Strategic Affairs Archives - Page 293 of 303

19 Dec

Imran had been asking Gen Bajwa to get oppn politicians arrested: Report

Islamabad, Dec 19 (IANS) Pakistan's former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen (R) Qamar Javed Bajwa has a lot to tell about PTI Chairman Imran Khan, his rise in politics and how he ran his government, a media report said. Sources close to Gen Bajwa said that the recently retired former Army Chief could not respond in public to what Khan alleges against him because of some codal limitations but it is insisted what the former premier mostly says about Bajwa is untrue, the News report said. Bajwa is now the focused target of Khan who not only sees the former…

19 Dec

Deportation of Palestinian rights activist to France condemned

Ramallah, Dec 19 (IANS) Palestinian authorities have condemned Israel's decision to deport East Jerusalem resident Salah Al-Hamouri, a French-Palestinian lawyer and rights activist, to France. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the deportation of Al-Hamouri "is an outrageous step committed by the illegal occupation and a war crime that is added to its long list of crimes committed against the Palestinians", reports Xinhua news agency. It urged the international community, including France, "to hold Israel accountable for its ongoing crimes, including the forcible displacement of the lawyer". "We call on the UN Security Council to uphold its obligations…

19 Dec

Japan announces big military push (Opinion)

After Germany, Japan becomes the second country to overhaul its military in the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war and increasing Chinese belligerence. It seems as if the war indirectly and the Chinese belligerence in the region directly has forced another country to give up its long-standing stand of being a non-military nation. Pacifist Japan has said it would soon start a once-unthinkable $320 billion military build-up that would arm it with missiles capable of striking China and ready it for a sustained conflict as regional tensions and Russia's Ukraine invasion stoke war fears, globally. Last week, Japan approved a new…

19 Dec

Terrorists seize police station in Pak (Ld)

Islamabad, Dec 19 (IANS) A group of detained terrorists have seized a police station in Bannu city located in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and held interrogators hostage while demanding their safe evacuation to Afghanistan, the media reported on Monday. Two security personnel were injured in the Bannu standoff that continued till late Sunday evening, reports Dawn news. However, Special Assistant to KP Chief Minister, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif claimed the situation was "under control" and security forces had started an operation. The militants, detained at the facility run by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police's Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), managed to break out…

19 Dec

S.Korean Prez approval rating rises to 41.1%: Poll

Seoul, Dec 19 (IANS) South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating rose to 41.1 per cent, breaking through the 40 per cent threshold for the first time since June, a poll showed on Monday. The positive assessment of Yoon's performance added 2.7 percentage points from the previous week, while the negative assessment slipped 2 percentage points to 56.8 pe rcent, according to the Realmeter survey. It marked the first time in 24 weeks that Yoon's approval rating has exceeded 40 per cent, reports Yonhap News Agency. Since hitting 44.4 per cent in the fifth week of June, the figure had stayed…

18 Dec

Imran Khan promises ‘no action’ against Gen Bajwa after coming to power

Lahore, Dec 18 (IANS) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday said that he has a "personal" dispute with former army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa (retd) but he will not take any action against him if he comes into power again, media reports said. Imran Khan said that new Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir himself has said that he will remain neutral. However, he added that holding elections within three months after the dissolution of assemblies will the biggest test of his neutrality. He said that when Lt Gen Faiz Hameed was…

18 Dec

Threat to Rishi Sunak continuing as UK Prime Minister

London, Dec 18 (IANS) With parliament in recess, politics is also on vacation in UK in what is deemed in this country to be a Christmas truce. But the threat to Indian-origin Prime Minister Rishi Sunak continuing in office seems to be around the corner, if not already present. Lord Peter Cruddas, a ruling Conservative party peer in the House of Lords and one of the party's biggest recent financial donors, bluntly told The Observer: "Something's going to come to a head because the members don't want Rishi Sunak. The odds are stacked against him. Sunak, 42, became head of government…

18 Dec

Kim Jong-un apparently skips remembrance event for late father

Seoul, Dec 18 (IANS) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have skipped an event marking the death of his father on the weekend, leading to speculation among South Korean observers that he may be concentrating on devising plans for the new year. The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Sunday that the country's senior officials visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang the previous day to pay tribute to Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un's father who died on December 17, 2011. Officials from the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and the standing committee of the Supreme People's…

18 Dec

Chinese actions an expression of Xi’s expansionism (IANS Column: FairPoint)

Even as the Indian Army thwarted the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Arunachal Pradesh, the fact remains that the transgressions have once again set off alarm bells ringing. China's adventurous desire for Indian territory is not going to subside, their push will only increase in the future. The China policies are clear-cut. They believe in expansionism that is both economic as well as land-driven. In their scheme of things, the Indian market of 130 million people and lands in Ladakh, Arunachal or all along the border are in their focus. They want both. India is not the only country…

16 Dec

Austria’s economy expected to face stagnation in 2023

Vienna, Dec 16 (IANS) The Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) said that it expects the country's economy to stagnate next year amid the ongoing energy crisis and the global economic downturn. Austria's gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to grow by only 0.3 per cent in 2023, Xinhua news agency quoted the WIFO as saying in a report. The institute said that Austria's economy is expected to "decline noticeably" this winter as "persistently high energy prices, strong price dynamics and uncertainty about future developments are depressing sentiment". Although Austria's economic outlook is expected to pick up from the spring of…