Editorial
While Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif speech at the UN General Assembly on Sept 26 won accolades at home for coming heavily on India for its injustices in Held Kashmir, it certainly created ripples within the Indian official as well as media circles. It was perhaps an unexpected posture that Nawaz Sharif resorted to keeping in view his past and present bonhomie with the respective Indian governments. In 2013 when Nawaz Sharif delivered his speech at the General Assembly, he hardly mentioned Kashmir for which he had to take heavy flak at home, especially from the establishment. This time however it seemed as if the speech was very well crafted and all stakeholder were taken on board in the process. Tariq Fatemi, of course appears to be the man behind it.
PM UNGA speech; Relations with India and Dharna politics
US should not have withdrawn forces from Iraq: Panetta
WASHINGTON: Former Pentagon chief Leon Panetta has denounced the White House in a new memoir, accusing President Barack Obama’s top aides of undercutting efforts to secure a deal in 2011 that could have kept US troops in Iraq. Retaining a small US force would have helped contain sectarian violence and prevented the conditions that helped open the door to the onslaught of the Islamic State group, which has seized a large area of Iraq in recent months, Panetta argues in a soon-to-be released book, “Worthy Fights”. “In the fall of 2011, it was clear to me — and many others — that withdrawing all our forces would endanger the fragile stability then barely holding Iraq together,” Panetta wrote in an adapted excerpt published in Time magazine Thursday.
Nato soldiers in Afghanistan have made the world a safer place: Ghani
KABUL: Newly-inaugurated Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Friday set a fresh tone in relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) countries that have fought in the country against the Taliban, paying a fulsome tribute to foreign soldiers who died in battle. Ghani, speaking alongside British Prime Minister David Cameron in Kabul, said the Nato soldiers in Afghanistan had made the world a safer place. “I want to say thank you to those families for the loss of their loved ones,” Ghani said. “They stood shoulder-to-shoulder (with Afghan forces) and we will remember them.”
Protesters throng streets, defy police in Hong Kong
HONG KONG: Hong Kong democracy protesters defied volleys of tear gas and police baton charges to stand firm in the centre of the global financial hub on Monday, one of the biggest political challenges for China since the Tiananmen Square crackdown 25 years ago. The Communist government in Beijing made clear it would not tolerate dissent, and warned against any foreign interference as thousands of protesters massed for a fourth night in the free-wheeling, capitalist city of more than 7 million people. “Hong Kong is China’s Hong Kong,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying defiantly told a news briefing in Beijing.
Comment: Mental toughness can be key to our players’ success in the game
Players’ mental development is paramount for their individual and collective success, both on and off the field. Given the rising importance of motivational (mental) training in modern day sports, we in recent history have witnessed several international outfits hiring the services of high-performance counsellors and motivational speakers for players and their coaches. Cricket no doubt is a sport that requires strategic thinking by the captain, coach and the entire team. Match pressure coupled with pessimism can break the best of players, captains as well as the teams. We all know what happened to England batsmen Jonathan Trott in the last Ashes and to Graham Thorpe and Marcus Trescothick before him. They were all very fine cricketers but could not handle pressure.
China’s President Xi to make first visit to India
BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping will make his first visit to India as head of state on a regional visit starting this week which will also take in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Tajikistan, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday. Xi will begin his trip in Tajikistan where he will attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on Thursday and Friday, the ministry said. China, Russia and four Central Asian nations — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan — formed the group in 2001 as a regional security bloc to fight threats posed by radical Islam and drug trafficking from neighbouring Afghanistan.
Obama promises more US aid to stem Ebola outbreak
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama is pledging more US assistance to help contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The White House says the president made the pledge in a telephone conversation Monday with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Obama has said previously that the deadly outbreak is a US national security priority and that the American military will help set up isolation units and equipment in West Africa and provide security for public health workers.
Brazil, Pakistan Relations Poised For A Quantum Leap
ALFREDO LEONI
Ambassador of Brazil talks to Centreline and DNA
Ansar Mahmood Bhatti
Ambassador of Brazil Alfredo Leoni talks to Centreline and DNA
Ambassador of Brazil to Pakistan Alfredo Leoni gave an exclusive interview to Centreline and DNA. Ambassador Leoni has completed his term in Pakistan and shall soon assume his new assignment in Poland as Ambassador. Ambassador Leoni talked in detail about various aspects of bilateral relationship. Also he talked about recently held football world cup. Here are excerpts from his interview.
‘I see Brazil An Alternate Universe Of Pakistan’
MOHSIN HAMID
Known Pakistani literary figure Mohsin Hamid
Takes part in FLIP festival in Brazil
Mohsin Hamid grew up in Lahore, Pakistan and attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School. His first novel, Moth Smoke, won the Betty Trask Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Prize. His second, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, spent over two months on the New York Times bestseller list. It was published in over 30 languages and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and was named by the Guardian as one of the books that defined the decade. Hamid contributes to Time, the Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other publications. He lives in Lahore.
