Malala Yousafzai meets Obamas at White House

BBC News, 12 October 2013

Malia Obama, left, joined her parents at the Oval Office to meet Malala

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• Profile: Malala Yousafzai
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US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have met Pakistani schoolgirl campaigner Malala Yousafzai in the Oval Office.

The Obamas thanked Malala, 16, who was shot in the head last year by the Taliban, for her "inspiring and passionate work" for girls' education.

The Obama's 15-year-old daughter Malia also attended the meeting.

The White House said the US celebrated Malala's courage and determination to promote girls' right to attend school.

"As the First Lady has said, 'Investing in girls' education is the very best thing we can do, not just for our daughters and granddaughters, but for their families, their communities, and their countries'," the White House said in a statement.

On Thursday, Malala was awarded the EU's Sakharov human rights prize. Although she had been tipped for the Nobel Peace Prize, on Friday that went to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the body overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal.

A native of Pakistan's mountainous Swat Valley, Malala rose to prominence in 2009 after writing an anonymous blog for the BBC Urdu service about her life under Taliban rule and the lack of education for girls.

Her name became internationally known after the Pakistan army pushed the Taliban out of the area in 2009.

The Taliban's Islamist doctrine puts harsh restrictions on women's rights and one of the militants shot her last year as she was riding in a bus with school friends.

After the attack, she was flown to the UK for medical treatment and now lives in Birmingham, where she is going to school.

Related Article:

Pakistan's Malala wins EU's Sakharov rights prize

Guardian's NSA revelations: spies to go under spotlight

Deputy PM Nick Clegg says public accountability and trust to be examined in review of surveillance powers 

The Guardian, Patrick Wintour, Rowena Mason and Dan Roberts in Washington, Thursday 10 October 2013

More than 20 newspaper editors from a dozen countries have rallied to defend
 the Guardian's handling of the files leaked by Edward Snowden. Montage: Guardian

Nick Clegg is to start conversations in government about how to update the legal oversight of Britain's security services in the light of disclosures by the Guardian that powerful new technologies appear to have outstripped the current system of legislative and political oversight.

The deputy prime minister's aides said he would be calling in experts from inside and outside Whitehall to discuss the implications of the new surveillance technologies for public accountability and trust. It is the first time such a senior figure in government has conceded that the revelations published in the Guardian have highlighted concerns about the accountability of the security services.

Clegg hinted at his plans in his weekly phone-in on London's LBC radio, saying: "I think it is right to ask whether there is anything more we can do to make sure the public feel accountability is working in this area properly. There is a totally legitimate debate about the power of these technologies, about how you get the balance right, how you do make sure these technologies are used in an accountable and proportionate way."

But Clegg also joined David Cameron and the head of MI5, Andrew Parker, in declaring that the Guardian had published information, passed to the paper by the American whistleblower Edward Snowden, that was not in the public interest. He said: "I don't think just giving technical secrets to those who wish to do us harm serves any purpose."

Clegg's aides did not give specific examples of details published by the Guardian that would give this help to terrorists.

Cameron also weighed into the debate, and in his most critical comments of the Guardian said: "When you get newspapers who get hold of vast amounts of data and information that is effectively stolen information and they think it's OK to reveal this, I think they have to think about their responsibilities and are they helping to keep our country safe."

The prime minister acknowledged that the paper had destroyed some information at his request. He also hinted at movement on the issue, saying: "I am satisfied that the work these agencies do is not only vital but it is properly overseen. That is what this debate needs to be about. If people want to suggest improvements about how they are governed and looked after, I am happy to listen to those."

In the wake of Parker's speech this week attacking the Guardian's disclosures, some British newspapers, notably the Daily Mail, accused the Guardian of being a newspaper that helps Britain's enemies. The Mail said the paper had "crossed a line with lethal irresponsibility".

But more than 20 leading newspaper editors from a dozen countries rallied to defend the Guardian's handling of the Snowden files. Many insisted that journalists were quite capable of deciding which information is too dangerous to publish – and which information the public has a right to knew.

"Journalists have only one responsibility: to keep their readers informed and educated about whatever their government is doing on their behalf," said Aluf Benn, editor-in-chief of Israel's Haaretz.

