 | | | | | | | Newsletter | 16.02.2009, 17:15 UTC | | | Newsline | | | World news: international | | | | | | | | | World News | | | | | Current Article | | | | Clinton begins Asia trip, speaks against NKorea rocket launch
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Tokyo at the start of an Asian tour. It is Clinton's first trip abroad since taking up her new portfolio. After Japan she is scheduled to stop in Indonesia, South Korea and China. Shortly before departing the US, Clinton spoke out against an impending North Korean missile launch, warning the reclusive nation to avoid provocative acts. North Korea says it is preparing to test a long-range missile, which it says is part of a "space development" programme. Pyongyang has previously tested missiles under the guise of launching a satellite. |  | | Pakistan restores Islamic law to pacify Swat Valley
Local authorities in Pakistan have reportedly signed a deal with Islamic hardliners to enforce sharia law in the troubled northwestern region of Malakand. The agreement was reached at talks between Islamists and officials of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government in Peshawar on Monday. The government emphasised it had not caved in to extremists, saying the deal was designed to drive a wedge between conservative hardliners and those militants who have fallen under the thrall of al Qaeda and the Taliban. The agreement comes a day after Taliban militants in Swat called a 10-day ceasefire. Islamic extremists have been battling Islamabad's authority in the area since late 2007. They have destroyed more than 200 girls schools in a campaign against female education, and tens of thousands of people have fled their homes to escape the violence. | | | Germany appoints special Afghanistan envoy
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has appointed a special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The foreign ministry said the current ambassador to India, Bernd Mützelburg would be tasked with intensifying diplomatic efforts in the region. The 65-year-old Mützelburg is considered to be one of Germany's most experienced diplomats. From 2002 to 2005, he was a foreign policy advisor to then-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Before that he led the UN team at the Foreign Ministry. The United States had reportedly asked for a German official to concentrate on moves to solve the growing crisis in Afghanistan and Pakistan and to liaise with Washington's special envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke. | | | US drone ''hits target'' in Pakistani tribal area
Media reports in Pakistan say a missile fired by a suspected US drone has destroyed a building used by the Taliban in a tribal area near the border with Afghanistan. One report quoted a security official speaking on condition of anonymity as saying that up to 10 people were killed in the attack. It was the first suspected US drone attack in Kurram, one of seven semi-autonomous tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Last weekend, intelligence officials said a suspected US missile strike killed at least 25 people in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region. Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its fight against terrorism, but it has opposed missile strikes in the country's tribal regions where Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents are believed to operate. | | | Japan says economic crisis worst since WWII
Japan has warned it has entered its deepest economic crisis since World War II, after suffering its worst contraction in almost 35 years. The fourth quarter of 2008 was the third in a row to shrink, dragging Asia's biggest economy deeper into recession. The global slowdown has crushed demand for Japanese exports, a key pillar of the world's number two economy. Official data showed Japan's economy contracted 3.3 percent, or more than 12 percent on the same quarter last year. The news of Japan's weakest performance since the 1974 oil shock also dragged stockmarkets in India, Australia and Singapore down. | | | US envoy in India to discuss regional security
Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, has held talks with Indian officials in New Delhi, on the last leg of a fact-finding tour to the region. He met with India's National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon. During talks with Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Holbrooke discussed tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi following the November 26 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Holbrooke arrived in New Delhi late on Sunday, after meeting officials in Islamabad and Kabul last week. One of the main aims of his visit is to spearhead a strategic US review of the Afghanistan war.
| | | Chavez wins Venezuelan referendum
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has won a referendum that clears the way for him to continue standing for office. The National Electoral Council said that 54 percent of the electorate voted in favour of the motion. It lifts restrictions on the number of times elected officials can run for office. Without the constitutional change, Chavez would have been obliged to stand down when his current term expires in 2013. The 54-year-old Chavez welcomed the result, telling supporters that “truth and dignity” had triumphed. He maintains that the amendment, which was rejected in an earlier referendum, is necessary to fulfil his programme of socialist reforms.
| | | UK, French submarines collide under Atlantic
Two nuclear-armed submarines, one British and one French, have collided while on separate exercises in the Atlantic Ocean. The British Defence Ministry said the collision had not diminished the country's nuclear defence capacity. In a statement the British Navy and the French Defence Ministry confirmed that both vessels, the HMS Vanguard and the French U-boat Triomphant, were on a routine patrol earlier this month when they came into contact at low speed. There were no injuries and there was no compromise to nuclear safety. Both Britain and France have opened inquiries into the accident. Both submarines were damaged in the incident. | | | | | |  | | |  Up-to-date news at DW-WORLD.DE | | | | | | |  | | | Note
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