ENTER THE YEAR OF THE TALIBAN
The US administration's decision to transfer to Afghan custody senior Taliban official Mullah Mohammed Fazl is a smart move; Fazl has the credentials to bring Taliban leader Mullah Omar on board for launching formal peace talks. He is also the perfect antidote to Iran's influence in Afghanistan. Pakistan and Russia have already made their moves in response.
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JAPANESE MANUFACTURERS TO DEVELOP NEXT-GENERATION POWER-SAVING DEVICES
Major electronic IT manufacturers including Hitachi, Ltd, Fujitsu Ltd and NEC Corp, plan to jointly develop next-generation semiconductors that will operate with one-tenth of the power consumed by present-day devices.Next-generation semiconductors will allow the transfer of greater amounts of data while at the same time enable a reduction in the size of IT-equipment and their power use.The manufacturers hope to have the semiconductors available in fiscal 2019.
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FOREIGN INDIVIDUALS CAN NOW INVEST IN INDIA
India has said it would open up its stock market to individual foreign investors for the first time. The government said it has taken the move to widen the class of investors, attract more foreign funds, and reduce market volatility and to deepen the Indian capital market. The reforms would be put into operation by January 15. Previously, foreign investors were only allowed to invest in the stock market via mutual funds or institutional schemes.
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IRAN TO BUILD ADVANCED DESTROYERS
A senior Iranian naval commander said the Islamic republic is planning to build advanced destroyers. Rear Admiral Abbas Zamini said that the country has managed to acquire the state-of-the-art expertise to manufacture and maintain all sorts of destroyers. Zamini said that building numerous surface and subsurface destroyers, including currently-used Jarmaran-class destroyers, are currently underway at the country's defence industries.
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THE ROGUN JUGGERNAUT
Tajikistan's Rogun dam and hydro-power project is supposedly on hold pending the results of World Bank-sponsored assessments of its likely impact - even as the bank risks its credibility by throwing its weight behind power transmission links with Afghanistan that depend on the dam's construction. Uzbekistan, for one, senses double dealing.
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SAFFRON COULD BE KILLER OF AFGHAN HEROIN
An increase in the area of Afghanistan under poppy cultivation in response to rising opium prices and poverty lends urgency to an initiative aimed at encouraging farmers to switch to cultivating saffron. Prized by chefs worldwide and priced at up to $6,000 per kg, the versatile spice has had a significant impact on the economy of India's Jammu and Kashmir state.
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ISRAEL TO CONSTRUCT BARRIER ON LEBANESE BORDER
Israel plans to build a wall that would separate its northernmost town from a Lebanese village in a bid to quell tensions in the area. The military has begun preparations for the construction of a five-meter-high wall between Metulla, a community of 1,400 people, and the southern Lebanese village of Kleya. Work on the barrier is due to begin in the coming weeks. Once completed, it will stretch one km and be equipped with electronic surveillance measures, including cameras and motion sensors.
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PACIFIC ISLANDS LOSE A DAY IN DATELINE WARP
If you ever had the feeling that time is passing by too quickly, the people in the South Pacific islands of Samoa and Tokelau can relate. Islanders are missing an entire day, Friday [Dec 30], after an official change in the time zone. In the past, the inconvenience of being a day behind has meant lost business. However, to help win public support for the change, government has decreed that workers will still be paid and banks will not be allowed to charge interest for the missing day.
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