Several editors expressed disappointment that the Guardian had come under attack from other journalists. Javier Moreno, director of El País in Spain, said: "What's sad, baffling and dangerous is that the attacks now come not only from governments but from other newspapers too. We need newspapers wiling to do their job, rather than those ready to cheer on the self-interested deceptions of the powerful."

Wolfgang Büchner, editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel, in Germany, said: "It is a tragedy that media outlets aligned with governments are now accusing the journalists uncovering these abuses of 'lethal irresponsibility.' "

It had not been known that Clegg was to take active steps to review the issue, a route apparently closed off by the parliamentary watchdog, the Intelligence and Security Committee.

The ISC had declared, following a short investigation in private, that the security services were bypassing the current systems of ministerial oversight.

But the deputy prime minister's aides said: "We are completely supportive of you lifting the lid on a lot of this, and starting a debate to which he is trying to contribute."

Clegg himself said: "There is a totally legitimate debate to be had, and in my experience from speaking to people in the security services they recognise this, about the use of these incredibly powerful technologies. We have legislation – regulations – that were designed for an age that is quite different now. Both terrorist states and security services conduct this battle online in a way that was quite unimaginable just a few years ago.

"What that means for privacy and proportionality is a totally legitimate area for debate. How you hold the secret parts of any state to account is an incredibly important issue.

"We have to defend the principle of secrecy but you can only really make secrecy legitimate in the eyes of the public if there is a proper form of accountability."

The first public indications of government disquiet in the UK came as a new drive started in the United States to bring the National Security Agency to account. The conservative Republican who authored the US Patriot Act is preparing to unveil bipartisan legislation that would dramatically curtail the domestic surveillance powers it gives to intelligence agencies.

Congressmen Jim Sensenbrenner, who worked with president George W Bush to give more power to US spies after the 11 September terrorist attack, said they had misused it by collecting telephone records on all Americans and claimed it was time "to put their metadata programme out of business".

Many lawmakers have agreed that new legislation is required owing to the collapse in public trust following Snowden's disclosures that the NSA was collecting bulk records of all US phone calls in order to sift out potential terrorist targets.

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Obama picks 'exceptionally qualified' Yellen for Fed

Google – AFP, Paul Handley (AFP), 10 October 2013

US President Barack Obama announces his nomination of economist Janet Yellen (L)

 as Federal Reserve chairman as current chairman Ben Bernanke listens in the State

Dining Room of the White House in Washington, on October 9, 2013 (AFP,

Jewel Samad)

Washington — US President Barack Obama has nominated economist Janet Yellen to lead the Federal Reserve in a move expected to sustain the central bank's easy money policies and efforts to curb joblessness.

If approved, Yellen would replace outgoing Ben Bernanke as chair of the Fed next February, under heavy pressure to make sure that global growth is not derailed when its longstanding stimulus policy is eventually reined in.

Obama called the first woman ever named to take the helm at the world's most powerful central bank as "exceptionally qualified" for the job.

"America's workers and families will have a champion in Janet," Obama said at a White House ceremony, flanked by Yellen and Bernanke, stating that his pick "sounded the alarm early" about housing and financial bubbles that led to the 2008-2009 recession.

Economist Janet Yellen smiles as US President 

Barack Obama announces her nomination as

 Federal Reserve chairman at the White House

 in Washington, DC, on October 9, 2013 (AFP, 

Jewel Samad)

"She is a proven leader, and she's tough. Not just because she is from Brooklyn," he quipped, calling for Yellen to be quickly confirmed by the Senate.

"She doesn't have a crystal ball, but what she does have is a keen understanding of how the markets and the economy work, not just in theory but also in the real world," he added.

Yellen said she would not break with the US central bank's current easy-money policies aimed at pushing down unemployment, still high at 7.3 percent in August.

"More needs to be done to strengthen the recovery, particularly for those hardest hit by the Great Recession," she added as she accepted Obama's nomination.

"The mandate of the Federal Reserve is to serve all the American people. And too many Americans still can't find a job, and worry how they'll pay their bills and provide for their families."

Yellen, 67, with years of experience in academia and the central bank, has served as Fed vice chairman since 2010.

In that time she has been closely tied to key policy changes, including setting targets for inflation and unemployment, and making the thinking of Fed policymakers more open.

Yellen studied economics at Brown University and then Yale, where she earned a doctorate. 

She is married to economics Nobel prize winner George Akerlof, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley. Both are known for taking economic texts to the beach on vacation.

