POLITICS & POLICY

New Zealand and the United States have agreed to their military relations after nearly 30 years as the U.S. is increasing its presence in the Asia-Pacific region to counter the growth of China.

It is news that could prove damaging to the Pakistan government and its intelligence agency, the ISI. Even as the Pakistan government publicly condemns incidents of U.S. drone strikes in its territory, new reports in the U.S. media reveals that top officials in the Pakistani establishment are regularly briefed by U.S. agencies of such strikes. These strikes are being carried out under top secret agreement reached between both governments since the time of George W. Bush and Pervez Musharraf.

China has suspended one of its high-flying officials for allegedly spending an accumulated unpaid bill of $115,080 (700,000 yuan) at a specialty pig trotter restaurant.

In an obvious effort to curb anti-American sentiments, Iranian officials pulled down a bunch of new anti-American billboards that had come in the country's capital city Tehran. The reason it said was that the poster were pulled down because they were put up without the permission of the city’s municipal authorities.

Israel came under attack by an unidentified collective of hackers who managed to shut down traffic on the busy Carmel Tunnels toll road in Haifa, the country's third-largest city. The latest cyber-attack on the Carmel Tunnel which happened on Sept 8 and 9 was first reported as a traffic control system malfunction.

An expedition into a hidden rainforest in Queensland, Australia has yielded some interesting mix of new creature species. The three vertebrate species were a bizarre looking leaf-tailed gecko, a gold-coloured skink which is a type of lizard, and a brown-spotted, yellow boulder-dwelling frog.

At least 13 people have reportedly died from Stormageddon St Jude that blasted Britain and western Europe on Monday. It also toppled trees, inundated lowlands and forced power supply operators to cut supply, leaving thousands without electricity.

Explosive remnants of the World War 2 will be detonated safely from Solomon Islands says the Australian Defence Force

Following reports that the U.S. government eavesdropped on the phone conversations of 35 world leaders, particularly German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Berlin is considering setting up its own Internet system to prevent a repeat of foreign espionage.

The National Security Agency (NSA) has reportedly been spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other high-ranking officials from other nations. The leaked data prompted Merkel to confront U.S. President Obama over the phone.

The much awaited occasion in the world’s history took place on Oct 23, 2013. The world through various mediums witnessed royal christening of Prince George, the future of England’s royal throne. First-time royal parents Kate Middleton and Prince William released their official family photos from Prince George’s christening day recently.

Israel has warned that it will not hesitate to act alone against Iran, based on the findings of a recent report, which says that Iran has the capability to produce sufficient weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear bomb in less than a month. Israeli government said, the report issued Thursday by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) is further justification why Israel will initiate military action before Iran can build its nuclear bomb.

The National Security Agency (NSA) snooping muddle seems to grow murkier by the day. Causing further embarrassment to the Obama administration, new revelations say that U.S. may have been listening into German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone calls for over a decade. Reports said President Barack Obama apologised to the German leader and told her he would have ended it had he known about it.

Protesting Russian action against the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise, an activist of the organisation, staged a two-hour protest inside a tent hanging from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, on Saturday. Reports said the Greenpeace activist who climbed atop the Eiffel Tower, unveiled a banner which read "Free the Arctic 30" and "Militants in prison, climate in danger.”

Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy for Syria, said Saturday that Iran should be invited to participate in the proposed Syria peace talks in Geneva, as reported in Iran's Press TV.

Former, ousted Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed, on Friday said he feared that al Qaeda agents were plotting to kill him. Maldivian authorities are investigating the matter.

Australia will need to cut back carbon emissions further to bridge the gap between climate change commitments and what scientists believe is necessary. Ecofys, a European consultancy firm, has published a report that estimates Australia will need to reduce carbon emissions by at least 27 per cent by 2020. By 2030, the country will have to cut 82 per cent of carbon to honour its commitment to prevent global warming.

Following Australia’s stringent crackdown, people smugglers from Indonesia may use shipping containers to transport asylum seekers, in place of traditional fishing boats. Customers are also being told that New Zealand is a safer destination than Australia.

Chinese crackdown on Uighur Muslim, continues in the country’s restive Muslim-majority Xinjiang province, as security agencies arrested over 139 activists over the past few weeks on charges of promoting jihad online.

With over 200 Australian in Syria, several of them for aid work and some others fighting for the jihadist cause, former Foreign Minister Bob Carr has said the government should look at options to ban the return of Australian youth, participating in the fighting.

In an effort to garner support for its cause, the Palestinian Authority has sent letter to over 50 countries asking them to freeze business dealings and withdraw investments from Israeli settlement areas occupied since the 1967 war. In the latest diplomatic offensive, the Palestinian Authority has sent letter to countries in Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia including South Africa, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

Democratic governance, land rights and demilitarisation will be key priority issues for the new government of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-dominated Northern Province, said its Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, on Friday. Mr Wigneswarn was addressing the first inaugural session of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) since the end of the military operation against Tamil separatist organisation the LTTE. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won the recent NPC polls with an impressive 30 out of 38 seats.

Next month’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from November 15 to 17, received another blow, on Saturday, when the country’s main Tamil party announced that it will boycott the Summit.

Kieron Bryan, a 29-year old, British video journalist from London, who is one of 30 people arrested on boat Arctic Sunrise by Russia authorities at an offshore oil drilling rig on 18 September, says he fears "losing years of his life" languishing in Russian prison.

Two monumental milestones had happened in the third week of October in the global commodities sector, namely uranium and rare earths. Jamaica has opened its first rare earths extraction plant, while Greenland has repealed its two-decades-old ban on uranium mining.

Saudi Arabian feminist defiance of an Islamic ban against driving seems to have gone off relatively peacefully Saturday with more than 60 women across the country claiming to have driven their cars. Al-Madina newspaper Sunday reported that authorities arrested 14 women for driving in Riyadh and the cities of Jeddah and Mecca and in the Eastern Province.

Upon Chinese request, Pakistan has banned three Islamic outfits allegedly carrying out insurgent activities in China's Muslim-majority Xinjiang province.

Britain has sounded the alarm bells to warn its residents to prepare for its worst storm in a decade, dubbed St Jude, a Stormageddon of its kind as described on social networks.

New Zealand is reportedly the easiest route for asylum seekers to take, according to people-smugglers who charge $17,000 per person. Reports said that people-smugglers in Indonesia are promising safe passage to New Zealand via shipping containers. The smugglers are looking for "customers" who want to take the "cruise ship" option. A news agency Australia has investigated the alleged asylum seeker cruise to New Zealand.