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French troops patrol around the Eifel Tower on January 12, 2015 in Paris, France. France is set to deploy 10,000 troops to boost security following last week's deadly attacks while also mobilizing thousands of police to patrol Jewish schools and synagogues.
January 11, 2015 - Source: Jeff J Mitchell
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken kicks off the U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue and meets with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias in Athens, Greece, on February 21, 2023. [State Department photo by Ron Przysucha/ Public Domain]
Bulgarian paratroopers stand by to board a C-130J Super Hercules to perform static-line jump training during a flying training deployment July 15, 2013, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. FTD Thracian Summer was a two-week training deployment for American and Bulgarian forces to work together and learn how each other perform their mission. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Trevor Rhynes)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks at the Foreign Affairs Policy Board meeting at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. on September 13, 2016. [State Department Photo/ Public Domain]
PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 14: Soldiers from the Castelnaudary 4th Foreign Regiment (Legion etrangere) march down the Champs-Elysees during the annual Bastille day parade on July 14, 2011 in Paris, France. The French National Day celebrates its revolution in the storming of the Bastille in 1789 through various parades and official ceremonies throughout France.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development hosted its second women’s working group on Iraq, 11 March 2010.
Iraqi officials, various Non-Governmental Organisations, academics and individuals with an interest in Iraq attended the session.
Read more on the FCO website at www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=News&id=2187...
Legionnaires from 4th Company, 2ème Régiment Etranger d'Infanterie, taking part in a mechanized warfare exercise – March 2019
Photo: 2ème Régiment Etranger d'Infanterie
A French paratrooper from 2Rep, French Foreign Legion, looks in as his section move out after being delivered into battle by an RAF Chinook, during Exercise Wessex Storm.
Across three days of high tempo activity on both the ground and in the air British, French and American paratroopers demonstrated how they can go by air to battle together.
Exercise Wessex Storm saw the 2 PARA Battlegroup training on Salisbury Plain to confirm its skills and readiness to serve as the lead infantry unit within 16 Air Assault Brigade, the British Army’s global response force.
The battlegroup includes a company of some 150 troops from the French 2e Régiment Etranger de Parachutistes (2e REP) and a 40-strong platoon from the US Army’s 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Their involvement is about growing understanding of each other’s capabilities and tactics, to be able to operate together better on any future operations, to be ready to respond together to international crises.
Photos:Cpl Rob Cane
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The foreign policy of a state can be defined as courses of actions that a state usually undertakes in its efforts to carry out national objectives beyond the limits of its own jurisdiction. Every state, regardless of size or sphere of influence, incorporates a foreign policy to advance national interest. In the context of Bangladesh, the dominance of national interest in the formulation of foreign policy is especially prevalent. Traditionally, the main objectives of the foreign policy of Bangladesh have been self-preservation, maintenance of territorial integrity, economic advancement and augmentation of national power. Past history in foreign policy has shown the need for a dynamic and proactive model of diplomacy. The foreign policy of Bangladesh needs to be reflective of the times and energy of the nation’s people in order to improve the quality of their livelihood.
The decision-making process should invariably take into account the changing realities, both in the domestic and international scenes. Bangladesh requires a foreign policy that can actively and promptly respond to the challenges of the 21st century including poverty, terrorism, food and energy security, education, population, health, human rights, social justice, environmental degradation and disaster management. Such expanded activities would serve to broaden the scope for bilateral and multilateral relations of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh occupies a strategic position as a land bridge between South Asia and Southeast Asia and a trade corridor for landlocked countries like Nepal and Bhutan and the seven states of India’s northeast. It must therefore be strong enough to dominate its environment or risk becoming the victim of external threats, traditional or non-traditional.
Its security is also linked with the rivers flowing from the Himalayan belt on whose waters its survival depends. Although the geopolitical realities of Bangladesh portend various challenges, its strategic position and the economic rise of India can be utilized to providing transit rights to her South Asian neighbors, with the goal of becoming a regional economic hub.
Ever since achieving independence in 1971, the nature and substance of Bangladesh foreign policy has undergone comprehensive changes. The impact of globalization on Bangladesh, largely resulting from changes in information, communications and transport technologies as well as international laws and practices governing trade, commerce and investment, has had a profound impact on Bangladesh’s foreign relations and the conduct of its foreign policy.
Bangladesh's reform and opening up of the media, cable television, and rapid expansion of the cellular phone networks with a subscriber base of over 79 million and technological improvements constituted significant positive developments, as have developments in the pharmaceutical, textile and readymade garments (RMG) sectors.
Initiatives have been taken to combat corruption, undertake regulatory reforms and improve the business climate in the country. In the past two decades, with its involvement in the readymade garments industry and other export sectors, Bangladesh has become an attractive destination for trade and investment due to its excellent foreign investment opportunities.
Its substantial human resources, large amount of remittances from Bangladesh migrants working abroad, proactive civil society, the many achievements of its widespread human development program, its vast network of NGOs, and a rapidly expanding private sector, make Bangladesh a country with an extremely bright future. This has been the view of Goldman Sachs and many other financial institutions in the West.
However, Bangladesh’s economic and social potential will not be fully utilized unless a number of key foreign policy challenges are effectively addressed.
While some strong steps have been taken to counter terrorism, much needs to be done to stem the rise in religious intolerance and other forms of extremism. A major diplomatic initiative needs to be undertaken to improve cooperation with SAARC, ASEAN, OIC and the Gulf countries. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself has taken a deep interest in combating terrorism.
This was evident in February 2009, when the government enacted the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2009 and Anti-Terrorism Act 2009. However, the government has yet to adopt a comprehensive national counter-terrorism strategy, or join the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units. Therefore, it is very important for the government to seek international cooperation in combating terrorism and terrorist financing at home and in the region.