"The truth is," Yellen once told an interviewer, "if you spent an evening at our house you would probably hear economics discussed over the dinner table."

"You would eat a diet that is richer in discussions of economics and policy issues than many people would find appetizing."

Her nomination was not a surprise after the presumed favorite, former Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers, pulled out of the running after several top Democratic senators voiced vehement opposition.

Though criticized by conservatives as a Fed "dove" -- one of a camp allegedly too determined to stimulate growth and not adequately worried about the threat of inflation -- Yellen is certain to get a better reception in the Senate than Summers would have received.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, who was part of the Democratic revolt on the Senate Banking Committee against a Summers nomination, gave Yellen a thumbs-up on Wednesday.

"Janet has extraordinary experience and a proven track record of strong judgment and management savvy," Warren said in a statement.

The committee's senior Republican, Mike Crapo, was more measured, saying her nomination would be "carefully reviewed," noting his own opposition to the Fed's $85 billion a month bond-buying stimulus, known as quantitative easing.

Markets were little moved by the nomination, with the S&P 500 stock index ending the day flat, and the US dollar edging higher along with long-term bond yields.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde called the nomination "great".

"She's very competent, she's my friend, I'm delighted she's there," said Lagarde, who in recent months has sternly warned the Fed not to cut back its stimulus too fast to avoid injecting more turbulence into global markets.

However, one of Yellen's first tasks will be to judge how quickly to taper the huge stimulus.

Economists and markets had expected the cuts to begin last month.

But the Bernanke-led Federal Open Market Committee held off, pointing to some signs of weakness in the economy and the threat to stability posed by Washington's political paralysis over the budget and debt ceiling.

Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics said the FOMC is likely to hold off on the stimulus taper until next year.

"It's difficult to imagine sufficient improvement in the hard employment data could emerge in time for Dr. Yellen to push for tapering at her very first meeting as chairman, on March 18/19. 

The June meeting, in our view, is a better bet."

A file photo dated 10 October 2012 showing Janet Yellen, Vice
Chair of the US Federal Reserve System, attending a sem

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Pakistan's Malala wins EU's Sakharov rights prize

Google – AFP, 10 October 2013

Malala Yousafzai gives a speech after receiving the RAW in WAR Anna Politkovskaya

 Award at the Southbank Centre in central London on October 4, 2013 (AFP/File,

Justin Tallis)

Strasbourg — Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenage activist nominated for Friday's Nobel Peace Prize, was awarded the prestigious Sakharov human rights prize by the European Parliament on Thursday.

To thunderous applause announcing the prize, the parliament's president Martin Schulz said "Malala bravely stands for the right of all children to be granted a fair education. This right for girls is far too commonly neglected."

The parliament's vote for Malala amid a shortlist of three nominees "acknowledges the incredible strength of this young woman," Schulz added.

The 16-year-old has become an emblem of the fight against the most radical forms of Islamism.

She was shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban on October 9 last year for speaking out against them and has gone on to become a global ambassador for the right of all children to go to school.

A bookstore employee displays copies of

the memoirs of Pakistani child activist

Malala Yousafzai in Islamabad on

October 8, 2013 (AFP/File, Aamir

Qureshi)

Her old school closed Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of her shooting.

She was taken to Britain for treatment in the wake of the attack and now goes to school in the central city of Birmingham.

Feted by world leaders and celebrities for her courage, she has addressed the UN, this week published an autobiography, and could become the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate on Friday.

In an interview with Pakistani radio station City89 FM this week she said she had not yet earned that accolade.

"There are many people who deserve the Nobel Peace Prize and I think that I still need to work a lot," she said.

There was no immediate response from Malala, currently in New York, to winning the 50,000-euro ($65,000) Sakharov prize. It will be handed to the teenager at a ceremony in Strasbourg on November 20.

Past winners of the prize include South African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

Malala first rose to prominence with a blog for the BBC Urdu service chronicling the difficulties of life under the rule of the Taliban, who controlled Swat valley from 2007 until they were kicked out by the army in 2009.

Pakistani student Malala Yousafzai speaks to

 the media after being greeted by United Nations 

Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at the UN 

headquarters in New York on July 12, 2013

(AFP/File, Stan Honda)

In the region in deeply conservative northwest Pakistan, women are often expected to stay at home to cook and rear children and officials say only around half of girls go to school -- though this is up from 34 percent in 2011.

