has terminal cancer. The source, a non-Iranian businessman based in Central Asia and travelling often to Tehran, “has learned from one of his contacts that (former president Ali Akbar) Rafsanjani told him Khamenei has terminal stage leukemia and could die in a few months”, according to an August 2009 cable. The document says that Rafsanjani, a critic of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has expressed sympathies with Iran’s reformist movement, decided on learning of Khamenei’s illness to start preparing himself to be a successor.
Leaked documents also revealed how US officials were ordered its officials to spy on the UN leadership. Britain’s Guardian newspaper said a State Department directive sent in July sought intelligence on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s ‘management and decision-making style’.
The government also asked for credit card numbers, email addresses, phone, fax and pager numbers and even frequent-flyer account numbers for UN officials, the daily added.
Israel discussed its planned war on Gaza with the Palestinian leadership and Egypt ahead of time, offering to hand them control of the strip if it defeated Hamas, US documents released by WikiLeaks showed.
The attempt to coordinate its devastating offensive against GazaÂ’s Islamist rulers was revealed by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak whose remarks were included in a telegram sent in June 2009 by then deputy US ambassador Luis Moreno.
“He explained that the GOI (government of Israel) had consulted with Egypt and Fatah prior to Operation Cast Lead, asking if they were willing to assume control of Gaza once Israel defeated Hamas,” he said, referring to the Fatah party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

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Justin Bieber Joins “It Gets Better” Campaign [PSA VIDEO]

November 26th, 2010 | No Comments

Justin Bieber has joined forces with Ellen DeGeneres and other Hollywood big names to take a stand against bullying in response to a wave of gay youth suicides across the United States. The Canadian singer and newly-minted American Music Award winner, 16, appeared clad in black baseball cap, black shirt and several necklaces — including [...]

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VIDEO: Barack Obama “It Gets Better” Campaign PSA

October 22nd, 2010 | No Comments

President Obama has joined the “It Gets Better” viral campaign, a grassroots effort to end a recent rash in bullying and homophobia among American teens. “We’ve got to dispel this myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage,” the president says in the video recorded at The White House. “It’s not. We have [...]

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5-year time span eclipses conditional US mly aid offer

October 22nd, 2010 | No Comments


WASHINGTON – On the final day of US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue Friday, the Obama administration announced a $2 billion, multiyear security assistance package to help Pakistan fight extremists taking refuge in safe havens along its border with Afghanistan.
The pledge came at the concluding plenary session at which Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his government will give “no space” to terrorists on its soil.
The aid pledge, which is subject to Congressional approval, was announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It provides a long-term US security commitment along the lines of the five-year, $7.5 billion civilian aid package for Pakistan approved by Congress last year.
The five-year package would pay for military hardware and equipment Pakistan needs for the counterinsurgency fight, Clinton said.
“The United States has no stronger partner when it comes to counter terrorism efforts against the extremists who threaten us both than Pakistan,” Clinton said.
The aid would extend from 2012 to 2017. It comes on the heels of a White House report sent to Congress earlier this month that used unusually tough language suggesting Pakistan is not doing nearly enough to confront the Taliban and al Qaeda, despite repeated Obama administration statements that Pakistan is working hard to crack down on militants.
Qureshi said the United States should not dismiss PakistanÂ’s contributions, and insisted that suggestions that PakistanÂ’s efforts in the war on terror are half-hearted are unfounded.
“Nearly 7,000 of our valiant law enforcement officials have perished in this fight,” Qureshi said. “We do not know what greater evidence to offer than the blood of our people. Madam Secretary, we are determined to win this fight.”
Tensions between the United States and Pakistan rose in recent weeks after increased American drone attacks over the Afghan-Pakistani border, one of which killed two Pakistani border guards. Pakistan authorities responded by closing key coalition supply routes into Afghanistan.
The United States has since apologised for the incident, and the routes have reopened.
US officials acknowledge the Pakistani military is stretched thin since this summerÂ’s devastating floods, and has had to divert resources from the fight against extremists to conduct relief efforts. They hope the new security assistance will address the militaryÂ’s resource limitations so Pakistan can redouble efforts to go after militants.
In his comments, at the plenary meeting of the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, Foreign Minister Qureshi expressed irritation over what he said are US insinuations that PakistanÂ’s effort against extremism is lacking.
Pakistan, he said, has sustained 30,000 civilian deaths in recent years in a “daily fare of suicide bombings” and other attacks. Seven thousand Pakistani soldiers and police have lost their lives in the struggle — more than combined NATO losses in Afghanistan, Qureshi added.
“Nonetheless, it unfortunately seems easy to dismiss Pakistan’s contributions and sacrifices. There are still tongue-in-cheek comments, even in this capital, about Pakistan’s heart not really being in this fight,” he said.
At the plenary session, Qureshi expressed gratitude for US flood relief efforts, support which Clinton said will continue as Pakistan moves toward long-term recovery. Clinton again urged Pakistan to reform its tax system to yield more funds for flood relief and other needs from its wealthy.

