The leaders of arch foes India and Pakistan yesterday held cordial and frank talks in the shadow of the Taj Mahal, a monument to love, hoping to find a way out of more 50 years of bitter enmity.
"The talks were held in a very cordial, frank and constructive manner," foreign ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao told a news conference after the first session of talks between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
The two men spoke one-to-one for nearly two hours, stoking speculation among the hundreds of journalists covering the event that the first summit between the nuclear-capable rivals in more than two years had gotten off to a good start.
Rao gave no indication as to what the two men spoke about, but the summit had been expected to focus on the troubled Kashmir state, over which India and Pakistan have gone to war twice since independence from Britain in 1947. India had made it clear that it wanted to tackle several issues and not just Kashmir at the summit, but Pakistan has underlined its determination to keep the spotlight on the Himalayan territory.
"The legacy of the past is not a happy one," Musharraf told the guests of banquet at the president's palace in New Delhi late on Saturday. "I believe there can be no military solution of this dispute. It can and must be resolved peacefully."
Underlining the unrelenting nature of that dispute, there was fresh violence yesterday inside the Indian-controlled part of the territory, where a revolt has raged since 1989. The Indian army said 15 people had been killed yesterday in clashes with separatist guerrillas near the Line of Control, a ceasefire line dividing Indian and Pakistani troops.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary