Tag: Crisis

TOKYO - Japan is facing its worst crisis in the 65 years since the end of World War II, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Sunday, calling on the nation to unite after it was devastated by a huge earthquake.
The situation at a quake-stricken atomic power plant also remains grave, Kan said as engineers battled a nuclear emergency sparked by the massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and the devastating tsunami it triggered.
"The current situation of the earthquake, tsunami and the

ISLAMABAD - Leaders of the major opposition parties in the National Assembly on Friday got together at the residence of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country.
The leaders included PML-Q President Shujaat Hussain and MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Fazl said no grand political alliance was in the offing. However, he said all the political parties were united on

LAHORE - Business community has all abilities and desire to pull the country out of economic mire but it lacks due backing from the government in shape of inconsistency in policies. These views were expressed by the former National Assembly member and former Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) president Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh, while speaking at a business gathering held here on Friday.
The PIAF Chairman Sohail Lashari, LCCI former president Mian Shafqat Ali, senior vice

FAISALABAD - Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Lawyers Forum Divisional Organiser Mian Abdur Rauf advocate has said Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ruled the country a number of times, but failed to address the people's problems. "It is due to the fact that the leaders of both these parties are incompetent, corrupt and devoid of vision," he said. "Under the prevailing circumstances, only Imran Khan can steer the country out of the current crisis," he

MOSCOW - The Russian central bank, on Friday, said it was raising its main refinancing rate 0.25 basis points to eight percent, its first hike in interest rates since the economic crisis over two years ago. The Bank of Russia said in a statement that the rate hike, effective from Monday, was needed due to expectations of higher inflation in Russia and high global oil prices.
"The decision was taken due to continued high inflation expectations," it said in a statement. The rate

KARACHI - Work on plugging breaches in dykes has been plagued by negligence, inordinate delays as well as dakoos harassing contractors and demanding extortion money from them, argued MPA Ahmed Ali Shah, the chairperson of a committee appointed by President Asif Ali Zardari to oversee the restoration of embankments, at the Sindh Assembly session on Wednesday.
Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro was having none of it, however, chiding ministers for their lax attitude in the matter. Of the

KARACHI/LAHORE - The cash strapped Pakistan State Oil (PSO) on Thursday refused to supply furnace oil to the power sector due to the non-payment of its dues of Rs 158 billion. PSO has decided to discontinue the fuel supply to power sector to avoid further defaults on part of the sector, sources said.
They said PSO took the decision after oil refineries threatened it with halting fuel supply, and the state-run oil marketing company is now in no position to continue supplies

KARACHI: The ongoing impasse between the PIA administration and employees finally came to an end after four days of violent protests, with the national flag carrier's Managing Director (MD) Aijaz Haroon's resignation on Friday.
With the announcement that the MD had resigned, there were scenes of jubilation at the Karachi airport as PIA employees, who were brutally baton-charged and beaten up by the law enforcement agencies earlier in the day, celebrated their success. The Defence

SEOUL - South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak called on Monday for new strategies to help secure a stable supply of food amid growing concerns about a global food crisis.
"The likelihood of a global food crisis is rising due to climate change. We need to set up national strategies and research to tackle the issue," Lee's spokesman quoted him as saying during a meeting with senior advisers. Lee also called for a task force from the government and private sector to be set up to

CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's embattled regime struck a landmark deal on Sunday with opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, agreeing to jointly pursue democratic reform. After two weeks of mass street protests and with global pressure mounting for the regime to negotiate a peaceful transition to a more democratic rule, the government met its most powerful foes.
Government spokesman Magdi Radi said the parties agreed to form a committee of judges and

ADDIS ABABA - A high-level panel named by the African Union faces an uphill battle in agreeing a unified stand on Ivory Coast's political crisis and has limited new options to offer the country's two rival leaders.
Divisions were laid bare at the two-day AU summit that ended Monday, with the leaders agreeing to set up a panel made up of the presidents of Burkina Faso, Chad, South Africa, Mauritania and Tanzania to work out an exit strategy. AU commission chief Jean Ping said last

ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday to meet his people's desire for change as he voiced support for democratic reform in the whole Middle East. In a weekly speech to his party's lawmakers in parliament, Erdogan described his appeal to Mubarak as very sincere advice, a very sincere warning.
"Hear the cry of the people and their extremely humane demands. Meet the people's desire for change without hesitation... In

TOKYO - Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Tuesday called on Cairo to form a "democratic government" as several hundred thousand Egyptians massed in an eighth day of protest against President Hosni Mubarak.
"It is desirable that Egypt will undergo a transition to a democratic government in a peaceful manner by communicating fully with the people," Kan told reporters. Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said he wanted the Mubarak government to listen to the Egyptian people and make

CAIRO - Egypt has substantial reserves to avoid an external payments crisis but these could be seriously depleted within weeks if political protests continue, while its banks may struggle to cope with a rush of withdrawals. In the two working days after the protests erupted on Tuesday, which was a bank holiday, Egyptians and foreign investors transferred hundreds of millions of dollars out of Egypt, currency traders estimated.
The government had $36 billion in foreign reserves at

PARIS - Countries around the globe stepped up evacuation of foreign tourists and workers from Egypt on Monday as anti-government protestors called for further pressure to make beleaguered President Hosni Mubarak quit. In Washington, Assistant Secretary of State Janice Jacobs said at least 2,400 Americans in Egypt have asked US officials for help in leaving as the first 42 landed in Cyprus.
"We want to make sure that anyone who needs our help is getting that, and so, yes, I do

TIRANA - The international community managed to prevent new violence in Albania but the situation remains fragile and a political stalemate unresolved, analysts warned Saturday.
"The international community has had a decisive role in preventing a confrontation," analyst Alban Bala said, referring to huge pressure on the opposition ahead of Friday's anti-government protest that ended without incident.
Following clashes at a protest on January 22 that left three people dead,

DUBLIN - Ireland's parties held crisis talks on Monday after the ruling coalition collapsed, with the opposition demanding that the government quickly pass a crucial finance bill and bring forward elections.
Opposition parties gave embattled Prime Minister Brian Cowen a deadline of Friday to comply or to face a no-confidence vote, following the dramatic withdrawal of the Green party from the coalition on Sunday. Finance Minister Brian Lenihan was leading the talks over calls for