The workshop focused on governance, international law, shipping routes and future prospects for economic development in the Arctic region.

China seeks permanent observer status in the Arctic Council, an issue which came up repeatedly during the workshop. China argues that the implications of the changing Arctic environment are both global and regional, and therefore views its participation in Arctic governance as justified.

Nordic nations have the potential to forge a special Arctic relationship with China.

The Arctic Council has received 10 permanent observer status applications, which are expected to be resolved at the next Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting. Workshop participants from all Nordic countries reiterated Nordic support for China’s permanent observer status.

‘This has been a truly unique opportunity for Nordic and Chinese experts, diplomats and officials to engage with each other. To my knowledge the workshop was the first of its kind held in China,’ says Linda Jakobson, a member of the SIPRI Arctic research team and East Asia Program Director at the Lowy Institute.

China follows Arctic developments closely.

Last month’s visit by Premier Wen Jiabao to Iceland and Sweden sparked speculation about the emerging superpower’s ambitions in the far north. China’s interest in the Arctic has certainly grown considerably in the past few years.

Chinese Arctic specialists now refer to China as a ‘near-Arctic state’ and at the workshop the term ‘stakeholder’ was also used. The Chinese government has recently increased investment in Arctic research and commissioned a second Arctic ice-breaker.

In a 2010 SIPRI report, China prepares for an ice-free Arctic, Jakobson encouraged the Arctic Council’s Nordic members to grasp the opportunity to forge a unique relationship with China by engaging with Chinese officials and academics on Arctic issues.

The plan, he said, is for the vessel to be as similar as possible to the original Titanic in design and specifications, but with modern technology. “It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic but of course it will have state-of-the-art 21st Century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems,” he said.

The announcement comes just weeks after the centenary of the sinking of the ill-fated Titanic. The vessel, the largest luxury ship in its time, struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. It went down on 15 April 1912, leaving more than 1,500 people dead.

The new vessel is scheduled to sail from London to New York in late 2016, if all goes as planned. “It is going to be designed so it won’t sink,” he added. “But, of course, if you are superstitious like you are, you never know what could happen.”

The cost of the construction is not known, a spokesman for Palmer said.

The mining magnate from Queensland, who has strong business relations with China, has expanded into tourism. He owns a luxury resort on the Sunshine Coast and has plans to build a fleet of luxury liners.

His plan to build the Titanic replica was announced on the same day that he revealed plans, in a separate news conference, to contest the next federal election in Queensland.

He told reporters that he has expressed interest in standing for Queensland’s Liberal National Party (LNP), part of the conservative opposition at federal level, in the Brisbane seat of Lilley – currently held by Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan.

The Chikyu, operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, was digging the seabed off Japan’s northern coast to take fault samples and study last year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.

The agency said Friday that the probe’s drilling pipe hit the fault zone at 6,883.5 meters (22,600 feet) undersea before reaching the target of 7,740 meters Wednesday. That’s nearly 8 kilometers (5 miles) deep.

The drilling site is located off Oshika Peninsula, just west of the axis of the Japan Trench. The water depth at the primary drill site is 6,910 meters, and Chikyu will drill as much as 1000 meters below the seafloor to reach the fault zone. Maritime organization said that the U.S. vessel Glomar Challenger set the previous record of 7,049.5 meters (23,130 feet) below sea surface in the Mariana Trench in 1978. However, in the Mariana expedition the drilling only sampled to 15.5 meters below the seafloor. The present expedition to the Japan Trench will use about 8,000 meters of drill string.

The Tsunami watch is in effect for Indonesia, India, Australia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Maldives, Malaysia, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles, Oman, Pakistan, Somalia, Madagascar, Iran, UAE, Yemen, Comores, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, Crozet Islands, Bangladesh,Kerguelen Islands, South Africa and Singapore.

As per Pacific Tsunami Watch Center, Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated. It may already have been destructive along some coasts. The center also said that f the tidal waves have not been generated after two hours, the areas might be safe.

In India, Union Home Ministry has asked the Chief Secretaries of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and all East Coast States to issue a Coastal Alert, in view of the alert issued by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS). The areas have been asked to advise fishermen not to venture out in the sea. The Andaman Administration has moved people from Nicobar side to safer areas, as a precautionary measure. The precautionary drill has been activated. NDRF teams have been deployed and kept on standby as a precautionary measure. Six teams have moved to Chennai. In addition, six more teams have moved to Hindon airport. Airlift will be organized by the Air Force in case these teams need to be flown.

Speaking to press after reviewing security arrangements across the country at a high level meeting, he said that the arrested terrorists were from Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal region. The government employee was arrested for extending assistance to the terrorists.

Malik did not give any other details about the plot but said the terrorists were planning to attack Parliament when President Zardari was to address the joint session of the National Assembly and the Senate on the 17th of this month.

He also did not disclose the name any militant group suspected to be involved in hatching the conspiracy or the number of terrorists arrested in connection with the plot.

Pakistan is face with the problem of terrorists infiltrating the government , as the government and army have promoted the non state actors as a matter of policy. Terrorists had also infiltrated and attacked a Pakistani naval base, PNS Mehran, last year. It led to arrest of radical elements of Pakistani armed forces and renewed fears of control and safety of country’s nuclear arms.

