Daily International News 11.08.10

Daily International News
November 8, 2010

POTUS Asia Trip
Obama’s almost empty promise to India [FP]
Obama supports adding India as a permanent member of U.N. Security Council [WaPo]
Obama, Singh Pledge Deeper Economic Ties, Differ on Pakistan [Bloomberg]
Obama skips Peace Prize winners’ meeting in Japan [AP]
Obama’s China Ambush [Daily Beast]

Northeast Asia
Clinton back on US soil after marathon Asia tour [AP]
China/Taiwan
US drops call for trade surplus target amid dollar spat with China [BBC]
UK government and business in push for China trade [BBC]
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in UK rights plea [BBC]
Samuelson Op-ed: As G-20 summit nears, China is unlikely to budge on currency [WaPo]
China maintains pressure over QE [FT]
Taiwan judges on corruption charges [BBC]
Koreas
North Korea’s premier travels to Chinese port city of Dalian: sources [Yonhap]
N. Korea confirms death of sailor in last year’s naval gunfight with S. Korea [Yonhap]
SKorean police arrest 4 people over G-20 protests [AP]

Southeast Asia/Pacific
Burma
What’s Next for Burma Opposition After Elections? [Time]
Myanmar army-backed parties set to sweep rare poll [Reuters]
10,000 refugees flee Myanmar post-vote fighting [AP]
Burmese election monitored by North Korean diplomats [FP]
Indonesia
Many flee Indonesia volcano amid fears of eruption [AP]
Australia
U.S. to Increase Asia Military Presence, Australia Defense Ties [Bloomberg]
Qantas makes more checks over A380 engine ‘anomalies’ [BBC]

South/Central Asia
Taliban Seek to Sway U.S. Congress With ‘Open Letter’ [WSJ]

Middle East
Iraq Leaders Meet in Erbil in Bid to Break Eight-Month Deadlock [Bloomberg]
Israel moves ahead with new east Jerusalem housing [AP]
Netanyahu Asks Biden to Press Iran on Nuclear Program [Bloomberg]
Radical Yemeni cleric calls for killing Americans [AP]
White House considers Yemen drone strikes, officials say [LAT]

Africa
Nigerian militants seize workers from oil rig [BBC]
Moroccan police dismantle W.Sahara camp [AFP]

Europe
EU visits Dublin as worries mount [BBC]
Italian Leader Urged to Resign by Former Ally [NYT]
Second Russian reporter attacked [BBC]
Cameron hails ‘revolutionary’ Whitehall data website [BBC]
BNP constitution battle returns to court [BBC]
Former UK MP Woolas makes fresh effort to overturn ban from politics [BBC]
UK Catholics say 5 Anglican bishops converting [AP]
Hostages taken at BMW offices in France – police [BBC]

Americas
Cuban dissident backs off hunger strike threat [AP]
Cholera may have reached Haitian capital, says doctor [BBC]
20 killed over weekend in Mexican border city [AP]

Domestic
Republicans May Increase U.S. House Lead in Undecided Races [Bloomberg]
Obama opens door for talks with GOP on tax-cut extension [WaPo]
Are hopes dimming on repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’? [WaPo]
MSNBC ends suspension of host Keith Olbermann [WaPo]
Cheney angered by Bush decision on Scooter Libby pardon [BBC]
Chile miner Edison Pena completes New York City Marathon [BBC]

NEWS: Morning Int’l News Roundup 10.20.09

Morning International News Roundup 10.20.09 – get some!

East Asia

N. Korean diplomat arrives in Beijing en route to U.S. [Yonhap]
“Ri Gun, director general of the North American affairs bureau at North Korea’s foreign ministry, is reportedly scheduled to meet Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy on the six-way nuclear talks, in San Diego on the sidelines of an academic seminar slated for Oct. 26-27.”

Ri Gun - NK Nuclear Negotiator

North Koreans quit Danish embassy in Hanoi for South Korea [Reuters]
“Nine North Koreans who took refuge in Denmark’s embassy in Hanoi nearly four weeks ago have left the mission and are on their way to South Korea, a Danish consular official said Tuesday.”

Gates: Disputed US airfield should stay on Okinawa [AP]
“Pentagon chief Robert Gates did not specifically mention the controversy over the Futenma base…during brief public remarks with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada. But he made clear that the Obama administration would frown on any action by Tokyo to block a new runway at another base on Okinawa when Futenma is closed.”

Central/South Asia
Battle intensifies as Taliban retake Pakistani town [Reuters]

Karzai Expected to Agree to Runoff [WP]
“Obama administration officials said they expect Afghan President Hamid Karzai to announce Tuesday that he will accept a runoff in his country’s disputed election, after the invalidation of nearly a million of his votes by the commission investigating fraud in the Aug. 20 race.”

Middle East
Iran honors Guards killed in attack, blames U.S [Reuters]
“Iran‘s military accused the United States and Israel of terrorism as it held a funeral on Tuesday for high-ranking commanders killed in the deadliest attack in the Islamic Republic since the 1980s.”

Obama’s Secret  Iran Talks [TIME]
“President Barack Obama has a personal stake in the outcome of Monday’s meeting in Vienna between Western and Iranian nuclear experts on the future of Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium. That’s because, Administration sources tell TIME, Obama personally weighed in three times during secret, multiparty negotiations with the Iranians over the last four months.”

Abbas says to issue decree for Palestinian vote [Reuters]
“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday he would issue a decree on Sunday to hold elections by January 24, a move that could raise pressure on Hamas to sign an Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal.”

Europe/UK
Pope Approves Plan to Oversee Anglican Conversions [NYT]
“A new canonical entity will allow Anglicans “to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.”

Berlusconi sparks feminist backlash in Italy [Reuters]
“Silvio Berlusconi’s cutting remark about a female rival’s lack of beauty has stirred a rare public backlash from thousands of Italian women who had largely kept silent about the prime minister’s womanizing and sex scandals.
About 97,000 Italian women have signed the “Women offended by the premier” appeal after Berlusconi told the matronly, bespectacled leftist Rosy Bindi that she was “more beautiful than intelligent” in a swipe at both her looks and brains.”

UK govt in uproar over exposure given far right [AP]
“To the outrage of many Britons, a white-supremacist fringe party riding a wave of electoral success has been invited to participate in a BBC prime-time TV show on politics.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party government says it is appalled that the far right British National Party will get such high-profile exposure to millions of viewers. The BBC, however, says as a publicly funded broadcaster it must cover all political parties that have a national presence.”

BNP membership list appears on Wikileaks [Guardian]
“Nick Griffin says list of thousands of names, plus addresses and phone numbers, is ‘malicious forgery’.”

The Americas
Honduras de facto government scolds Zelaya, talks stall [Reuters]
“The de facto Honduran government relaxed curbs on protests and media on Monday but toughened criticism of ousted President Manuel Zelaya as talks to end a three-month political crisis stalled.”