Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Two Chinese diplomats shot dead in Philippines

Two Chinese diplomats were killed and a third was injured in a gun attack at a restaurant in the central Philippine city of Cebu on Wednesday, police said.
The deputy consul and the finance officer for the Chinese consulate in Cebu were killed, and the consul general was wounded, national police spokesman Wilben Mayor told AFP in a text message.Two Chinese were arrested following the attack, one of whom is the husband of a diplomat at the consulate, Mayor said.The other person arrested was a woman who also worked at the embassy, according to Mayor.He said police retrieved a semi-automatic .45 Colt pistol from the scene.The attack occurred at 1:30pm (0530 GMT) at a popular Cebu restaurant that serves Filipino food.A spokeswoman at the Chinese embassy in Manila, Li Lingxiao, said she could not comment immediately.”Our embassy is still verifying the facts. We´ll update you as soon as I have anything new,” Li said in a text message to AFP.Philippine foreign ministry spokesman Charles Jose also said he had no comment, as authorities were still determining what happened. Media agencies

China-Australia FTA deal struck

Australia’s Opposition on Wednesday agreed with the government on terms which would allow the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to go ahead.Following a meeting between Labor senator Penny Wong and the government’s Trade Minister Andrew Robb on Tuesday evening, Labor’s caucus room approved the deal Wednesday morning, which now includes a number of small changes to Australia’s Migration Act.Opposition Leader Bill Shorten told the media on Wednesday that he was pleased to announce Labor’s backing of the FTA now that “legal protections” over Australian workers had been achieved.”Labor has stood up and expressed our concerns that there was insufficient legal safeguards and protections for Australian jobs, for Australian wages and conditions, for Australian skills and occupational licensing,” Shorten said.”Now Labor can now support the speedy passage of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.”
Under the Opposition’s requests, the Malcolm Turnbull government will make it mandatory for businesses to apply labor market testing to all new work agreements.Previously, the government indicated it would apply mandatory market testing to work worth in excess of 110 million U.S dollars.Labor indicated that this amendment gives Australian workers the first right to secure jobs before they are offered to overseas workers.Also, workers coming into Australia who require the temporary work visa 457 will now be required to be licensed in Australia (within 90 days of arrival) for the specific work they have been brought in for.Lastly, Labor requested that wages paid to workers gaining entry Australia because of the trade deal would be regulated and closely pegged to Australian standards so that the undercutting Australian wages would not occur.
Labor’s negotiator and shadow Trade Minister, Penny Wong, said that all three conditions would be “closely regulated” by the government at Labor’s request.”The package that we have agreed with the government has delivered legal safeguards in those three key areas.”
Trade Minister Andrew Robb said the government was “pleased” that the impasse had been resolved, adding that the agreement was a “very positive development” for Sino-Australian relations.”I’m pleased to say that today we’ve reached an agreement with the opposition that is consistent with the tradition of bipartisanship,” Robb told the media.”It’s a very positive development for the country.”This deal with China is the biggest series of concessions that they have made with any other developed country in the world. It gives us an advantage across services, across agriculture, across manufacturing, resources and energy and also, importantly, with investment, that no other country has got this level of advantage.
“For all sorts of reasons, this is a spectacular outcome. This will set Australia up for a wonderful future.”
Robb said he was extremely confident that China’s Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng would be satisfied with the progress of the FTA.”I have stayed in touch with the Chinese. I’ve taken the opportunity to informally run some of it past them and I’ve found that they were satisfied that it in no way halted what we’d agreed and it didn’t discriminate against them,” Robb said.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull praised Robb as well as Penny Wong in Parliament on Wednesday, saying the FTA was “a deal that always had to be done.”Labor had previously threatened to block the FTA over its concerns that the agreement would negatively affect Australian jobs and workers’ rights, but the end of the stalemate paves the way for the necessary changes to be implemented before the end of the year.
Wong said the senate “understands the importance of passage prior to the end of this year,” and the government would be introducing the required bills into parliament before the end of Wednesday.Robb indicated that the first wave of tariff reductions would take place before the end of the year, with the second lot being removed on Jan. 1, 2016.Media agencies

Assad visited Moscow

Syrian President Bashar Assad visited Moscow on Tuesday for talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said here Wednesday.
“The President of Syria paid a working visit to Moscow on Oct. 20. Talks in narrow and expanded format with the participation of senior leadership of Russia were held in the Kremlin,” he said in a statement.
Putin said Russia is ready to cooperate with other world powers and countries in the region that are interested in a peaceful resolution to the conflict to provide support to the political settlement in Syria.
“We are ready to contribute as much as we can not only during the military action against terrorism, but also in the political process,” Putin said in a statement released on the Kremlin website.
He said Moscow believed that following positive dynamics of the military actions, a long-term solution to the Syria crisis can be achieved through a political process with the participation of all political forces, ethnic and religious groups.
“Of course, the Syrian people must have the final say,” Putin added.
Assad, for his part, thanked Russia for preventing the spread of terrorism in Syria to an even larger area and not allowing the situation develop into a more tragic scenario.
“I would like to thank the Russian people for the help that it has provided to our country, and to express the hope that we will secure a victory over terrorism and will continue to work together in order to rebuild the country economically, politically, and to guarantee peaceful coexistence of all,” Assad said.
Russia’s air force has been launching strikes against the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups in Syria since Sept. 30 following a request by Assad.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the air campaign has significantly diminished the military capacity of the IS and paved way for an offensive of the Syrian army, while Moscow has ruled out direct involvement of its troops in land operations.

Russia and United States sign deal

Russia and United States sign deal to avoid clashes between their air forces over Syrian skies
Oct 21
Russia and United States have signed a deal that they hope will avoid clashes between their air forces in the skies over Syria, officials from both the countries said. Russian began air strikes in Syria on 30th of September, saying it was targeting Islamic State militants.
Last week, the US said both countries’ planes entered the same battle space and came within miles of each other. Officials had been seeking an agreement on the issue.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the text of the deal would remain secret at Moscow’s request, but that it laid out means for both sides to communicate and establish a hotline on the ground. The two countries would not, however, share intelligence on their targets.
Russia’s Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov said the memorandum contains a number of rules and restrictions aimed at preventing incidents between American and Russian planes.

India & Egypt to sign agreement on maritime transport

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval today for signing of an agreement between India and Egypt on Maritime Transport.Recognizing the significant mutual benefit that can be derived from-cooperation in the area of shipping between the two countries, it has been decided to sign the Agreement with a view to strengthening cooperation and to render sustained mutual assistance and advice on merchant shipping and other related maritime matters.
The Agreement would be signed on a mutually convenient date and venue.
Signing of the Agreement will help, both countries to encourage and facilitate the development their maritime relationship and cooperate in the task of enhancing and stimulating steady growth of maritime traffic, exchange and training of staff and students from various maritime establishments, exchange-of information necessary for accelerating and facilitating the flow of commercial goods at sea and at ports, establishment of joint ventures in the fields of maritime transportation, shipbuilding and repairs, maritime training, information technology including development of simulators, port facilities and related maritime activities, etc.

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