China's President Xi Jinping Is Expected To Be the Chief Guest Of Pakistan's Annual Military Parade

The President of China Xi Jinping is expected to be the chief guest at the annual military parade, an event that Pakistan is going to hold after a long gap of seven years. The event will be carried out on the national day of the country on 23 March.

The venue for the event has not been finalized yet but it is expected to be held somewhere near Islamabad.  

The list of attendees will comprise of the heads of the three branches of the armed forces and several high-profile government officials. 

The announcement about Pakistan's resuming the parade that was last held in 2008 when General Musharraf was the President, came a few days after the US President Obama's visit to India; Obama was the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade on 26 January.   

President Obama's visit was seen as a emergence of a new alliance in the Asia-Pacific region, a move to counter China's spreading influence in the region. China was irked. India's external affairs minister Shushma Swaraj's China visit this week is deemed to be move to address the grievance of the neighboring country. The news of PM Modi's visit to China is expected to better the mutual relations of two big powers of the region.   

Many analysts in Pakistan are not seeing President Xi Jinping's breaching the protocol to meet Shushma Swaraj on Monday in positive light. However, President Xi has expressed his faith in Indo-China relationship. "I have full confidence in India-China relations and I believe that new progress will be achieved in growing this bilateral relationship in this New Year." 

India's relationship, after President Xi's visit in September last year, with China seems to be on the right track.

Pakistan considers China its all-weather friend. China provides Pakistan with economics, military, political and diplomatic, and technological help; a diplomatic move to keep India in check.

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Obama, Dalai Lama To Meet At The National Prayer Breakfast; Chinese Uneasiness Expected

Obama, Dalai Lama To Meet At The National Prayer Breakfast

US President Barack Obama will take part in a public event on 5 February; the Dalai Lama is also expected to be there. Observers are seeing this as a move that will irk China. Obama will speak about the importance of religious tolerance at the annual National Prayer Breakfast. Lama, the symbol of Tibet's struggle for independence, has also been invited for the event.

There is no official word on whether the two Nobel Laureates will meet there or not, but the National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan has said that the two leaders have previously met on three occasions, their last meeting happened in February last year.  

"The President is a strong supporter of the Dalai Lama's teachings and preserving Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic traditions," he said.  "As he has done in the past, the President will see many religious leaders at the event, but we don't have any specific meeting with the Dalai Lama to announce."

Dalai Lama, 79, fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising, where he denounced the Chinese rule and established the nongovernmental Central Tibetan Administration. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 1989 for his unwavering advocacy for the autonomy in the region.

Tibet shares borders with Nepal, India, Bhutan, and Myanmar; China deems it a region of high strategic importance.

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US Secret Service Personnel Arrive In India Ahead Of President Obama's Visit

Ahead of Barak Obama's arrival in India, 25 of the best US Secret Service agents have come to Delhi to supervise his safe stay in the country. The agents are presently staying in the The Maurya Sheraton Hotel. They have held a meeting with officials of Indian security agencies and Delhi police to discuss the security issues; the meeting was conducted in the basement of the hotel and lasted for an hour and half.    

“Ahead of the US President’s scheduled visit, an “advance security liaisoning meeting” was held in the basement of the hotel where the senior officials of intelligence agencies and officials from Security Wing of Delhi Police, Additional Commissioner of Police SBS Tyagi and Additional DCP Amit Roy were present,” a source said.

The Delhi Police officials presented their plan of action to their US counterparts and asked them to reciprocate. The agents of the US secret service are satisfied with the security road map of the Delhi Police. 

But the Indian officials could not get much success in convincing the US security folks to let the President travel in the Indian President's limousine that will take him to Rajpath. The matter is supposed to be negotiated again.  

“Interestingly, US secret agents told the Indian intelligence agencies that the US President will be accompanied by his chefs to ensure that his food is not spiked,” a police source informed the media.

It should be noted that when President Obama went to Myanmar last year in November to attend the East Asia Summit, six aircraft of equipment, vehicles, oil tankers, helicopters,  and 1600 US personnel were send to oversee the visit. Even the fuel used by the security cavalcade of President was brought from the US in Navy ship.  

Around 10000 paramilitary personnel will join the Delhi Police whose strength is around 80000 to make the Rajpath parade a full-proof exercise.

Barak Obama will be landing on Indian soil on 25 January.  

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After 55 Years, Thaw In US - Cuba Relations

President Barak Obama has termed the changing relations with Cuba as a new chapter in history.

It was an year ago, President Obama and President of Cuba Raul Castro shook hands at a ceremony after the death of South African patron Nelson Mandela to create a political and diplomatic murmur across the world.

On Tuesday, both the leaders talked to each other for 45 minutes over telephone to discuss the relations between the two countries. The White House has announced that it is seriously interested in changing the old way of thinking as it has benefited neither of the countries.

And on the other side Havana says that the two countries have agreed to resume the diplomatic relations, which has never seen the day of light since 1959 when Fidel Castro overturned the America backed Batista government and right after that nationalized all the US enterprises in the country. The situation further withered in the 60s with the Cuban missile crisis when USSR (now Russia) planted ballistic missiles on the Cuban mainland to keep the US in check.

Cuba, in its gesture of goodwill, has released Allan Gross, a US citizen who was arrested on charges of espionage. And the US has reciprocated by freeing three Cuban national as a sign of recognition.

Obama has used his presidential prerogative to free the Cubans, but the economic sanctions cannot be lifted without the Congress' consent. And if the experts are to be believed, Obama will have a hard time convincing the Congress. The Cuban Cigars and beeches are still very famous in the US.  

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Jeb Bush To Explore His Chances For 2016 Presidential Run

Ex-governor of Florida and brother of  former President George W Bush, Jeb Bush has expressed his desire to run for the top post in 2016.

"[Will] actively explore the possibility of running for President," he updated his Facebook status on Tuesday.  He will form a political action committee to "facilitate conversations with citizens across America."

Mr Bush is considered to have pro-immigration views that are going to be a major issue in the 2016 campaign. His open views on immigration as well as on education have enraged some of the fellow conservative Republicans.

His name is not the only one to be doing the rounds for the top spot. Former first lady and current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is currently the frontrunner for a Democratic ticket.

Mr Bush would be the fourth member of the Bush family to seek the President's office; his brother George W Bush and his father George Bush Sr served a combined 12 years in the White House, and his also ran for the post.  

It needs to be noted that he is going to face stiff competition from Republican Senators Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz. And Governor Chris Christie is also not lagging far behind.

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