Though the brutal rule of the Taliban has ended, pockets of militancy remain, with schools regularly being destroyed by insurgents.

Three jailed Belarussian dissidents and US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden had also been short-listed for the EU's Sakharov prize.

Belarussians Ales Belyatsky, Eduard Lobau and Mykola Statkevich were jailed after mass protests in Minsk in December 2010 against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Snowden, the US contractor who revealed widespread spying by the United states on friends and foes alike, has sought asylum in Russia.

Last year's award went to detained Iranians, lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and film-maker Jafar Panahi, to honour those "standing up for a better Iran."

Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is to finally receive the EU Sakharov human rights prize she won in 1990 at the height of the Myanmar military crackdown, the European Parliament said this week.

Suu Kyi, now leader of the opposition in Myanmar and aiming to run in presidential polls in 2015, is due to address MEPs on October 22, according to the parliament's schedule.

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Malala Yousafzai: God has given me a second life


The brave girl who had to face armed assassins because she stood up for her right to educate herself

Aisha North, Feb 8, 2013

The manuscript of survival – part 265 - (Constant Companions channeled through Aisha North)

Aisha North

As you have noticed, there are many stirrings in the undercurrent now, and some of the light is already starting to penetrate the fog that has enveloped mankind for such a long time. At the moment, this will seem to be mere pinpricks of light in a huge ocean of darkness, but do not let that fool you. As we have talked about so many times, this layer of darkness that still seems to cover most of your planet is only an illusion, a thin film of confusion covering up the new reality. And now, this reality will start to become more and more visible. Not only to you, but also to others out there, people who look upon themselves as no more than an ordinary citizen, but who will soon start to realize that they too have the power to change not only their own life, but also the lives of so many others.

And they will do so in a peaceful way, for we do not speak of a violent upsurging, far from it. For have you not witnessed already how the power and might of an armed scoundrel is not match for the power of the light? We refer of course to the story of the brave girl who had to face armed assassins because she stood up for her right to educate herself (From Aisha: I think they refer to the story of Malala Yousafzai). If you look closely at her story, you will see how the light penetrating her has been seeping into thousands, if not millions of others already. So she is indeed a shining example on how one of these pinpricks of light can blow away a huge area of fog and darkness, and how the forces of ill intent are no match for the light, for those bullets being aimed at her did not kill the light, it only made it that much stronger.

So let that be a lesson to you all on how nothing and no one can stop the light, no matter how hard they try. For the force of anger and hatred is not match for the love and compassion that is starting to grow on your planet now. And even if these forces of the old are trying their hardest to instill the old fear into you all, they will not succeed, no matter how many weapons they fire off, or how many people they beat to a pulp. For they cannot beat you now dear ones, you are the ones who have won this battle for the souls.

For in your soul, the light is growing stronger and stronger, and with it, the power you carry. And through your example, just like the girl who took the bullets in order to let the light shine out to the whole world, the change will come, step by step, person to person. For you are also brave, and even if you will never have to face the same hardships as this girl, you too will have to conquer the world with your actions. For you are indeed the bravest of the brave, and you have walked through fire to get where you are today. And doing that, you have liberated not only yourself, but thousands upon thousands of your fellow men and women. For you have hacked a trail trough that dense jungle of fear and darkness, and following in your footsteps are the rest of humanity. With a few exceptions of course, and they will clamor and cry as loud as they can in order to make you all believe that they still outnumber you. But they do not, and that is what you will all see as the days keep getting lighter and lighter, and those pinpricks of lights grow ever brighter and ever bigger.

So fear not, as fear has been diminished to such a state it is but a shadow of itself. That shadow is still touching the hearts of many around you, but that shadow is also thinning out, and it will be replaced by light in even the sturdiest of hearts. For light has no boundaries, only the fear has that now, so light is spreading out faster and faster, and the courage it inspires in you all is growing with it. So stand tall and proud, and know that you too has been a part of that journey from the darkest abyss and to this, the threshold of everlasting light. And know too that your actions will never go unnoticed, as you have all been instrumental in this about turn of the human race. So look around, and we think you will find these shining examples starting to emerge in every corner of your world, even in the places where you least expect them to. For, as we said, the light has no boundaries, certainly not one set by any human, and no line on the map or no wall, no matter how high it is, can keep it out. So again we say rejoice, for the morning has broken, and the day is about to start. And this day is one that will last forever.

