International and Bilateral Issues:

Pakistan on Wednesday hinted at the possibility of participating in the coming Bonn Conference on Afghanistan but ruled out any high-level representation
Meanwhile, the formal communication to the U.S. asking it to vacate the Shamsi airbase has been sent with December 11 set as the deadline.

Britain on Wednesday expelled all Iranian diplomats and ordered the closure of its embassy in London in retaliation against the storming of the British mission in Tehran
Simultaneously, the British embassy in Tehran was shut down and all staff were evacuated.
Earlier, Iran's Parliament downgraded diplomatic ties with Britain in protest.
Britain was not severing relations with Iran entirely, he said, and he would raise the issue of Iran's nuclear programme at a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.

Israel announced on Wednesday that it would release tens of millions of dollars of tax funds owed to the Palestinians
The move came following heavy pressure by the United States, United Nations and Europe on Israel to free the money.
Israel froze this month's transfer to punish the Palestinians for their efforts to win U.N. recognition of their independence.
The tax funds come from customs duties and other fees that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinians under past interim peace deals.

China has said it will almost double its definition of the poverty threshold to enable an additional 100 million people to access social subsidies, a move that comes as the government looks to address a fast-widening income gap.
The government said this week it would raise the poverty threshold to 2,300 yuan ($362 or Rs.18,630) as the annual income for farmers — an 80-per cent increase
This brings China's poverty line to a little under a dollar a day, and closer to the $1.25 level defined by the World Bank.
President Hu Jintao said China had made “extraordinary achievements” in reducing poverty but now faced a number of new challenges, including the environment and the widening wealth gap.
To bridge the divide, a new social insurance programme will be put in place in rural areas and social security funding will be boosted
China spent $ 35 billion on poverty reduction last year, said Xinhua, taking net spending on poverty alleviation over the past decade to more than $200 billion.

The SAIL-led consortium, which has bagged rights for three iron ore mines in Hajigak in Afghanistan, will spend about $11 billion on infrastructure creation, mining and setting up a 6-million tonne steel plant and a 1,000-MW thermal power plant.
The immediate plan for the consortium is to carry out a geological study of the mines over three years
Given the restrictions imposed on Indian financial institutions with respect to providing funds to a venture in Afghanistan, a country that falls in the negative list, the consortium has already written to the government seeking sovereign funds.
All the seven consortium members — SAIL, JSW Steel, NMDC, JSW Steel, JSW Ispat, Jindal Steel and Power and Monnet Ispat and Energy — will make a contribution proportionate to their stake in the venture
The project is expected to provide direct employment to 8,000 people and 40,000 people indirectly