The newly-constituted group of three interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir, which met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday, said the task before them is “difficult” but they will approach everyone in the state with an “open mind and big heart”.
Eminent journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, along with his two colleagues on the panel, academician Radha Kumar and former CIC member M.M. Ansari, said they are going to engage themselves in comprehensive talks with all shades of opinion in the troubled state. The group is planning its maiden visit to the state on October 23. Informing this, Mr Ansari said, “We are planning to visit Jammu and Kashmir from October 23 for a week.”
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India, Russia, Germany ‘no’ to US bid on trade targets
Abhijit Neogy and
Toni Vorobyova
Gyeongju, South Korea
Oct. 21: India, Russia and Germany Thursday rejected a US proposal for numerical targets for “sustainable” trade surpluses and deficits as a way to help rebalance the global economy.
The rebuff underscored the difficulties facing Group of 20 finance ministers as they gather in South Korea to try to find ways to defuse tensions in currency markets. US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, in an interview to the Wall Street Journal, called for an agreement on “norms” on excha-nge rate policy, saying “ri-ght now, there is no established sense of what’s fair.” An Indian finance ministry official gave short shrift to Mr Geithner’s numerical goals proposal. “I am not sure that this will be supported by very many emerging economies.” —Reuters