WORLD

China urged the international community to push the Taliban government to adopt a “zero-tolerance” approach to terrorism and create an inclusive government at Tuesday’s special G20 summit convened to discuss the way forward for war-torn Afghanistan, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

A readout from the ministry quoted President Xi Jinping’s special representative Wang Yi as outlining a four-point proposal for Afghanistan, which also included joint international efforts to help the country.

The proposals by Wang, who is also a state councillor and foreign minister, were “putting people first and helping Afghanistan to overcome the humanitarian crisis; encouraging Afghanistan to move toward inclusive development; holding a zero-tolerance attitude to terrorism; and pushing for joint efforts with a consensus toward helping Afghanistan”.

Commerce and Industry MInister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday called for waiver of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in World Trade Organisation (WTO) and dismantling new trade barriers in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

In October 2020, India and South Africa had submitted the first proposal, suggesting a waiver for all WTO members on the implementation of certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement in relation to the prevention, containment or treatment of COVID-19.

In May this year, a revised proposal was submitted by 62 co-sponsors, including India, South Africa, and Indonesia.

Economists David Card, Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens won the 2021 Nobel economics prize on Monday for pioneering "natural experiments" to show real-world economic impacts in areas from the U.S. fast-food sector to migration from Castro-era Cuba.

Unlike in medicine or other sciences, economists cannot conduct rigidly controlled clinical trials. Instead, natural experiments use real-life situations to study impacts on the world, an approach that has spread to other social sciences.

"Their research has substantially improved our ability to answer key causal questions, which has been of great benefit to society," says Peter Fredriksson, chair of the Economic Sciences Prize Committee.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday will embark on a three-nation tour of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Armenia.

Jaishankar will be undertaking the tour from October 10 to 13.

He will be in the Kyrgyz Republic on October 10-11, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

He will leave for Kazakhstan on Monday. He will then visit Armenia on October, 12-13, the MEA said.

The visit will provide an opportunity for reviewing the progress in India's bilateral ties with the three countries as well as share views on developments in the region, the ministry further said.

The United States on Friday clarified that it does not want Pakistan to recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan before the rest of the international community, people familiar with the developments told Pakistani media Dawn.

US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman, who is currently in Pakistan, met foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Pakistan national security advisor Moeed Yusuf, with whom she discussed the issues related to Afghanistan and regional security. The talk focused on the recognition of the Taliban government in Kabul, international sanctions on Afghanistan, access to Afghanistan and counter-terrorism cooperation, it was reported,