Dawn.com, Washington
The United States has welcomed the decision to reschedule talks between Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries and urged the two countries to stay engaged with each other.
India and Pakistan announced on Thursday that they had rescheduled proposed talks between their foreign secretaries, scheduled in Islamabad on Jan 15-16, to “very near future”.
Chinese president to visit SArabia, Egypt, Iran
AFP, Beijing
Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran next week, Beijing’s foreign ministry said Friday, as the world’s second-largest economy seeks greater diplomatic heft in a crucial and tense region.
Spokesman Lu Kang said in a statement that Xi would visit the three Middle Eastern countries over five days from Tuesday.
Ban unveils plan to counter extremism
AFP, United Nations
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday appealed for a shift from “heavy-handed” responses to the rise of extremists like the ISIS group as he launched an action plan to prevent violent extremism.
Ban asked all countries to come up with national plans and outline steps that go beyond the narrow scope of military and security responses to the threat from ISIS and other violent groups.
Austria turns tougher on migrants
AFP, Vienna
Austria’s interior minister signalled Friday a tougher line on migrants, saying that from next weekend it will follow Germany’s lead and turn back any new arrivals seeking to claim asylum in Scandinavia.
“Right now on the Austrian-German border only those seeking asylum in Germany are being allowed in.
Malaysian nabs four militants
AFP, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysian authorities have arrested four suspected militants and confiscated a weapon along with militant Islamic State (IS) group documents, national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said Saturday.
Security forces have been on high alert in the predominantly-Muslim country in the wake of deadly coordinated attacks. in neighbouring Indonesia earlier this week that were claimed by IS.
