US, urged,do, more,trade, with, Pakistan

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WASHINGTON: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has called for greater access for Pakistani products in the United States market as an effort to strengthen the South Asian country's economy. During talks with US officials as she continues her U.S. visit, Ms. Khar said that Pakistan was hopeful that at some point soon the two countries will negotiate a free-trade agreement that would open up both Pakistani and US markets to products made by the other. In the short term, the foreign minister added, Pakistan was urging the US to put together a trade package that would give greater access to Pakistani products now and thus strengthen the Pakistani economy. A democratic and economically viable Pakistan, she said, is the strongest weapon to defeat the terrorist threat in South and Central Asia. During her meetings, she expressed her satisfaction that the Pak-US bilateral relationship had weathered a very difficult period over the last 18 months, and that relations were clearly improving, laying the foundation for an even more robust special relationship between the two nations in the future.

US lifts ban on N Zealand naval ships

By AFP September 21, 2012 - Updated 929 PKT

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AUCKLAND: The United States has lifted a ban that prevented New Zealand naval ships visiting US ports or bases since the 1980s, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Friday, hailing a "new era" in relations. The policy change, part of efforts to bolster security ties, will "allow the US Secretary of Defense to authorise individual visits to Department of Defense or Coast Guard facilities in the United States and around the world," he said. "I suspect that soon we'll be able to see one of those ships in our ports," he added, when asked when New Zealand vessels would stop in the US. In a joint news conference with his New Zealand counterpart Jonathan Coleman, the Pentagon chief also announced that restrictions on meetings between defence officials and military exercises had also been rescinded. "These changes I think are important and are in the interests of both our nations," he said. The announcement underscored improving security ties between the two countries since a chill during the Cold War, when New Zealand imposed a ban on any visits by US nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered ships to its ports.

Russsia expels USAID development agency

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced it will close its offices in Russia following an order from the authorities there to cease operations.

Syria conflict: Damascus suburb sees heavy fighting

There has been further heavy fighting in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the northern city of Aleppo.

Activists said government forces were closing in on Hajar al-Aswad, a southern suburb of Damascus, and the situation for residents was desperate.
State media said troops had killed many of what they called "terrorists".
Earlier, Amnesty International warned that indiscriminate air and artillery strikes were causing a dramatic rise in civilian casualties in Idlib and Hama.
The report said the plight of people in the two provinces had been under-reported because world attention had focused on Damascus and Aleppo.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has arrived in Damascus to meet President Bashar al-Assad and other officials.