Russia needs stronger army, Putin says

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin inspected one of Russia's new stealth fighter jets on Monday and said Russia needs a stronger military to protect it against foreign attempts to stoke conflict around its borders.


Less than two weeks before a presidential election in which he hopes for a resounding win, Putin visited Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a snow-swept city in Russia's Far East where military and civilian plane maker Sukhoi is a big employer.


He prefaced his trip with a newspaper article intended to burnish his image as a strong leader, saying Russia would spend 23 trillion rubles ($768 billion) over a decade to modernize the former Cold War superpower's armed forces.


"New regional and local wars are being sparked before our very eyes," Putin wrote in the article published on the front page of Russia's official gazette, Rossiiskaya Gazeta.


"There are attempts to provoke such conflicts in the immediate vicinity of the borders of Russia and our allies," he wrote ahead of the March 4 election which he is expected to win.

Yemen Votes to Formally Remove President

SANA, Yemen — In an unprecedented move for an Arab state where popular dissent worked to unseat a dictator, Yemenis went to polling stations on Tuesday to vote out President Ali Abdullah Saleh.


The election comes after a year of antigovernment protests and conflict that broke the government of this already impoverished nation. In reality, it is meant to be more symbolic than democratic: the only candidate is Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi.


“We want change. We want a new president,” said a shopkeeper, Yahya al-Qadhi, just after he voted. “It’s fine that only Abed Rabbo is on the ballot. If there was more than one candidate, then they would start killing each other and we are sick of the killing.”


Supporters of the president are voting because the transition was commissioned by Mr. Saleh himself, while the opposition wants to formally force Mr. Saleh out of office. The election may be the only thing the two sides have agreed on after a year of bitter rivalry.

China, Russia stand firm in backing Assad

Russia, China and Iran showed support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday, days before an international meeting likely to pile more pressure on him to step down in the face of an increasingly bloody uprising.


Assad met a senior Russian politician in Damascus, who reiterated Moscow's support for his self-styled reform program and spoke out against any foreign intervention in the conflict, Russian and Syrian news agencies reported.


China accused western countries of stirring up civil war in Syria, and two Iranian warships docked at a Syrian naval base, underscoring rising international tensions over the near year-long crisis.

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Over 25 ceramics manufacturing units closed in Gujrat, Gujranwala

FAISALABAD: More than 25 Ceramics Manufacturing Units have been closed down in Gujarat and Gujranwala districts during the current year 2011 due to fuel and energy shortages, primitive methods of manufacturing, inability to assemble and deploy intellectual, human and financial resources effectively, lack of vision for growth, limited perception of business requirements and restricted funding sources.


In a survey report conducted by International Finance Corporation of World Bank Group with the cooperation of State Bank of Pakistan and Owners of the Ceramics Industry, it was pointed out that this sector does not experience seasonal fluctuations and is fairly dependent upon business conditions. The business suffers from lack of technology and good quality raw materials which affects the quality of the product to great extent.


Therefore, Ceramics Industry has a heavy reliance on their suppliers and most of the businesses rely on more than five suppliers according to our primary survey.


According to Pakistan Ceramics Manufacturing Associations, the businesses in Ceramics Industry approach their customers, which are retail shops, by paying personal visits and arrange agreements. Most of the businesses have pre-selected retailers to whom they sell their products. Only about 10 percent have their own retail shops.