“They were remarks made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. But since then we have welcomed in the 21st century. I want to make a declaration for the Abe Cabinet that is appropriate for the 21st century, one that is oriented toward the future.”

Thus did Prime Minister Shinzo Abe put forth his stance on 1995′s so-called Murayama Danwa (Murayama Remarks) — which he is evidently set on fundamentally altering — in an interview published in the conservative Sankei Shimbun daily newspaper on Dec. 31, 2012.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan fired back on Saturday in his first public reaction at remarks made by top US envoy in Ankara about Turkey's judicial system. In his remarks on February 5 to Ankara bureau chiefs of the Turkish media, the US envoy said lawmakers, military leaders and students were behind bars for long periods of time in Turkey on what he said sometimes unclear charges.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday, in his first public comment about US President Barack Obama's upcoming visit, said the trip was very important to underline the strong US-Israeli ties at a time of a raging regional storm.

The Chinese table tennis player who was instrumental in the pingpong diplomacy that paved the way for President Nixon's groundbreaking visit to China has died. Zhuang Zedong was 73. Zhuang, a three-time world champion, was a major sporting figure in China. Photographs of him with Cowan created a stir because of poor relations between their two countries.

GSIS Model United Nations 2013 is underway at GSIS Main Campus, Islamabad, says a press release. The four-day event started on February 07, with the inauguration ceremony by the Secretary General, Hassan Abbas. GMUN Patron and GSIS Principal Qurat-ul-Ain Ali Rizvi while addressing the participants said: “The organisers have worked really hard for the GMUN. There are going to be great enthusiastic debating sessions, colourful activity of global village and social events.”

As befitting a celebrated poet at the height of his powers, Robert Pinsky strides toward an interview in the company of a striking flame-haired woman in black. At 72, Pinsky comes close to fulfilling Hollywood's fantasy of what a poet ought to look like: trim and fit, with a full head of steel-gray hair and a profile eerily reminiscent of another Massachusetts poet, Robert Lowell.

Even the most ardent supporters of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) concede that last year was a pretty disastrous one for the ten-country grouping. Replacing the region’s usual mild-mannered consensus was an unprecedented eruption of rowing and bickering, all on very public and humiliating display at its summit meetings.