The maintenance of harmonious relationships between Bangladesh and its neighbors, particularly India, is an imperative component of Bangladesh’s foreign policy. Inequitable distribution of resources, mistrust and misunderstandings have long plagued cooperation on contentious but critical issues. Greater emphasis needs to be placed on Track II and III diplomacy as civil society and people to people contacts may play an important role in creating harmony in India-Bangladesh relationship, which has traditionally been a source of frustration for citizens of both nations.
Some important initiatives need to be taken to improve the business and investment climate in the Bangladesh. In particular, we need to reform the existing foreign exchange regulations, in line with some of our neighbors in the region, most notably India, which could help in doubling our exports within the next two years. It is also important to improve the infrastructure in the country, not simply the supply and availability of gas and power, which of course remains of critical importance, but also the efficiency of Chittagong port, our road and railway systems and solve the ever-expanding traffic problems. Perhaps most important of all, is the need for a highly efficient, private sector- minded bureaucracy.
If domestic responses are not sufficient to effectively mitigate these issues, they may be addressed through foreign policy initiatives. Greater multilateral undertakings to improve the transport infrastructure, particularly with South Asian nations, may provide the impetus to improve the state of road, rail and maritime transport in Bangladesh.
A third major challenge is in the area of finding jobs for Bangladeshis overseas and simultaneously building a healthy and productive relationship with the Bangladeshi Diaspora all over the world.
Sensibly managed, exploitation-free movement of our workers, including in some cases permanent migration, will remain important for Bangladesh in the years ahead, given the important contribution of remittances to the growth and development of Bangladesh.
Recent studies have shown that in the next five years Bangladesh’s remittances can increase to 30 billion US dollars. If this is to be achieved then much more importance has to be given to leveraging the Bangladeshi Diaspora.
Both in the areas of attracting investment, leveraging knowledge and mobilizing the Diaspora to influence positive changes in the countries where they have moved to and also in the case of their country of origin, they can and should be encouraged to be much more proactive.
In order to drastically reduce poverty throughout the country, and become a middle-income country by 2021, Bangladesh must address these three major challenges. It is these three priority areas that must also drive the foreign policy and foreign relations of Bangladesh in the 21st century in general and during the next decade in particular. The country’s foreign relations and foreign policy will have to be seriously revamped, and it is here that the pivotal role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and the missions abroad must be given much greater importance than has been the case during the past four decades.
Despite the existence of major challenges, Bangladesh’s foreign policy portends great opportunities, both in the form of reaping greater benefits from current initiatives and also from undertaking innovative diplomacy in traditionally ignored regions of the world.
The RMG sector is the mainstay of the economy and accounts for more than 75% of Bangladesh’s exports. Thus concerted foreign policy and advocacy initiatives must be undertaken to get a bill through the US Congress to extend duty free access for all Least Developed Countries (LDCs) for their RMG exports. This is especially important since the United States allows duty and quota free access to all LDCs except those in Asia, whereas all other developed countries, as well as some developing countries, have extended duty free benefit to all LDCs without any exception.
Bangladesh’s diplomacy should be effectively geared towards improving Bangladesh’s image in international markets. Its focus should lie in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), particularly for the infrastructure and energy sectors. Since access to reliable power is of prime concern for most manufacturing firms in Bangladesh, a comprehensive effort must be undertaken to accelerate the process of energy cooperation in South Asia, obtaining support for nuclear energy plants and securing foreign assistance to develop efficient and renewable energy technologies.
Despite sharing a common history, culture and ethnic roots, South Asia has been a region plagued by conflicts and remains one of the least integrated regions in the world. Bangladesh, as a non-partisan, non-aligned nation can play a key role in mitigating long-standing conflicts, facilitate confidence building measures and sensitize the notion of common security and conflict avoidance in multinational platforms such as SAARC and BIMSTEC. Elongated peace and stability in the region is the panacea from SAARC becoming a forum of regional discussion rather than an architect of regional economic policy.
As one of the founding members, Bangladesh must once again play a pivotal role in influencing the regional powerhouse India to engender SAARC as a dynamic medium of the globalized economy. As such, Bangladesh’s foreign policy should continue to focus on strengthening SAARC as a platform for peace and prosperity in the region. Apart from SAARC, energy cooperation in the region and realizing the aims of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) requires a strong and sustained effort on the part of all the member states and also pressure and support from the private sector, civil society and the media throughout the region.
