Tag: President

PARIS - Jacques Chirac on Monday became the first former French president to go on trial as a court heard charges that he embezzled public funds while he was mayor of Paris in the 1990s. The 78-year-old, one of France's most popular political figures, did not attend the start of the trial that will examine whether he misused public money to pay people working for his party ahead of a successful election bid.
Presiding judge Dominique Pauthe adjourned Monday's hearing after a few

ISLAMABAD - Tajik President Emomali Rahman will arrive here today on a three-day state visit to hold talks with the Pakistani leadership to further strengthen bilateral ties. The Tajik president will meet President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and is likely to discuss cooperation in hydropower, investment, medicine, education, transport and communication, trade, tourism besides ways to jointly combat international terrorism. The two sides would explore the

JERUSALEM - Chile's president on Sunday sought to mollify Israel over his country's recognition of Palestinian statehood, saying that the move was ultimately for the good of the Jewish state. Speaking to journalists after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Jerusalem office, Sebastian Pinera echoed a phrase often used by his host, saying that any lasting peace must be based on security. "Chile has just recognised the Palestinian state because we have always

LAHORE - Aamer Hayat Khan Rokri, secretary Pakistan Badminton Federation (Rokri Group) has claimed that that Nazar Muhammad Gondal, former minister for Food & Agriculture, is using his position and political pressure to capture the federation illegally. "It took me a decade to build the federation in trying circumstances, and I did my best to promote this game, but Gondal is ruining everything just to promote his vested interests," said Rokri in a statement.
He further said that

SANAA/ADEN - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Saturday reiterated that he would remain in power until his term ends in 2013, rejecting an opposition plan for him to step aside this year. "The peaceful and smooth transition of power is not carried out through chaos but through the will of the people expressed through elections," an official source at the presidential office said in a statement. The opposition on Friday said Saleh was sticking to an earlier plan to step down in

SANAA - Yemen's opposition and clerics have offered President Ali Abdullah Saleh a smooth exit from power this year, but protesters staged a new demonstration Thursday to demand his immediate ouster. The proposal calls for a "peaceful transition of power" from Saleh, insists anti-regime demonstrations that broke out over two weeks ago will go on, and demands a probe be launched into a deadly crackdown on the protests.
"We've agreed on a settlement proposal including a roadmap for

KARACHI - President Asif Ali Zardari said on Monday that the conceptual master planning of the Zulfikarabad along with the identification of the new mega city's first phase should be completed within this year so that year 2011 could rightly be termed as the 'Year of Zulfikarabad'. The president also instructed that a meeting of the Pak-China Joint Energy Working Group should be held soon so the proposal for the financing of another mega project in the province - the Thar Coal Project

CAIRO - Arab League chief Amr Mussa on Sunday said he plans to run for president in his native Egypt after a popular uprising that toppled veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak, the official MENA agency reported. "I intend to run in the next presidential election, and an (official) announcement will be made at the right time," MENA quoted him as saying.
Mussa said a new Egyptian figure would be picked very soon to head the 22-member pan-Arab organisation. The Arab League secretary

ISLAMABAD - President Zardari and PM Gilani have ordered Foreign Affairs Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir to ensure the safety of Pakistani expatriates in Libya, Foreign Office Spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said in a statement on Sunday.
"In implementation of this directive, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up a Special Task Force that is working round-the-clock to monitor the situation and provide assistance through our embassies in Tripoli and

GUJRANWALA - Pakistan People's Party will play an active and effective role of opposition in the Punjab after the decision of PML-N to part ways with the party. This was stated by PPP Punjab President Imtiaz Safdar Warraich while talking to media on his arrival in the city.
He regretted that PML-N was going to form a new Punjab government with the help of 47 turncoats. He said now PPP would see how PML-N succeeded in decreasing the prices of chicken, eggs and vegetables etc.

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari, on the advice of Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, has reconstituted the Council of Common Interests (CCI) with effect from February 22.
According to a notification of the Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination issued on Saturday, the CCI comprises Prime Minister Gilani (Chairman) and the chief ministers of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh besides Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali,

SANAA - Pressure on Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign intensified on Saturday when the leaders of two of Yemen's most important tribes abandoned the president and joined the anti-regime movement. The news came as an official denied reports that police killed four people on Friday in an assault on an anti-government protest in Aden, blaming a southern secessionist group for the attack.
Powerful tribal leaders, including those of the Hashid and Baqil, pledged to join protests against

SANAA - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power since 1978, on Monday said only defeat at the ballot box will make him quit, even as MPs joined thousands of protesters in Sanaa calling for his departure. In the country's south, police shot dead a protester in the regional capital, Aden, where protests have raged killing 12 people and wounding dozens since February 16, medics and witnesses said.
"If they want me to quit, I will only leave through the ballot box," Saleh told

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari will pay a visit to Japan from February 21-23 at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, to strengthen the cordial relations between the two countries and open new avenues of cooperation. It will be the president's second visit to Japan since assuming office during which he would call on the Emperor of Japan and hold summit-level talks with Premier Naoto Kan.
Zardari is also scheduled to meet with Japanese cabinet members,

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told the visiting US Senator John Kerry that the Raymond Davis issue was complex, having several dimensions, but it must not be allowed to take bilateral relations hostage.
They expressed these views during their separate meetings with Senator Kerry, chairman of the US Senate foreign relations committee, who called on President Asif Ali Zardari at the Presidency and Gilani at the PM House on

KARACHI - The PPP Women Wing Karachi Division held a meeting on Tuesday to repose confidence in the leadership of President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the co-chairman of the PPP, and Faryal Talpur, president of the PPP Women's Wing Pakistan. The meeting was held at the People's Secretariat and chaired by PPP Women Wing Sindh Information Secretary Sharmila Farooqui.
It was attended by all PPP women wing information secretaries of Karachi's 18 towns.
The meeting

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani while underlining that Islam rejects terrorism and extremism Tuesday said those who used religion to justify their heinous and reprehensible acts of terrorism had nothing to do with the Muslims and Islam.
The two leaders expressed these views in separate messages in connection with 12th of Rabi-ul-Awwal, Eid Milad-un-Nabi to be observed today (Wednesday). The president said, "Everyone, particularly the