Putin is latest Asia summit no-show to raise eyebrows

Google – AFP, 9 October 2013

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends the leaders' declaration at the APEC 

Leaders' News Conference in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali

on October 8, 2013 (Pool/AFP/File, Beawiharta)

Bandar Seri Begawan — After the US president's no-show at a pair of Asia-Pacific summits, eyebrows are being raised over Russian leader Vladimir Putin's decision to also skip one of the gatherings.

Despite coming to the region for an economic meeting in Indonesia earlier this week, Putin has passed on a subsequent East Asia summit in the sultanate of Brunei set for Friday.

It marks the third straight year that Moscow has sent a stand-in to a gathering that Russia had lobbied hard to join in 2011, raising questions over Moscow's level of commitment to the East Asia bloc.

Russia had promised "to be represented at the highest level," said Surin Pitsuwan, former secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), annual host of the East Asia summit.

"For some reason or another they have not been. That is disappointing."

US President Barack Obama cancelled a visit to Asia, including the twin leaders' meetings, due to the US government shutdown, casting doubt over his administration's planned pivot to the region.

Brunei organisers of Friday's summit -- a group of 18 nations, including Southeast Asian countries, the United States, China and Russia -- said Moscow also had informed them a week ago that Putin would not be coming.

He is instead represented in Brunei by his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

The United States and Russia first joined the 16-nation East Asian bloc, which centres on ASEAN, in 2011 in what analysts saw as a potential check on Chinese influence in the region.

But it is becoming increasingly clear that Russia's trade and other ties with the ASEAN bloc are too small to rate high-level interest from Moscow, said a Southeast Asian diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"It (Putin's absence) just reflects how Russia looks at ASEAN -- that it doesn't give much weight to ASEAN," said the diplomat, noting Russia has no direct stake in hot-button issues in the region such as overlapping claims in the strategic South China Sea.

"It does seem that Russia has given more premium to its relations with the APEC grouping."

APEC refers to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation bloc spanning the region.

Just days ago at the APEC summit in Bali, Putin touted the importance of Russia's involvement in supplying energy to growing Asian markets.

A Kremlin spokesman denied that Russia had lost interest in ASEAN and the East Asia summit, but added: "Unfortunately, he (Putin) cannot attend every summit. There is a degree of priority for everything."

But Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Kremlin-linked Council on Foreign and Defence Policy, said: "Putin has simply nothing to offer this summit."

"You need a really strong agenda for the president to go to such an event, especially when Russia is not a member," he said.

"But there is no such agenda, so we decided that there was no point in going there as tourists."

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APEC opens two-day summit in Bali

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, right, shakes hands with
 Russian President Vladimir Putin after speaking during the APEC Leaders’ News
 Conference on the final day of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
Summit in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on October 8, 2013 as
country leaders and representatives look on. (EPA Photo)

..

US to suspend most military aid to Egypt: officials

Google – AFP, 9 October 2013

Tires burn as Egyptian Muslim brotherhood and supporters of ousted president

 Mohamed Morsi take part in clashes with riot police along Ramsis street in

downtown Cairo, on October 6, 2013 (AFP/File, Mohammed Abdel Moneim)

Washington — The United States is poised to suspend much of its military aid to Egypt due to Cairo's sweeping crackdown against supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, US officials said Wednesday.

The decision would hold up the delivery of major weapons, including Apache helicopters, F-16 fighter jets and M1A1 Abrams tanks, officials told AFP, confirming overnight US media reports.

But American aid focused on counter-terrorism efforts -- including operations in the Sinai desert near Israel's border -- would likely continue, officials said.

An announcement of the move was expected later this week but officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Washington had already effectively frozen deliveries of expensive military hardware since a July 3 coup and subsequent bloody clampdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

"Nothing's been delivered in months," one said.

After Morsi's overthrow, the Pentagon called off a planned exercise with Egypt and postponed the delivery of four F-16 fighters.

The White House did not confirm it was to scale back assistance but said Washington would not cut off all aid, which amounts to $1.5 billion a year, most of it in military hardware and training.

"The reports that we are halting all military assistance to Egypt are false," Caitlin Hayden, spokesperson for the National Security Council, said in a statement late Tuesday.

