The team: Barack Obama and Joe Biden / Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
Since the final declaration of his victory in the race for the White House, President-elect Joe Biden has been ringing the leaders of the Western world. His first call was to his northern neighbour, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, followed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Over the last few weeks, he has been hitting the phones, talking to America’s allies, and in some cases her adversaries. But during each of these calls he made one thing clear, America was back. The President-elect wanted to make clear to the world that in post-Trump America, the United States would stand firmly with its allies around the world in common cause.
Paris extends French ambassador s term in Pakistan
By
French envoy to Pakistan Dr Marc Barety. File photo.
ISLAMABAD: France has given an extension to its Ambassador to Pakistan, Dr Marc Barety, asking him to serve in Islamabad till an unspecified period.
According to a news report published in
The News, diplomatic sources said that the French ambassador, who will be turning 63 mid-next month, completed his three-year tenure in Pakistan last September.
The sources said that since then, he has been continuing the assignment under the instructions of the French government till a replacement is decided.
Interestingly Pakistan too does not have an ambassador in the French capital since July this year, when Ambassador Moinul Haq was transferred to Beijing as Ambassador to China to replace Ms Naghmana Hashmi on her superannuation.
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After months of political bickering surrounding his designation as Prime Minister, Saad Hariri put forward on Wednesday a Cabinet lineup of 18 “non-partisan” experts that failed to win the approval of President Michel Aoun and his allies.
Mr Hariri’s latest bid to break the deadlock comes nearly two weeks prior to French President Emanuel Macron’s upcoming visit to Beirut this month, his third since the deadly explosion that shook the capital in August.
Since then, Mr Macron has pressed Lebanon’s political leaders to form a credible government tasked with enacting reforms in line with the roadmap he laid out in August to help Lebanon weather a full-blown economic and financial crisis.