SKIRTING THE RULES: The top Asia official at the Pentagon said Beijing's record of cooperating with the UN is uneven, especially in regard to of Iran and Zimbabwe
Beijing is reluctant to launch a full crackdown on Chinese firms conducting business in violation of UN Security Council sanctions, the Pentagon's Asia chief said on Wednesday.

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Foreign ministers from the G8 industrialized nations agreed yesterday on the need to step up efforts to secure Afghanistan’s borders and stabilize food and oil prices to avoid a global crisis.

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MOVING ON: The president said the country should focus on reviving the economy, while the prime minister said violent protests would not be tolerated
South Korea lifted its ban on imports of US beef yesterday, and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak called on the country to move past the dispute, which has paralyzed his government with weeks of tumultuous protests.

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China denied yesterday that it had violated the prohibition on politicizing the Olympics when a Tibetan official called for government opponents to be “smashed” to protect the Games next month.

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Pakistan's new government gave its strongest commitment yet on containing Islamic militancy, vowing on Wednesday to prevent attacks on Afghanistan but insisting foreign forces would not be allowed to operate on Pakistani soil.

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Homosexuality is officially illegal in India but the country’s lesbians and gays say that will not stop them coming out for the first nationwide pride marches on Sunday.

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PEACEKEEPERS: The Zimbabwean opposition leader called for the intervention of UN peacekeepers in the contested election run-off, and sought active isolation
Former South African president Nelson Mandela and US President George W. Bush on Wednesday led mounting world outrage over Zimbabwe, where veteran leader Robert Mugabe is pressing on with what is seen as a “sham” presidential run-off vote.

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy is still hoping to push through ambitious projects when France takes the helm of the EU next week despite Ireland’s rejection of the EU reform treaty.

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ROUTINE TRIP?: Israeli military officials reportedly want to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, if necessary, before the next US administration as they are unsure of continued support
US military chief Admiral Michael Mullen was expected in Israel this week for discussions including Iran, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, amid speculation that Israel is seeking Washington’s tacit approval to launch a strike on Tehran’s nuclear program.

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Germany yesterday marked the 60th anniversary of the start of the Berlin airlift, an unprecedented undertaking that likely saved the city from falling to the Soviets and that helped mend the wounds of World War II.

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Saudi Arabia has arrested 700 militants in the past six months on suspicion of planning attacks on the country’s oil industry and other targets, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.

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'OUTRAGED': Proponents of the death penalty for child rapists were incensed by the Supreme Court ruling that execution is a disproportionate punishment for the crime
The efforts of nearly a dozen US states to execute child rapists were derailed on Wednesday by a Supreme Court decision that incensed supporters of such punishment.

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SAFE PARKING: With numbers rising, New Beginnings, a California homeless agency, has launched a scheme to provide a refuge for those who have to sleep in cars
Homeless people living in cars and motorhomes across the US are being joined by a new breed: the middle class.

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A Briton was found guilty of murder on Wednesday for shooting to death his wife and baby daughter at their home in the US state of Massachusetts two years ago.

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A 25-year-old press operator shot and killed five coworkers and himself at a plastics plant in rural western Kentucky just hours after arguing with his supervisor about not wearing safety goggles and using his cellphone while on the assembly line, police said.

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Global warming is likely to increase illegal immigration, create humanitarian disasters and destabilize precarious governments in political hot spots, all of which could affect US national security, according to an assessment by US intelligence agencies.

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