She said the administration would unveil plans on Egypt "in the coming days" but that President Barack Obama had made clear at the UN General Assembly that the "assistance relationship will continue."

Obama and his deputies have repeatedly appealed to Egypt's military-backed government to hold fresh elections to restore democratic rule, but have so far failed to persuade Cairo to change its approach.

Islamist backers of the ousted Egyptian president clashed with police on Sunday, leaving 57 people dead.

Asked last month if the United States would go ahead with a planned delivery of Apache attack helicopters, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the administration was "reviewing all aspects of our relationship."

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Tuesday that recent violence in the streets was "exactly why this massive policy review has been undertaken, because business can?t continue as usual."

While insisting no final decision had been made, she suggested the administration may distinguish between aid that flows directly to the Egyptian authorities and assistance that goes to non-governmental organizations.

Israel, anxious about maintaining its 1979 peace accord with Egypt, has reportedly asked Washington to maintain aid to Cairo's military-led interim government.

The United States has provided billions in aid to Cairo since the 1979 peace deal, ensuring peace between Egypt and Israel as well as priority access to the Suez Canal and anti-terrorism cooperation.

The United States has deposited $584 million in remaining military aid funds for fiscal year 2013 in a federal reserve account pending the outcome of the policy review, according to State Department officials.

China calls for joint efforts to advance nuclear disarmament

Want China Times, Xinhua 2013-10-09

United Nations General Assembly hall in New York City. (Internet Photo)

Chinese ambassador for Disarmament Affairs Wu Haitao here on Tuesday called on the international community to advance nuclear disarmament in a step- by-step manner.

"Some progress has been made in the nuclear disarmament process, but the continuous and further promotion and eventual attainment of a nuclear-weapon-free world remains an arduous task," Wu told a meeting of the First Committee of the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly.

The UNGA's First Committee deals with disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community and seeks out solutions to the challenges in the international security regime.

"Nuclear proliferation issues are still prominent," Wu said, adding that the international community should make joint efforts to further promote the process of disarmament.

In doing so, countries should first advance nuclear disarmament in a step-by-step manner and reduce proliferation risks comprehensively, he noted.

"Nuclear-weapon states should abandon the nuclear deterrence doctrine based on the first use of nuclear weapons and make an unequivocal commitment of no-first-use of and not using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones, negotiate and conclude a legally-binding international instrument in this regard at an early date," said the Chinese ambassador.

According to him, countries with the largest nuclear arsenals should continue to take the lead in making drastic and substantive reductions in their nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, Wu noted, other nuclear-weapon states should also join the multilateral negotiations on nuclear disarmament when conditions are ripe.

"Nuclear disarmament should stick to the principles of maintaining global strategic balance and stability and undiminished security for all," he said.

In this regard, the development of missile defense systems that undermine global strategic balance and stability should be abandoned, he added.

Wu went on to say that China has always stood for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons.

"China is firmly committed to its nuclear strategy of self- defense and has adhered to the policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances," he said.

In his speech, Wu also stressed that dialogue and negotiation are the only right way to resolve regional nuclear issues.

"For the Iranian nuclear issue, parties concerned should step up diplomatic efforts, promote the dialogue process between P5+1 and Iran to make early progress, so as to create conditions for a comprehensive, long-term and appropriate solution," said the ambassador.

Regarding the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, according to Wu, China believes that the six-party talks remain a pragmatic and effective mechanism to push forward denuclearization of the Peninsula and maintain peace and stability there.

"China is ready to work together with parties concerned and make unremitting efforts to relaunch the six-party talks without delay and realize the denuclearization of the Peninsula and lasting peace and stability on the Peninsula and in Northeast Asia at large," he said.

Related Article:

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Putin critic Kosenko confined to psychiatric ward

BBC News, 8 October 2013

Kosenko had undergone outpatient psychiatric treatment before his arrest

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A Russian court has ordered a critic of President Vladimir Putin to be committed to a psychiatric hospital over clashes with police at a protest.

The court ruled that Mikhail Kosenko was not responsible for his actions because he has a mental illness.

Kosenko was accused of rioting at a protest in Moscow in May last year, on the eve of Mr Putin's inauguration.

Amnesty International called the ruling an "abhorrent return to the Soviet-era practices used to silence dissent".