Remittances from economic migrants play a critical role in the Bangladeshi economy. In August 2011 Bangladesh received $1,078.15 million in remittance from migrant workers, which is an 11.85 % increase in remittance from the same period a year ago. MoFA and other relevant ministries should focus on boosting foreign remittances and attracting tangible and intangible investment from the Bangladeshi diaspora. The export of human resources to the Middle East and South East Asia creates a unique opportunity not only of manpower export but also of creating multi-pronged bilateral relations with the labor importing nations. If Bangladesh wants to increase its manpower exports, whether to countries in East Asia or the Middle East, it must think beyond the realm of manpower export and bilateral relations should cover trade and investment where possible, as well as training, orientation and assistance of migrants. Bangladesh currently has diplomatic missions in only around 46 countries. More importantly, Bangladesh does not have any diplomatic missions in South America and only around three missions in the vast and economically dynamic continent of Africa. Although recent initiatives have been undertaken by MoFA to open 19 diplomatic missions in these two continents, these developments must be properly administered, funded and effectively implemented. The rising economic powerhouses in South America, especially Mexico, Brazil and the resource rich countries of Venezuela and Colombia offer opportunities of bilateral cooperation in economic trade and development, which would remain unexplored in the face of an inadequate or non-existent foreign policy. Bangladesh is also lagging behind the regional powerhouses of India and China in establishing strong diplomatic relations in Africa. A young population and a vast array of resources have made Africa the new destination for foreign investment, and Bangladesh should expand its missions in Africa to endorse trade and economic relations. Special attention should also be given to the Nordic countries, and, Central Asia. The Nordic countries have been outstanding proponents of regional cooperation on technology, research and innovation. Nordic cooperation has led to Nokia, a Finnish company, to be one of the foremost mobile technology companies in the world. This shared vision makes Nordic countries an attractive option to establish bilateral relations in the context of technology and innovation. The Nordic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) has been established in Bangladesh to facilitate Nordic investment as well as to raise awareness of Nordic technology solutions in commerce and industry. Such initiatives should not be one way. Bangladesh must incorporate effective programs of technology sharing under its foreign services akin to the Indian Technical and Cooperation Program undertaken by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. Such programs should have a commercial focus with the view of mutually beneficial technological initiatives as well as utilizing the local mobile phone subscriber base of 79 million to attract FDI. Active diplomacy is also required to intensify our relations with key countries and groupings, including the US, UK, France, Germany, the European Union, Russia, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, India, the member states of ASEAN, in particular Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Myanmar, and Australia, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and Turkey. Bangladesh’s economic, social and political development is heavily dependent on its ability to address challenges and exploit opportunities pertaining to foreign policy. In order for this to be achieved, the country’s foreign relations and foreign policy would have to be fundamentally restructured. For this, the role of MoFA and the overseas diplomatic missions is crucial. Substantial investment must be made in upgrading the selection and training of Foreign Service officers, with special attention given to language, region and subject specialization, information technology, global security and social skills. Greater funding must be allocated to MoFA which should take a rational approach to distributing resources to diplomatic missions abroad. The whole of the Foreign Service should be doubled in size with a cadre of at least 600 professional diplomats. Globalization has rendered all fields, including the field of diplomacy to be extremely competitive. If the above mentioned challenges and opportunities are not accounted for, Bangladesh risks falling behind other nations in the competition of exporting labor, attracting FDI and getting elected to key international bodies. Since the economic development of our nation is contingent upon the effectiveness of our foreign policy, immediate action needs to be taken to revamp our foreign policy and expand and buttress our diplomatic missions. Farooq Sobhan is President of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) and a former Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh.
The writer is a former secretary to the Government of Bangladesh
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Independent Photos theindependentbd.com/components/com_gk3_photoslide/thumbs...
Workers are sorting out potatoes at a cold storage
Dhaka: Workers are sorting out potatoes at a cold storage at Sirajdikhan in Munshiganj on Thursday. Photo: Nabiulla Nabi See details
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Ban Ki-moon at a Special Convocation
DHAKA: President Md Zillur Rahman presenting a crest to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at a Special Convocation of the university on Tuesday. DU VC AAMS Arefin Siddique is also seen. PHOTO: NAYEM AHMED JULHAS See details
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FERRIES FACING SHOALS
MANIKGANJ: Shoals on Paturia-Daulatdia route in the Padma hampering navigability and for that reason two ferries cannot ply there together. The picture was taken from near Daulatdia ghat. PHOTO: MIZANUR RAHMAN KHAN See details
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BACK TO THE CAPITAL
DHAKA: People are returning to the city after the Eid holidays. PHOTO: NABIULLA NABI See details
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DEFYING RIVERINE DANGERS
DHAKA: Two launches leave Sadarghat launch terminal on Friday with home-going city dwellerseager to celebrate Eid with their relatives. PHOTO: TARIF RAHMAN See details
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Airport Rail Station
DHAKA: People trying to avail a train to go to their village homes to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha there with their dear and near ones. The picture was taken at Airport Rail Station in the city on Friday. PHOTO: NAYEM AHMED JULHAS See details
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Agitated people on Wednesday set fire to a train
NARASINGDI: Agitated people on Wednesday set fire to a train after the killing of the local mayor, Lokman Hossain. Independent photo See details
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The children’s park at English Road
DHAKA: The children’s park at English Road in the city has become a waste dumping place. The picture was taken on Tuesday. Photo: Tarif Rahman See details
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Cattle markets in the city
DHAKA: Cattle markets in the city began to do business as the Eid-ul-Azha is almost knocking at the door. The picture was taken at Gabtali on Tuesday. Photo: Mizanur Rahman Khan See details
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Members of the French Foreign Legion conduct urban operations as part of Exercise Bold Alligator 17 at Military Operations in Urban Terrain Town on Camp Lejeune, N.C., Oct. 29, 2017. Bold Alligator 17 is a large scale, multinational amphibious exercise designed to execute complex shaping operations, amphibious landing and attack, and sea basing operations to improve U.S. and coalition ship-to-shore capabilities. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Abraham Lopez)
Legionnaires from the French Foreign Legion during combat operations while serving in Afghanistan with ISAF - 2011
Photos: Adj. Pelote
The history of the Pakistan Foreign Service is as old as Pakistan itself. Just as the country has gone through its periodic ebbs and tides, so have the Foreign Service and its mandarins experienced periods of perfect calm followed by strong currents of unsettling tumult. It has, in the process, had more than its fair share of challenges and storms.
A constant in the 60 years of Pakistan Foreign Service is the element of envy — of its mandate to man the ramparts of Pakistan abroad, often in unfriendly environs and under daunting conditions — and hostility to those charged with the onus to discharge the mission. Foreign Service mandarins, predominantly drawn from the country’s shrinking middle-class, have been a target of derision, mockery and, often, open hostility from its political masters, representing its feudal elite and soldiers-of-fortune.
Dr Samiullah Koreshi is one of the early pioneers of the Foreign Service and has deftly woven an interesting pastiche of this and other unsavory aspects of the unwelcome ambience in which the service has been cultured over the past decades. Although these are his memoirs and his reason for writing them couldn’t be any other than to highlight the personal imprints he has left on the passage of the Foreign Service over the decades since its inception, and the meandering course of Pakistan’s foreign policy, the history of the service, of which he was a luminary, unconsciously threads its way into his personal account.
He recounts, for instance, a truly hare-brained scheme of Manzoor Qadir, who, as foreign ninister under Ayub Khan, had the reputation of being a genius and a foreign policy wizard, to have only a handful of Pakistani embassies in the outside world: not more than a dozen, to cover the whole wide world. Ayub’s finance minister, Mohammad Shoaib, had an even sillier scheme up his sleeve; he sought not only to reduce the number of embassies abroad but also slash their manpower to an unworkable minimum; just an ambassador and a junior officer. He impishly christened it as ‘a man-and-boy’ team of diplomats.
Shoaib, too, was undeservedly hailed as a financial genius and ace economist whereas his only qualification was that he was a World Bank implant in Pakistan. The fetish with America-returned wizards has robustly flourished to date in Pakistan. The current power dispensation is larded, to our dismay, with such wizard-wonders, aplenty. Bankers with money-laundering credentials have been ruling the roost in Pakistan as economists, par excellence.
Dr Koreshi recalls that all these schemes were the brainchildren of powerful and power-hungry CSP officers who’d struck up an alliance with the army under Ayub. They wanted to do away with the Foreign Service altogether and have, instead, only a general pool of officers, crisscrossing the boundaries of civil and foreign services. The snide purpose was to open the rich pickings of foreign postings to the CSP cabal.
But the gods were kind to the Foreign Service mandarins because they happened to have a man as intelligent and suave as Mr Ikramullah as foreign secretary, for a second time. He saved the service by convincing Ayub of its fatuity. But the service didn’t prove to be as lucky under those who followed Ayub, especially those wearing the khaki in Pakistan. The present regime has taken the process of stuffing the embassies abroad with its favourites to the extreme, at the obvious cost of the service Brahmins.
Dr Koreshi makes some other fascinating, if not exactly sensational, revelations.
For instance, he lifts the veil on the cloak-and-dagger operation of October 27, 1958 — barely 20 days after Ayub had proclaimed martial law in Pakistan — when Ayub’s co-conspirator, President Iskandar Mirza, was unceremoniously bundled off to London in the dark of the night. He reveals, on the authority of Air Commodore Maqbool Rab, his ambassador in Ankara, that Iskandar Mirza had ordered him (Rab) to arrest Ayub upon his arrival at the Mauripur Airbase of Karachi. Rab was Vice-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force and out of inter-services loyalty reported it to his military colleagues. Ayub rewarded Rab for his loyalty with the embassy in Turkey.
Dr Koreshi, who served nearly 40 years in the diplomatic service, has other interesting anecdotes and episodes to tell in his memoirs. All diplomats, invariably, have such anecdotes to recount in their repertoire of memories. Dr Koreshi was lucky that he served in some very interesting places, India (where he served in three different locations, Jallandar, Chandi Garh and Delhi), Russia, Canada, Turkey, Lebanon, Nigeria, Japan, Indonesia, et al and met some of those who were prominent in the making of history. Some of those were colorful characters, like Yasser Arafat, General Yaqubo Gowan of Nigeria and General Suharto of Indonesia, among others.
There’s a lot of Dr Koreshi in these memoirs, a little too much, for some. But this is understandable. It’s basically an account of his personal journey as a Pakistani diplomat, who climbed the ladder of the Foreign Service with hard work, dexterity, wit and great perseverance. He earned a place under the Foreign Office sun on the dint of sheer labour and intelligence. None should begrudge him if he’s suspected of giving airs to himself at some places. Like any other diplomat, he’s entitled to prize some trophies in his bag, as he went around the world, selling his staple merchandise of words and wits.
He credits himself, for instance, for convincing Yasser Arafat to go personally to New York, in 1975, to address the UN General Assembly. That’s was Arafat’s maiden appearance at the UN when he delivered the famous speech in which he said he was carrying a gun in one hand and an olive branch in the other. Dr Koreshi claims he was the only Pakistani of any consequence whom the legendary Arafat respected from his heart, and listened to like a brother. Well, there seems little reason to dispute this statement, especially now that Arafat has been dead for three years.
Like any other Foreign Service mandarin, Dr Koreshi, too has his fill of regrets and remonstrations. For example, he feels bitter about the in-palace intrigues — quite shameless, at that — of some of his senior colleagues that robbed him of the chance to become foreign secretary under General Ziaul Haq. To become the head of the Foreign Office is a prize coveted by every service Brahmin. He, thus, has every right to feel betrayed and sourly let-down by his own service colleagues. But, the, the Pakistan Foreign Service is, and has always been, like a strait-jacket with room at the top terribly constricted. Being a smaller service, compared to the civil service or police, it has annoyingly suffered from the syndrome of ‘dog-eating-dog’ and colleagues frequently stabbing colleagues in the back, with little remorse or compunction. It’s simply survival of the smartest, not necessarily the most intelligent or competent. To Dr Koreshi’s credit, he doesn’t name the names of those villains who were his nemeses.
But Dr Koreshi himself doesn’t sound too complimenting to his Bengali colleagues, when writing about their conduct in the backdrop of the break-up of Pakistan, in 1971. He faults them for carrying chips on their shoulders against a united Pakistan but conveniently glosses over the less-than-edifying contribution of bureaucrats of West Pakistan who contributed, immensely, wittingly or unwittingly, in the widening of the gulf between East and West Pakistan.
The author had earlier written his memoirs in English. Why did he think of writing them in Urdu, too, should best be known to him. However, in doing so he has done himself and Pakistan a service, perhaps unwittingly. The readership of English books in Pakistan has been on a downward curve for sometime and readers of English abroad aren’t quite that interested in reading the memoirs of a Pakistani diplomat, no matter how colourful or controversial. By contrast, Urdu readership has a much larger and accommodating circle in Pakistan. Dr Koreshi’s memoirs, written in a fluent and uncluttered prose, should be a good and interesting read for Pakistanis, of this generation, as well as for those to follow.
The book is well studded with Dr Koreshi’s collection of mementos and memorabilia, as also with photographs of his with many of those who made history.
DAWN November 25, 2007
Foreign rail travellers arrive at St Pancras railway station and immediately get caught up in the rush. I wasn't going to bother uploading anything else from this visit, but changed my mind. I'd forgotten about this one.
Home Secretary Theresa May is photographed by guests at the 2010 Eid reception in the Durbar Court of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London, 21 September 2010.
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman meets with New Zealand Chief Executive and Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade Chris Seed at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on March 23, 2022. [State Department photo by Freddie Everett/ Public Domain]
PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 14: Soldiers from the Castelnaudary 4th Foreign Regiment (Legion etrangere) march down the Champs-Elysees during the annual Bastille day parade on July 14, 2011 in Paris, France. The French National Day celebrates its revolution in the storming of the Bastille in 1789 through various parades and official ceremonies throughout France.
A soldier of the French Foreign Legion from the 1st section "Les Aigles" (the Eagles) of the 2nd REG (Regiment Etranger du Genie) patrols near Tagab in Kapisa Province on January 26, 2011. The French Foreign Legion, a military unit established in 1831, was created for foreign nationals of any nationality wishing to serve in the French armed forces.
This is foreign in a rather literal sense -- I gathered bottles together from a variety of countries and got this shot.
What is foreign? What is native?
I know its a deep philosophical question, I had to think hard=P
(this was in one of the places I stayed in Botswana, see below if you can't read it)
Secretary Pompeo hosts a working dinner for Mexican Foreign Secretary-Designate Marcelo Luis Ebrard Casaubón, at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on December 2, 2018. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
Tiesto during the TIESTO-Kaleidoscope World Tour performance held at InterContinental Hotels Doha Beach Area in Doha, Qatar, 01 October 2010.
DJ TIESTO live performance at the stage of InterContinental Hotels Doha, Beach Area on October 01, 2010 Doha, Qatar.
Music fans of local and foreign nationalities welcomes back in an up-close-and-personal experience the ever smiling world famous DJ as he performs his best selling music in unison with his own extravagant and jaw-dropping giant LED screen, animated light works and powerful sound system.
TIESTO "Kaleidoscope World Tour" was a success full house brought-in Doha, organized and managed by Jared Mcculloch of Global DJs.
Hotel InterContinental Doha Beach Area is the premier concert venue in Doha.
(Photo and Text by ROMMEL T. BANGIT
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Below text source from WIKIPEDIA:
TIESTO also known as DJ Tiësto, Allure, Da Joker, Drumfire, Handover Circuit, Paradise In Dubs, Passenger, Roze, Steve Forte Rio, Stray Dog, Tom Ace, Wild Bunch
Tiësto OON (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈcɛstoː]; born Tijs Michiel Verwest [ˈtɛi̯s miˈxil vərˈʋɛst] on January 17, 1969) is a Dutch musician, DJ and record producer of electronic dance music. Although he has used many aliases in the past, he is best known for his work as DJ Tiësto. On his latest productions, however, he has dropped the "DJ" label and is now known simply as "Tiësto", an alias which is a twist of his childhood nickname.
In 1997, he founded the label Black Hole Recordings with Arny Bink, where he released the Magik and In Search of Sunrise CD series. In 1999 and 2000 he collaborated with Ferry Corsten to create Gouryella. His 2000 remix of Delerium's "Silence" featuring Sarah McLachlan exposed him to more mainstream audiences. In 2001 he released his first solo album In My Memory which gave him several major hits that launched his career. He was named "World’s No.1 DJ" 3 consecutive times by DJ Magazine from 2002 through 2004.
Just after releasing his second studio album Just Be in 2004 at the Summer Olympics, he performed live at the opening ceremony in Athens, Greece, becoming the first DJ to play live on stage at an Olympics. Tracks he made especially for the Olympics were mixed together and released as the mix compilation Parade of the Athletes later that year. In April 2007 Tiësto launched both his radio show Tiësto's Club Life on Radio 538 in the Netherlands and released his third studio album titled Elements of Life. The album reached number one on the Dutch album chart as well on "Billboard Top Electronic Albums" in the U.S. and received a nomination for a Grammy Award in 2008. Tiësto released his fourth studio album called Kaleidoscope in October 2009.
Early Life and Career
Tijs Michiel Verwest was born in Breda, North Brabant, Netherlands on January 17, 1969. He had an interest in music since the age of twelve. When he was fourteen he decided to dedicate more time to it and began DJing professionally at school parties. He then moved on to become a resident DJ between 1985 and 1994 at several clubs in the Netherlands after his manager and friend Wilfred encouraged him. However, it was at The Spock, a small club in Breda, where he was able to fine-tune his own style by playing in a separate room from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. on weekends. In the beginning of his career, as a DJ he played mostly New Beat and acid house.
In 1994, he began releasing material on Noculan Records' sub-labels Chemo and Coolman. During these years, he produced hardcore/gabber tracks under aliases such as Da Joker and DJ Limited. He was later discovered by the general manager of Rotterdam-based Basic Beat Recordings. In late 1994, he signed to Basic Beat where he met Arny Bink, Tiësto released records on the sub-label Trashcan, founded by Arny, and later created the Guardian Angel sub-label with Arny in which they introduced the popular Forbidden Paradise series. Meanwhile from 1995 to 1996 he released four extended plays on Bonzai Jumps and XTC, sub-labels of Lightning Records. In 1997, Tiësto joined his friend Yves Vandichel on his sub-label, DJ Yves, a division of the now defunct Human Resource label XSV Music. In the fall of 1997, both Arny and Tiësto decided to leave Basic Beat and create their own parent label, now known as Black Hole Recordings, Trashcan was discontinued and Guardian Angel continued releasing music until 2002. Through Black Hole, Tiësto released the Magik series and also created two major sub-labels in 1998; In Trance We Trust and SongBird.
From 1998 to 1999, Tiësto released music on Planetary Consciousness were he met A&R Hardy Heller and invited him to release some records on Black Hole. Tiësto later included the In Search of Sunrise series on SongBird. In 1999, Tiësto joined forces with fellow Dutch deejay Ferry Corsten to create the trance based duo of Gouryella. He also collaborated with Benno de Goeij from 1998 to 2000 under the name Kamaya Painters. Since November 1999 he performed monthly as a resident at Gatecrasher in Sheffield, one of the most popular clubs in England. In 1999 he also played in a 12-hour set, being his longest lasting concert in Amsterdam.
Late in 2000, Tiësto decided to concentrate on his personal work and left Corsten by himself to write and produce Gouryella's next single with John Ewbank, the record company was demanding more tracks and neither Tiësto or Ferry could work together at the time. Tiësto introduced Armin van Buuren, Johan Gielen and Ferry Corsten to the mainstream with his first compilations and the In Trance We Trust series. Summerbreeze became Tiësto's debut DJ mix album in the US with the help of a contract signed to Nettwerk. Summerbreeze featured his remix of Delerium's "Silence", it spent four weeks in the UK's Top Ten chart, it reached number three in the Billboard dance chart. In Search of Sunrise 2 was released in 2000. Tiësto decided to create a sub-label, known as Magik Muzik. The label began releasing Tiësto’s own releases, but it has also released tracks for the Filterheadz, Oliver Lieb, Mark Norman, Mojado, Phynn and Jes Brieden. The label became a trademark which stands for high quality electronic dance music which was due to the release of Tiësto's classic dance anthem "Flight 643" in 2001.
In My Memory era (2001–2004)
Tiësto's fame started to rise in the early 2000s after his set at the first ID&T Innercity party (Live at Innercity: Amsterdam RAI), and the release of In My Memory, his first solo album released in 2001 which contained 10 singles and 5 major hits; The singles from the album were: "Lethal Industry" which was actually produced in 1999 and had only 3 copies released at that time, the track was officially released in 2001 which was remixed by Richard Durand in 2006 along with "Flight 643" which was another leading single that was later adapted with vocals by Suzanne Palmer and released as "643 (Love's on Fire)". Other tracks were "Obsession" in which Tiësto worked alongside Junkie XL, the instrumental tracks "Dallas 4PM" and "Suburban Train" with "Urban Train" as its B-Side which contained some vocals. The last singles to be released were "In My Memory" which is the title track for the album as it only received high ratings in the United States and the opening track "Magik Journey" which opened Tiësto in Concert (2003). On February 2, 2002 Tiësto played nine consecutive hours during the second edition of the Dutch Dimension festival. On February 27 he was awarded a Zilveren ('Silver') Harp music award. The same year he also received a Lucky Strike Dance Award in the category Best DJ Trance/Progressive. In August he became part of Moby's Area2 Tour. For eighteen days he travelled through the United States with artists such as Moby himself, but also David Bowie and Busta Rhymes. In January 2003 Tiësto received the annual Dutch Popprijs ('Pop Award') during the Noorderslag festival. After touring with Moby, Tiësto remixed two songs from him, "We Are All Made of Stars" and "Extreme Ways" in the same year, having "We Are All Made of Stars" reach #13 in the Hot Dance Club Play. In 2002 he released his first In Search of Sunrise mix to feature a place on its name, In Search of Sunrise 3: Panama. On March 28, 2003; Tiësto, Dieselboy, Bad Boy Bill, and Noel Sanger joined the PlayStation2 Dual Play tour. Tiësto and Noel's appearance began on April 13 and ended on June 6.
His fame continued to skyrocket in the early 2000s, following his six-hour "Tiësto Solo" sets which he performed without other DJs or opening acts. This idea, of one DJ playing alone to a large crowd, was brought to its pinnacle when Tiësto was the first DJ to hold a solo concert in a stadium; on May 10, 2003, he performed for over 25,000 people in Arnhem's GelreDome. This concert was later called Tiësto in Concert, the event was an enormous success. He repeated the same type of concert the following year during two consecutive nights in late October. In addition to holding these two concerts for 35,000 of his fans, he held another concert for a crowd of 20,000 in Hasselt, Belgium the following week. DVDs of both his May 10, 2003 and October 30, 2004 concerts have been released, having the other DVD titled Tiësto in Concert 2. The DVD's show the journey from the first idea to the main event, it features live performances by Andain, Dinand Woesthoff, and Jan Johnston. The event includes live music and dancers performing at different times throughout the set. The theme of the event is a mystical, musical journey around the world based on the theme of Magik. It consists of 200+ minutes of performances with a second disc with special features, It includes a behind-the-scenes looking at The Making Of the event, the music video for his song "Traffic" and TV Commercials for the event. The second DVD has performances from Aqualung and violin player DJ Mason, Micha Klein and the Bulgarian Children of Orpheus choir. During this period, he was crowned as "No. 1. DJ in the World" by DJ Magazine (UK) in 2002, 2003, and 2004.
Just Be era (2004–2007)
In 2004, he released his second artist album Just Be, which featured his first single "Traffic" which is the first non-vocal track to reach number one spot in the Dutch national charts for 23 years. The track "Sweet Misery" was originally written for Evanescence but it did not meet the deadline for the release of their album. In support to his Just Be album, he played at Breda, Eindhoven, Utrecht, and Amsterdam; these stops were later named Just Be: Train Tour. On May 20, 2004 he was appointed Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
The Athens Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (ATHOC) asked Tiësto to perform at the Olympic Games, making him the first DJ to play live on stage at an Olympic Games at the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Athens, where he played for 90 minutes. Tiësto flew to Athens in January 2004 to have a meeting with the ATHOC. His Tiësto in Concert DVD caught their attention, after which he was asked to write more tracks based on his opening tune "Adagio for Strings" which could fit in with the Olympic spirit and combine the classical with the modern age; They also requested that he play his own produced music. The first rehearsal was on Saturday August, 7, for an empty stadium; the second rehearsal was on Sunday August 8 with 35,000 volunteers, a lot of the people recognised some tracks like "Traffic" and "Adagio for Strings". The last rehearsal included almost 60,000 people in the stadium which was on Tuesday August 10, there were some technical problems, the mixer broke down, the monitors dropped out a couple of times and the music in the stadium was not continuously on the right volume.
During the parade on Friday, August 13, 2004, all participating nations introduced their athletes—10,500 in total There were 80,000 spectators, only 75,000 knowing about dance music. During the course of his performance the Dutch athletes started dancing in front of the DJ booth and had to be moved on by officials. The performance included new tracks produced especially for the Opening Ceremony and songs that were created to complement the spirit and theme of the ceremony. A condensed studio-recorded album of the songs played on the Olympic set was later released, including new songs specially composed for the occasion, entitled Parade of the Athletes in October 2004. In the liner notes, he noted the IOC requested that the music not contain any lyrics as they could be inadvertently misinterpreted.
In late 2004, he began his touring across Latin America, with his release of In Search of Sunrise 3: Panama in which he gained influence from the sun and sand in summer 2002. The tour continued in 2005, and Tiësto performed live at Brazil, Argentina, Panama, Peru, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador and Colombia. Following the tours, In Search of Sunrise 4: Latin America was released in 2005, featuring a second CD for the first time in the In Search of Sunrise series.
In 2005, his Perfect Remixes Vol. 3 compilation was released through Warlock Records, containing ten tracks which were created during the beginning of his career, between those is Junkie XL, Mauro Picotto and The Roc Project. On August 20, 2005, Verwest took Tiësto in Concert to the US when he played to 16,000 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena with Cirque du Soleil dancers. For the second year in a row he performed live at a New Year's Eve/New Year's concert in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Orleans Arena to a sell-out crowd. Despite his four-city US tour being postponed due to the hurricane damage in New Orleans and Miami, playing such cities further expanded and cemented his popularity among mainstream audiences. This was surpassed later in summer 2007 when some 250,000 danced on Ipanema Beach, Brazil, becoming the second largest concert in history. BPM magazine has an annual poll in the US which is unveiled in the WMC, in 2005 Tiësto took the No. 1 spot. The influences of Los Angeles remained with him and would later influence his In Search of Sunrise compilation.
A wax sculpture of Tiësto was placed behind a turntable at Madame Tussauds in Amsterdam where visitors can mix Tiësto's music together. In the fall of 2005 he went on a very successful tour across Central and Eastern Europe where he played once in each country to crowds of 10,000 to 15,000 fans. Stops were made in Ukraine, Slovakia, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Croatia, Poland and South Africa. The United States tour that was part of Tiësto in Concert was dwarfed by his appearance at Sensation White in 2006 where he performed to over 45,000 people in the world's biggest dance event in Amsterdam, Holland.
In Search of Sunrise 5: Los Angeles was released in 2006 which was certified Gold in Canada for sales over 50,000 copies. It also charted, peaking #34 in Canada and #59 in Austria. The compilation was launched in the Winter Music Conference at Mansion in South Beach Miami to support his release, Tiësto went on his In Search of Sunrise 5 Asia Tour for more than 3 weeks.
In September 2006, Tiësto was admitted to hospital after experiencing pain in his chest. He was diagnosed with pericarditis and subsequently had to cancel a number of shows. With the diagnosis, he was invited to support Dance4Life to help teens who are not aware of the risks of HIV/AIDS. He was chosen as the official ambassador for the Dance4Life foundation in May 2006, and released the song "Dance4Life" with Maxi Jazz to help spread the awareness of HIV/AIDS.
On April 6, 2007 Tiësto began presenting a new weekly two-hour radio show called Tiësto's Club Life on Dutch radio station Radio 538. It is syndicated worldwide and later released as a Podcast.
Elements of Life era (2007-2009)
On April 16, 2007, Tiësto released his third studio album Elements of Life, the album moved 73,000 units in its April release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. During the production of the album Tiësto in several cases sent a demo with the music to certain artists, and they replied back with the lyrics and vocals and other duration times. In the case of Christian Burns from BBMak, Tiësto met him through MySpace and got in contact with him and the production of the single "In the Dark". The album consists of rock, trance and experimental music, which shows the style Tiësto has grown throughout the years since his previous albums which contained lyrics, In My Memory and Just Be. Producer Brian Transeau collaborated with Tiësto in three tracks, he composed "Bright Morningstar" and "Sweet Things", he also performed the vocals in the single "Break My Fall". Together, they produced more tracks which were not released in the album, Tiësto has mentioned they would work again during the coming summer. In December 2007 it was announced that the album was nominated for a Grammy Award, in the category "Best Electronic/Dance Album." The album also received gold certifications in Belgium, Hungary, Netherlands, and Romania.[28] A special release party was held at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam on November 3, 2007 for In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza.
His last three full-length releases broke the 70,000 mark, and the 2003 2CD compilation Nyana recently hit 87,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In support of the album, he embarked on his Elements of Life World Tour which had shows across the world. Tiësto's performance at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark on November 10, 2007 was also sold out.[30] The Copenhagen: Elements of Life World Tour DVD was released in a party which was held on February 29, 2008 in London at the IndigO2 club.
Tiësto announced his residence at Privilege, officially recognised by the Guinness World Records as being the largest club in the world. He played in Ibiza every Monday, from July 7 until September 22. The gigs consisted of sets in the style of his In Search of Sunrise series. In 2007, he had released In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza which was inspired by the island. The residencies also featured the performance of guest deejays, all selected by Tiësto, such as Chris Lake, Andy Duguid, Mat Zo, Cosmic Gate, Alex Kunnari and Sander van Doorn as well as exclusive appearances by Fonzerelli and Airbase.
On April 28, Tiësto released Elements of Life: Remixed, a recompilation of the Elements of Life album with all songs being replaced by remixed versions. In mid-2008, Tiësto announced his In Search of Sunrise: Summer Tour 2008, which will be presented by Armani Exchange on May in support of his upcoming In Search of Sunrise 7: Asia compilation[34] and the previously released In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza. On August 8, 2008 Tiësto became the first DJ to perform at the famous O2 Arena in London as part of his In Search of Sunrise 7 summer tour, the event was sold out with a capacity of 20,000 people. Earlier that day, Tiësto had performed in-store at Armani Exchange on Regent Street in central London.
A sole production was prepared for Tiësto from June 8 to September 21 for his return at club Privilege for the second year in a row on Monday nights, after a successful year as a resident in 2008. During his time at Privilege he previewed tracks from his upcoming artist album. InTheBooth, the official members-only fansite of Tiësto launched July 17, 2009. On July 31, he was the first DJ to perform for 25,000 people at an exclusive outdoor concert in Victoria Park, London.
Kaleidoscope era (2009–present)
On October 6, 2009, Tiësto released his fourth studio album Kaleidoscope, which featured artists such as Priscilla Ahn, Calvin Harris, Tegan & Sara and Nelly Furtado. Unlike his earlier albums, which were all mostly trance, Kaleidoscope explores other electronic genres, and is considered Tiesto's most experimental album. The first single "I Will Be Here" featuring Sneaky Sound System being released in July 2009.[37][38][39] In its first week, the album reached the Top 10 chart on iTunes.
To release the album he has set up a new record label called Musical Freedom after parting ways with Black Hole Recordings. Tiësto felt that his music was evolving in a new direction and his focus as an artist was moving away from what Black Hole was set up to support. His new tour, sharing the name of his new album, called Kaleidoscope World Tour commenced in late September.
Tiësto contributed songs to both DJ Hero and DJ Hero 2 video games and is a playable character in the second game. He contributed two exclusive mixes to the second game, and used content from DJ Hero 2 to create the official video for his single 'Speed Rail' - the world's first music video to be created entirely using in-game footage.
Tiësto has produced a trance-flavoured song on Memphis rap duo Three 6 Mafia's upcoming album Laws of Power called "Feel It," which features Flo Rida and Sean Kingston.
On March 16, 2010, Tiësto released his greatest hits album called Magikal Journey: The Hits Collection 1998-2008, a two disc album focusing on his most famous songs and remixes of his songs.
On April 7, 2010, Tiësto announced that he would start a new compilation series called A New Dawn with his own label Musical Freedom. In his interview Tiësto furthermore confirmed that he will no longer have any more involvement with Black Hole Recordings.
On August 31, 2010 Kaleidoscope: Remixed was released, a remix album of his album Kaleidoscope.
On December 11, 2010, Tiësto was one of the headlining acts at ZoukOut 2010,[48] which was held in Singapore at Siloso Beach, Sentosa Island.
Philanthropy
On January 6, 2005, Tiësto performed in an outdoor fundraiser in De Dam, Amsterdam. The event was free, and many famous Dutch artists like Dinand Woesthoff, BLØF, Acda & De Munnik, Di-rect, Berget Lewis, Xander de Buisonjé and Trijntje Oosterhuis were involved in it to provide financial aid to the people who suffered from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Southern and Southeastern Asia. All profits made of all TV commercials and live broadcast were given to the organisations collecting the relief funds.
In April 2006, Tiësto was named the official worldwide ambassador for the Dance4Life foundation promoting awareness of HIV/AIDS, as the foundation's ambassador he has helped the organisation with fundraising along with recording the track "Dance4life" that he recorded with Maxi Jazz from Faithless. The foundation consists on a better way of living with safe sex in exchange of entertainment to the young crowd.[50] The song was a huge success, peaking for five weeks in #3 and eleven consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of the Dutch Singles Chart, it also reached #5 in Belgium, #6 in Finland and also charting in the UK and Germany. With the successful release of Elements of Life, Tiësto and fashion designer Giorgio Armani collaborated together on a limited edition Tiësto T-shirt available at Armani Exchange stores. His single "Sweet Things" comes with the shirt including an exclusive "A|X Remix" by Tom Cloud which shows the great influence Tiësto has in fashion culture.[51] The charity raised over US$300,000.[34] On November 29, 2008 artists like Tiësto himself, Sied van Riel, Leon Bolier, Joop, and MC Gunner presented a concert at The Sand, Amsterdam promoted by Dance4Life, the sales from the event will go to the foundation to support next year's Schools4Life project.
Personal life
Until early 2006, Tiësto was in a relationship with Dutch model Monique Spronk. On January 10, 2008, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf announced that Tiësto and his girlfriend Stacey Blokzijl were going to get married on October 10, 2008 in Cartagena, Colombia. He proposed to her in December 2007 while they were visiting Mauritius. Tiësto cancelled his wedding for October 10, because he claimed to have a busy schedule and too little time for the preparations. During Christmas 2008, Blokzijl broke off the engagement due to the constant delays to their wedding.
Source: Wikipedia
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Legionnaires dressed in traditional pioneer outfits and holding hatchets parade during the commemoration ceremony of the 1863 battle of Camerone, at the Foreign Legion base of Aubagne, near the southern city of Marseille, Friday, April 30, 2010. The Foreign Legion marked the 147th anniversary of the Camerone battle in which some 65 French Foreign Legionnaires resisted a Mexican army of more than 2,000 men.