The Swiss Embassy in Islamabad was informed this morning by the Pakistani authorities of this latest development. The two Swiss citizens were taken by helicopter from the Miranshah region to Peshawar and later to Islamabad.

Ever since the two hostages were kidnapped, the Swiss Embassy in Islamabad has been in regular contact with the local authorities and with its other partners in the area, stated a release. The responsible authorities in Switzerland were in contact with the families of the two hostages and supported them during this difficult situation.

The FDFA had set up an interdepartmental task force which coordinated the activities of the various services responsible – the Federal Office of Police fedpol, the Federal Intelligence Service, and the cantonal police forces of Bern and Aargau. The Head of the Crisis Management Centre of the FDFA, Ambassador Christian Dussey, was in charge of this task force.

On Friday, Israeli air strike killed leader of Palestine’s Popular Resistance Committees Zuhir al-Qaisi in the Gaza Strip. Israeli intelligence said that it had information that he was masterminding an attack on the Israeli-Egyptian border. Al-Qaisi is previously linked to the August 2011 attacks on Israeli bus and cars in Eilat and the 2008 fuel depot blast on the Gaza border. Mahmoud Hanani who was in the same car with al-Qaisi and involved in sending suicide bombers to Israel, was also killed.

International community has also voiced its opposition. The Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) strongly condemned the grave of aggression waged by the Israeli occupying forces on the Gaza Strip. He held Israel responsible for the consequences of the continuation and escalation of aggression and war crimes committed against the Palestinians. He called on the UN Security Council, the United Nations and the Quartet International Committee to assume their responsibilities, and make an urgent intervention to stop this military escalation against the Palestinian people and compel Israel to respect international law.

The United States release said that it is deeply concerned by the renewal of violence in Southern Israel and blamed it on Hamas. “We condemn in the strongest terms the rocket fire from Gaza by terrorists into southern Israel in recent days, which has dramatically and dangerously escalated in the past day. We call on those responsible to take immediate action to stop these cowardly acts.” It called both sides to make every effort to restore calm.

A weekly rest day is regarded internationally as a basic labour right. Local workers and non-domestic foreign workers already enjoy this right under the Employment Act. weekly rest days are granted or soon to be granted in Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Foreign Domestic Workers (FDW) are already given rest days via their employment contract, but the government says that the employers don’t often use the standard employment contract, as it is not legally mandated. Some employers or employment agents chose to vary the contract to stipulate no days off and no compensation in-lieu.

Employers who require FDWs to work on rest days and FDWs who prefer to work on rest days, employers and FDWs may contract off all or part of the FDWs’ rest days for a period of two years by paying compensation in lieu of the rest days. The agreement to contract off all or part of the FDW’s rest days in return for a higher salary can be re-negotiated if the employer and FDW mutually agree to do so. The FDW’s daily wage is calculated by dividing her monthly salary by 26 working days. For breach, the employers can face a fine of up to S$5,000 and or a jail term of up to 6 months.

According to an estimate, about one in five Singapore households keeps a maid and over 200,000 foreign maids work in Singapore. The maids mostly come from Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and India. As per reports, these maids are overworked, their wages are low and there are frequent reports of accidents, maltreatment, violence and suicides. About one third of Singapore’s population is made up of foreigners.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on January 27, 2007 in a suicide attack as she left an election rally in Rawalpindi city. Musharraf took power in a 1999 military coup before being sacked in August 2008. He has been living in self-imposed exile since his resigning. Musharraf has lived in London and Dubai since August 2008.

Malik believes that Musharraf is responsible for the death of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 “because he did not take enough care of her security”. An investigation has found evidence that Ms. Bhutto was assassinated by militants from a Pakistani branch of the Taliban.

In January this year, Pakistani Senate had passed resolution to register treason case against Musharraf. The resolution stated that Pervez Musharraf was responsible for assassination of Nawab Akbar Bhugti and Benazir Bhutto. Musharraf launched military operation in Balochistan and kept the judges in house arrest, the resolution said. It was also stated in the resolution that Musharraf handed over the Pakistani airbases after signing written agreements with United States. The resolution provided for lodging a treason case against him under Article 6 of the Constitution.

Musharraf had earlier said that he intended to return from London, but, failed to turn up during his planned return for the period from 27 to 30 January.

“It’s marvelously preserved,” said Pfefferkorn. “We can stand there and find a branch with the leaves attached, and then we find the next branch and the next branch and the next branch. And then we find the stump from the same tree. That’s really exciting.” The researchers also found some smaller trees with leaves, branches, trunk and cones intact, preserved in their entirety.

The scientists were able to date the ash layer to approximately 298 million years ago. That falls at the beginning of a geologic period called the Permian, during which Earth’s continental plates were still moving toward each other to form the supercontinent Pangea. North America and Europe were fused together, and China existed as two smaller continents. All overlapped the equator and thus had tropical climates.

“It’s like Pompeii: Pompeii gives us deep insight into Roman culture, but it doesn’t say anything about Roman history in and of itself,” said Pfefferkorn. “But on the other hand, it elucidates the time before and the time after. This finding is similar. It’s a time capsule and therefore it allows us now to interpret what happened before or after much better.”