"Mikhail Kosenko is a prisoner of conscience put behind bars for peacefully exercising his right to protest and should be released immediately," said AI's Europe and Central Asia programme director John Dalhuisen.

'Danger to society'

Kosenko had undergone outpatient psychiatric treatment before his arrest - which his defence team insists should continue.

"A conclusion by expert psychiatrists says that he is a danger to society and therefore should be isolated in a psychiatric facility," his lawyer Valery Shukhardin told AFP.

"It's unclear to us where these conclusions come from. They are not justified by anything except the charges laid against him."

Mr Shukhardin said the defence team would appeal against the sentence.

Kosenko is one of a dozen activists accused of mass disorder over the Bolotnaya rally, on 6 May 2012.

It was the culmination of a wave of protests which began in December 2011, following Mr Putin's party's victory in parliamentary elections.

Tens of thousands of people had marched to the square. Police say protesters turned on them with metal bars and flagstones.

Opposition leaders say the authorities provoked the clashes.

APEC Leaders See the Light

Jakarta Globe, Dion Bisara, October 8, 2013

This general view shows leaders attending the “Leaders Retreat” during the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali on
October 7, 2013. (AFP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Nusa Dua, Bali. Optimism reigns among members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, as leaders from some of the biggest economies in the region pledge to put more emphasis on cooperation toward sustainable growth.

“Certainly APEC has been a great success so far. I think this will only lead to even greater success,” said Stevan Kosciuszko, managing director at CQS, a London-based asset management firm.

“I’m entirely convinced that there is an entirely bright future for China and bright future for APEC.”

Kosciuszko made his comment after Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US Secretary of State John Kerry delivered their keynote addresses at Monday’s APEC summit.

Xi said that China was focusing on transforming into a modern economy with emphasis on domestic consumption — which currently only accounts for 7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product — shifting away from an export- and investment-led economy. That should provide balance as China moves away from double-digit growth, Xi said.

Such a move by China would in turn benefit the Asia-Pacific region, the country’s main trading partner.

“China cannot develop in isolation from Asia Pacific, and Asia Pacific cannot prosper without China,” Xi said, adding that China would take a more sustainable and efficient path of growth.

“President Xi Jinping’s comments were well-balanced, well-made, and he covered all the points, that people are concerned about China, and more positive points as China transitions to a new modern economy,” Kosciuszko said.

Kerry emphasized the US commitment to engage with the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on business to accelerate growth.

He also said that trade and investment liberalization should be continued, and that the 21 members of APEC should not implement protectionism and make difficult decisions for entrepreneurs.

“The role of the private sector is very important in spurring growth and creating equity. Therefore never make investors or businesspeople frustrated,” Kerry said.

He urged governments and the private sector to work together to improve cooperation, calling for greater transparency, fairness and accountability. Government plays a central role and appropriate government policies would attract investment and encourage more entrepreneurship, Kerry said.

Kerry substituted for President Barack Obama, who was unable to attend because of the US government’s budget impasse. Kerry said he believed the political crisis would be resolved soon, and the fiscal crisis would be overcome in the near future.

The US economy will rise, he said, because through freedom and supporting regulations, the US private sector can innovate, producing high value-added technology products through such companies as Microsoft, Google and Facebook.

Putin said that APEC needed long-term planning in ensuring structural reform, more job creation, providing financing sources for investment, and a fairer distribution of risk.

“G-20 [Group of 20] leaders come to the consensus that growth incentives should be accompanied by fiscal consolidation. This is difficult but G-20 leaders believe it’s possible,” Putin said.

He noted that the US government shutdown was a difficult situation.

“The reason Obama did not come here is a justified one. If I were him, I won’t come either,” he said.

All countries are in interested in the US overcoming the crisis because it is still the world’s biggest economy and the dollar is still the main reserve currency, Putin said.

Lixia Qiu, president of Overseas Zhejiang Merchants, said that the world leaders had assured a more sustainable path of growth for the Asia-Pacific region, against the background of uncertainty in the global economy.

“We are more optimistic now” about future economic growth, Qiu said.

Kosciuszko added, “This gave a solid foundation for future agreement. I expect bigger agreements would be made [at next year’s summit].”

 Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delivers his speech during
 the opening of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in
 Nusa Dua, Indonesia resort island of Bali October 6, 2013. REUTERS/Beawiharta

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