Afghanistan: Hamid Karzai urges support for 'progress'

        Afghan Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal remains optimistic about the future of his country's economy

       Afghan President Hamid Karzai has urged international donors to continue giving aid to his country in order to safeguard political and economic gains made since the fall of the Taliban.

      He was speaking at a conference in Tokyo on how to support Afghanistan after foreign forces leave in 2014.

      Donors at the meeting pledged to give $16bn (£10.3bn) in civilian aid over four years.

      There are fears Afghanistan may relapse into chaos after the Nato pullout.

       The Afghan economy relies heavily on international development and military assistance. The World Bank says aid makes up more than 95% of Afghanistan's GDP.

        In return for the promised funds, donors are seeking assurances on good governance and transparency, to ensure funds are not lost through corruption.
 

       In his opening remarks, Afghan President Hamid Karzai pledged to "fight corruption with strong resolve

'Fragile'

       He said that despite the progress made in the past 10 years, Afghanistan's economy remained vulnerable and security a major obstacle.

      "It will take many years of hard work on our part as Afghans, as well as continued empowering support from our international partners before Afghanistan can achieve prosperity and self-reliance," he said.

       "We must do what we can to deepen the roots of security and make the transition irreversible."

President Karzai: "Afghanistan remains vulnerable as 

our economy continues to be underdeveloped"

\     UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon echoed Mr Karzai's remarks, saying progress in Afghanistan remained "fragile".

       "Failure to invest in governance, justice, human rights, employment and social development could negate investment and sacrifices that have been made over the last 10 years," said Mr Ban.

        US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressed the need for reform to safeguard changes achieved in Afghanistan.

       "That must include fighting corruption, improving governance, strengthening the rule of law, increasing access to economic opportunity for all Afghans, especially for women," she said.

         The Tokyo conference is being attended by high-level delegates from more than 70 nations and international organisations.

       Participants have promised $4bn in annual aid between 2012 and 2015, Japanese and US officials said.

      But in return, they are seeking to ensure mechanisms are set to up monitor the Afghan government's progress on improving governance and combating endemic corruption.

Military support

     The civilian aid sought in Tokyo comes on top of $4.1bn in military assistance for Afghanistan's armed forces pledged by a summit of Nato leaders in Chicago in May.

 

        According to plans endorsed at the Chicago meeting, Nato-led forces will hand over combat command to Afghan forces by mid-2013, followed by a withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2014. After that, only training units will remain.

       Speaking during a brief stop-over in Kabul on her way to Tokyo on Saturday, Mrs Clinton announced that the US had given Kabul the status of "major non-Nato ally".

      The a move is seen as another signal aimed at allaying Afghan fears about waning Western support.

      The designation as major non-Nato ally, which already includes close US allies such as Australia and Israel, gives Kabul easier access to advanced US military technology and streamlines defence co-operation between the countries.

      The last country to be granted the status was Pakistan in 2004.
In May, US President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, signed a 10-year strategic partnership agreement outlining military and civil ties between the countries after 2014.

 

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Indonesia to work with Australia on people-smuggling

 

 

        Indonesia and Australia have pledged increased co-operation on people smuggling, following the sinking of two asylum-seeker boats last month.

        Speaking after meeting PM Julia Gillard in Darwin, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia was a victim of people smuggling too.

        But he also called for the release of underage Indonesian boat crew currently detained in Australia.
       Trade and regional security are also on the agenda for the two-day meeting.

       This is the second annual high-level meeting between Australia and Indonesia.

        "In the field of preventing or combating people-smuggling and also human trafficking, we have agreed to enhance greater co-operation," Mr Yudhoyono said at a joint media conference.

        ''We hope that we can prevent, as far as possible, the act of people-smuggling in our region."

         Ms Gillard said she welcomed the ''strong co-operation'' with Indonesia and said the talks had been ''broad-ranging and productive'', Australian media reported.

        The two leaders said they had agreed to work together to improve their extradition agreement and joint reaction to incidents involving asylum-seeker boats.

        But the Indonesian leader also urged Australia to free 54 underage crew members currently in detention as people-smugglers.

       Boats sinking

        People-smuggling rose to the top of the agenda after two asylum-seeker boats sank in waters between the two countries last month.