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U.S., Pakistan conduct strategic dialogue

October 21st, 2010 | No Comments

U.S. and Pakistani officials are meeting Wednesday in Washington to begin a third round of a strategic dialogue aimed at strengthening ties. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will lead the three days of talks focusing on a range of topics, including agriculture, defense, water, and law enforcement. Clinton and Qureshi will wrap up the dialogue with a formal meeting on Friday.

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“Clinton message positive despite differences”

October 13th, 2010 | No Comments

During her Tuesday visit to Belgrade, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented positive evaluations of Serbia’s progress in the process of reforms. This despite different stands on Kosovo, analysts in Belgrade evaluated, saying that the Clinton also supported Serbia on its path of European integrations.

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Quran Burning 9/11 Demonstration Underfire From Angelina Jolie, Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton, & Others

September 8th, 2010 | No Comments

United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is speaking out in protest of a Florida pastor’s plan to burn copies of the Quran on Saturday’s ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.The Quran-torching event on Saturday is being spearheaded by Pastor Terry Jones, who heads up a tiny, [...]

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Chelsea Clinton Wedding Pictures

August 1st, 2010 | No Comments

Chelsea Clinton Wedding Picture One of the nation’s favorite former First Daughters is now a missus. Chelsea Clinton’s longtime beau officially “Put a Ring on It” in a Saturday afternoon ceremony at the Astor Courts in Upstate New York. And pictures of the wedding are slowly making their way onto the Net.Chelsea — the daughter [...]

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Chelsea Clinton Wedding Details Leaked

July 27th, 2010 | No Comments

Former President Bill and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s only daughter will be married this weekend in picturesque Rhinebeck, a postcard-worthy New York village that will serve as host of what many have dubbed America’s royal wedding.While wedding plans have remained top secret, but the recent presence of US Secret Service agents in the town [...]

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Chelsea Clinton Wedding Guestlist Includes Oprah & The Obamas

July 15th, 2010 | No Comments

President Barack Obama and First Lady and talk show magnate Oprah Winfrey are among 500 people who have reportedly been invited to hobnob at the nups of former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton later this month.The invited celebrity guest list also includes singer-actress-director Barbra Streisand, former British Prime Minister John Major, filmmaker Steven Spielberg and wife [...]

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Twin Uganda bombings kill 74 at World Cup parties

July 12th, 2010 | No Comments


KAMPALA (Reuters/AFP) – Somali rebel group Al-Shabaab said on Monday they had carried out two bomb attacks in Uganda that killed 74 soccer fans watching the World Cup final on television, Al Jazeera television reported.
The explosions in the closing moments of Sunday’s match ripped through two crowded venues in the capital Kampala — an Ethiopian-themed restaurant and a rugby club.
Al-Shabaab rebels in Somalia have threatened to attack Uganda for sending peacekeeping troops to the anarchic country to prop up the Western-backed government.
“At one of the scenes, investigators identified a severed head of a Somali national, which we suspect could have been a suicide bomber,” said army spokesman Felix Kulayigye.
“We suspect it’s Al-Shabaab because they’ve been promising this for long,” he said on Monday.
An Al-Shabaab commander in Mogadishu praised the attacks but admitted he did not know whether his group was behind them.
“Uganda is a major infidel country supporting the so-called government of Somalia,” said Sheikh Yusuf Isse, an Al -Shabaab commander in the Somali capital.
“We know Uganda is against Islam and so we are very happy at what has happened in Kampala. That is the best news we ever heard,” he said.
Burundi, which also contributes troops to the Somalia peacekeeping mission, has stepped up security, an army spokesman said in the capital, Bujumbura.
One American was among those killed and President Barack Obama, condemning what he called deplorable and cowardly attacks, said Washington was ready to help Uganda in hunting down those responsible. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also condemned the attacks on “innocent spectators.”
One bombing targeted the Ethiopian Village restaurant, a popular night-spot which was heaving with soccer fans and is frequented by foreign visitors. The second attack struck the Lugogo Rugby Club also showing the match.
Twin coordinated attacks have been a hallmark of Al-Qaeda and groups linked to Osama bin LadenÂ’s militant network.
“Right now the official figure is 74 dead,” government spokesman Fred Opolot said. “There is a white woman, one person of Indian descent, 10 Eritreans or Ethiopians.”
The US State Department confirmed that one American citizen was killed and five injured. The US charity Invisible Children said one of its members, Nate Henn from Wilmington, Delaware, had been killed in the rugby club blast.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni visited the rugby club.
The blasts come in the closing moments of the final between Spain and the Netherlands and left shocked survivors reeling among corpses and scattered chairs.
“We were watching soccer here and then when there were three minutes to the end of the match an explosion came … and it was so loud,” witness Juma Seiko said at the rugby club.
Heavily armed police cordoned off both blast sites and searched the areas with sniffer dogs while dazed survivors helped pull the wounded from the wreckage.
In Kampala, Somali residents voiced fears of a backlash.
In Washington, US National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said Obama was “deeply saddened by the loss of life resulting from these deplorable and cowardly attacks.”
“The United States is ready to provide any assistance requested by the Ugandan government,” said Hammer.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned Monday bomb blasts in the Ugandan capital Kampala.
A statement issued by BanÂ’s office said the United Nations secretary general had expressed hope the perpetrators of the attacks would be brought to justice and prosecuted.
Ban “strongly condemns the vicious bombings in Kampala that claimed the lives of dozens of people and left hundreds wounded among Ugandans and other nationalities at establishments where they were watching the World Cup final,” it said.

