Digest of international news for the week

Saturday

New York: A US pastor, who had threatened to burn Quran, says he will never burn copies of the holy book, even if a mosque is built near ground zero here.

Washington: Nine years after the September 11 deadly terror strikes on US, President Barack Obama says American forces were in pursuit of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy who had been forced to go "deep underground".

London/Islamabad: Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has vowed to return to politics declaring that he stood a "good chance" of a comeback as the nation had sunk in self-confidence, a claim which was rebuked by parties in Islamabad.

Sunday

Geneva: The US demand for enhanced access to Chinese, Indian and Brazilian markets, while at the same time stepping up protective trade measures, has further mired the already stalled Doha trade negotiations, say trade diplomats.

Boston: With a net worth of USD 62 billion, Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani could be the richest man on earth in 2014, according to a forecast issued by the prestigious Forbes magazine.

Monday

Caracas: A Venezuelan plane crashes on a domestic holiday flight killing at least 14 people, but most of the 51 people on board survived the crash.

Beijing: China demands the release of the captain of the Chinese fishing trawler after Japan set free 14 crew members involved in a collision with two Japanese coastguard vessels off disputed islands, sparking a major diplomatic row between the two countries.

Tuesday

New Delhi/Rome: The number of hungry people has come down below 1-billion mark to 925 million in 2010, according to a new estimate released by the United Nations.

Wednesday

 Jerusalem: Expressing hopes of achieving "eternal peace in the entire region", Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu here, as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says they are "getting down to business" on tackling core issues.

Islamabad: Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he discussed allegations about Pakistani intelligence agencies helping terrorists with his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari so that both countries could find ways to act against militant sanctuaries.

Thursday

Geneva: India has performed poorly in meeting the

Millennium Development Goals despite sustained growth, with high levels of maternal and child mortality rates amidst very low public spending on health, say analysts ahead of next week's UN
summit on MDGs in New York.

Washington: A US government report says the Obama administration is trying to resolve key bilateral trade irritants with India so that it can significantly increase American exports to the country.

Friday

United Nations: India hands over a cheque of $20 million to UN chief Ban Ki-moon for relief and rehabilitation of flood-affected in Pakistan, after Islamabad's insistence that the aid be routed through the world body.