 

           One boat sank off Christmas Island on 21 June. A total of 110 people were rescued and 17 bodies were found, but it was believed to have been carrying up to 200 people.
         
            At least four people are believed to have died a week later when another boat sank in the area.

           Christmas Island, which lies off Australia's north-west coast, is closer to Indonesia than Australia. It is targeted by asylum-seekers hoping to get to Australia who usually sail on over-crowded, poorly-maintained boats.

            Australian authorities want to find ways of deterring people from making the dangerous journey but the two main parties are deadlocked on how to tackle the issue.

          Australia has also said it will contribute A$1bn ($1bn, £640m) to a contingency loan programme for Indonesia.

         The two countries have already signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to increase defence co-operation. Indonesia will be receiving four Hercules planes for disaster relief as part of the deal.

 

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China factory construction halted amid violent protests

 

       Chinese officials have halted the construction of a copper alloy plant in Sichuan province following violent protests by local residents.

        Local officials said large crowds of residents gathered on Sunday and Monday in Shifang city to protest against the plant on environmental grounds.
Both police and residents were injured in the clashes as bottles were thrown and cars damaged, they said.

        Officials said they would now consult residents on the project.
Local authorities said hundreds of residents and students were involved in the protests, while state-run Global Times, quoting an unnamed police officer, said "several thousand" took part.
        The Shifang city government, on its official Sina Weibo account, said that 13 protesters were injured and sent to hospital on Monday after police dispersed the crowd with tear gas.

        "Some people gathered outside the government building and began to throw bricks and water bottles at the building, government workers and police officers from 13:30, resulting in some injuries to police officers," the city government said.

         On Tuesday Shifang police issued a warning to protesters.

         "Anyone who has incited, planned or organised illegal gatherings, protest marches or demonstrations or those who have engaged in smashing and looting... will be punished severely," it said in a statement.

         The statement also warned people against using the internet or text messages to organise "illegal gatherings".

          Photos showing injured protesters were circulating online, but these could not be independently verified.

         People in China have been increasingly vocal about issues that affect their health and environment, says the BBC's Martin Patience, in Beijing.

         Previous high-profile incidents last year included the forced closure of a chemical plant in Dalian city after a mass protest over pollution.

        Protests against a solar factory also took place in Zhejiang province.

 

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China's Shenzhou-9 spacecraft returns to Earth

A Chinese space capsule carrying three crew members has returned to Earth following a 13-day mission.

                
Images of the capsule landing in Inner Mongolia at 10:05 local time (02:05 GMT) were shown live on television.
The astronauts, including China's first woman in space, carried out a successful manual docking with the Tiangong-1 laboratory module.
The mission is a key step towards China's goal of building a space station by 2020.
Premier Wen Jiabao hailed the mission as a "complete success".

  

"This is another outstanding contribution by the Chinese people to humanity's efforts to explore and use space," Mr Wen said in Beijing.

"It feels so good to stand on Earth, and it feels even better to be home," astronaut Liu Wang was quoted by national broadcaster CCTV as saying.
"Tiangong-1, our home in space, was comfortable and pleasant. We're very proud of our nation," female astronaut Liu Yang said.

'Manual docking''
                 The crew of the Shenzhou-9 craft successfully carried out the country's manual docking manoeuvre earlier in the week.
The delicate procedure, which involved bringing together two orbiting vessels travelling at thousands of miles an hour, was mastered by the USSR and US space teams in the 1960s.
The crew also carried out automatic docking of the two crafts during their mission.
The three astronauts returned to the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft on Thursday and performed a manual separation from the space laboratory.

They touched down in Inner Mongolia's Siziwang county, with the capsule deploying a parachute to slow its approach.

All the astronauts were in good health, state-run news agency Xinhua reported. They were shown on CCTV leaving the capsule carried on chairs, smiling as they waved to supporters.
The crew included Jing Haipeng, 45, the mission commander and a veteran astronaut, Liu Yang, 33, and Liu Wang, 43, who performed the manual docking.
Ms Liu, 33, is a major in China's air force from the central province of Henan. On China's Tencent QQ messaging service, she goes by the name "little Flying Knight".
She was recruited into China's space programme only two years ago, but she excelled, the official news agency Xinhua says.

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