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Clinton, Karzai, hail results of dialogue

May 14th, 2010 | No Comments

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Afghan President Hamid Karzai Thursday hailed the results of this week’s ministerial-level U.S.-Afghan dialogue Mr. Karzai says it produced agreements including one for the transfer of allied-run military detention centers in his country to Afghan control.

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Pakistani Taliban behind NY bomb plot: US

May 9th, 2010 | No Comments


NEW YORK – Senior Obama administration officials on Sunday blamed the failed attempt to blow up a bomb in Times Square on the Pakistani Taliban, in what was seen as part of a move to step up pressure on the Pakistan military to attack the militant group in North Waziristan.
“We’ve now developed evidence that shows the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in an interview on ABC television’s news programme ‘This Week’.
Later, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he said the Taliban in Pakistan ‘directed this plot’ and may have also financed it. The Pakistani Taliban, he said, was ‘intimately involved’ in the attempt on May 1 by Faisal Shahzad, an American citizen of Pakistani descent, to blow up gasoline and propane tanks secreted inside a vehicle.
John Brennan, President ObamaÂ’s chief counterterrorism adviser, echoed HolderÂ’s statements Sunday morning, saying it appeared that Shahzad, a resident of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who spent five months in Pakistan until February, was working for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Political observers noted that Obama administration officials were now speaking out more firmly and publicly than before in an obvious attempt to build up pressure on Pakistan. Following Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warning regarding ‘severe consequences’, the US Commander in Afghanistan, Stanley McCrystal, spoke to Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in Rawalpindi, urging him to launch an offensive in North Waziristan.
“The conclusion that the Pakistani Taliban is behind the attempted bombing underscores the serious threat that we face from a very determined enemy,” Brennan said on CNN’s “State of the Union”.
Shahzad, who was arrested at Kennedy International Airport aboard an Emirates Airlines airplane bound for Dubai little more than two days after the bomb was discovered, soon told police that he trained in Waziristan, the main base for the Pakistani Taliban and Al-Qaeda, according to US media reports.
Neither Holder nor Brennan indicated what new information led them to the firmer conclusions about the role of the Pakistani Taliban.
Brennan said Pakistan was being very cooperative in the investigation but that the US wanted to know exactly who might have been helping Shahzad.
“There are a number of terrorist and militant groups operating in Pakistan,” he said. “And we need to make sure there’s no support being given to them by the Pakistani government.”
Brennan would not say whether Shahzad may be connected to American-Yemenese Cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, other than to acknowledge that his Internet sermons are popular among extremist Muslims.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Pakistan had recently stepped up efforts to root out extremists.
“The Pakistanis have been doing so much more than 18 months or two years ago any of us would have expected,” Gates told reporters at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
He referred to Pak Army offensives, dating to spring 2009, against Taliban extremists in areas near the Afghan border, including in South Waziristan.
Gates said the Obama administration was sticking to its policy of offering to do as much training and other military activity inside Pakistan as the Pakistani government was willing to accept.
“It’s their country,” Gates said. “They remain in the driver’s seat, and they have their foot on the accelerator.”

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Clinton warns Pakistan of “consequences”

May 8th, 2010 | No Comments

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned Pakistan of unspecified “severe consequences” if it can be linked to a successful extremist attack on the U.S. She told CBS while Pakistan had become more helpful in tackling extremists, co-operation could still be improved.

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PM unveils mega plan to arrest energy crisis

April 22nd, 2010 | No Comments


ISLAMABAD – Taking the bull of energy crisis by horns, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday announced a number of measures including five-day working week in government offices, making the business centres, marriage halls and other commercial entities time-bound and slashing the power use in government offices by half with ban on use of air-conditioners before 11am.
The Prime Minister also announced end to unscheduled loadshedding and reducing the overall scheduled loadshe-dding by 30 per cent to give immediate relief to the general masses.
Giving the broad outlines of the decisions taken at the National Energy Conference, participated by all the four Chief Ministers participated along with their teams of technical experts, the Prime Minister said that it was the elected leadership of the country which came up with a comprehensive and consensus roadmap for the country to overcome the serious power crisis facing the country.
Flanked by all the four Chief Ministers and Federal Ministers of Water and Power, Information and Petroleum and Natural Resources, the Prime Minister dispelled the impression that the government was having the capacity to produce power but was not doing it owing to financial constraints and posed a question that how a government could take steps to create troubles for itself.
He was all praise for the Chief Ministers for coming up with a prudent proposals for both short-term and long-term measures to manage this crisis and assured the masses that their representatives were putting in their best to come up with a lasting solution to the problems.
Starting with the power conservation measures, the Premier said that all the government departments starting with Presidency, Prime Minister House, Governors offices and residence and down to all government departments half of the lights would remain off, however, only authorised officials would use air-conditioners and that too after 11am.
He further said that all government departments would observe two holidays a week and this decision would be reviewed by July end. All the markets would be closed after 8.00pm except the pharmacies, bakeries and hotels. The marriage halls would be restricted to hold functions in the evenings not exceeding three hours span.
The use of any sort of illumination was banned with the immediate power supply cut-off to neon-sign boards and other commercial displays and switching off every alternate streetlight was approved.
The Prime Minister also referred to 10 IPPs in the pipeline and by end of this year another 1300MW would be added to the main supply to ease down the power supply pressure.
Regarding the financial measures, Gilani announced settling the circular debt amounting to Rs 116 billion so that the burden on the power generation sector could be eased.
He also announced establishment of Energy Development Fund in collaboration with all the four provinces to enhance the power generation and explore other sources of energy including power generation with coal, wind and other sources. To launch the Fund the Prime Minister announced Rs 20 billion cede money.
About the medium and long-term measures, he said that a number of projects to generate hydro power projects which would add another 3000MW in the system while with coal another 15000 MW power would enter the system in due course of time.
Responding to a question, the Prime Minister said that during his visit to United States the focal point of his negotiations with Senator John Kerry, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other officials was the energy crisis and they had assured all help to Pakistan to overcome the crisis.
Adding to the response of the PM, Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf informed that some refurbishing of three power projects including Tarbela, Muzaffargarh and Jamshoro was underway with $120 million US assistance.
He further said that they had also asked the Friends of Democratic Pakistan to fulfil the pledges they made with Pakistan at the Tokyo Conference.
To a question about Kalabagh Dam, thePrime Minister Gilani said that they were not against the project but they wanted to have consensus among all the federating units and for that matter they would not go for any project which would hit the foundation of the Federation.
To another question, he said that they had signed an MoU with the Government of Germany to launch solar energy projects here in Pakistan.
Later, giving details of the decisions made at the three-day National Energy Conference, Pervaiz Ashraf refuted the perception of the public that the government is deliberately opted for loadshedding. “No government wants to earn the wrath of the public,” the minister said.
Talking about the recommendations of the summit, he informed that government offices would observe five-day working week adding the industries would announce alternative weekly offs till 31 July to meet electricity emergency. All the shops in commercial areas and markets would be closed after 08:00pm except pharmacies and bakeries shops and air-conditioners in government offices wouldnÂ’t be utilised before 11:00am and only grade 20 officers and above would be allow to use ACs.
The power supply to tube-wells would also remain off during the peak hours (7.00pm to 11.pm).
He also informed that electricity to billboards and neon-sign boards would be disconnected and these billboards could be lighted only through solar energy sources and streetlights would also be illuminated by alternative steps and by pursuing these steps approximately 314MW electricity would be conserved.
He added that 50 per cent less lights would be used in the government offices including those of the President and the PM.
The power quota to Karachi from Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) has been slashed by 300 MW from 650 MW, he said. KESC would bridge this shortfall by commissioning the Bin Qasim Power Plant with furnace oil.
The Federal Minister further pointed out that five rental power plants would start functioning from next month adding that 183mmc additional gas supply to be provided to power sector and up to next year 750MW additional power supply would be included in the national grid.
He also acknowledged that unscheduled loadshedding was the biggest challenge for the government and announced that it would be abolished altogether while 33 per cent reduction in the scheduled load shedding would also be made.
Responding to a query, he said that the Punjab government has assured to pay its WAPDA dues within next few days, while KESC had also promised to deposit its dues.
To a question, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said that the countryÂ’s power needs were increasing at the rate of eight per cent and by 2015 it would be requiring 36000MW while it would be able to produce 114000MW by year 2030.
To a question about getting electricity from Iran, the Federal Minister informed that the government of Pakistan had entered into an agreement with the Government of Iran in 2006 to secure 1000MW of power but it would take four to five years to commission this project.

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