BRAZIL - FRANCE - PLANE: An international search operation continues Tuesday for an Air France
jetliner that vanished while flying during stormy weather over the
Atlantic Ocean Monday.
Search planes from France, Brazil and Spain are looking for any signs
of what happened to the Airbus A330 jet, which was carrying 228 people
on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. They are searching a vast
area more than a thousand kilometers off the northeastern coast of
Brazil's Fernando de Noronha archipelago.
Planes with special search equipment worked throughout the night.
SOKOR ASEAN: South Korea and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
have concluded a two-day special summit Tuesday with a joint statement
condemning North Korea's recent nuclear test.
In the statement, leaders called the North's recent nuclear test and
subsequent missile tests a "clear violation" of United Nations Security
Council resolutions and agreements made during six-nation disarmament
talks.
The leaders urged Pyongyang to return to the talks and to peacefully resolve the issue of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.
NOKOR - POL: A South Korean lawmaker and media reports say Kim Jong Il has chosen his youngest son to be the North's next leader.
In a radio interview Tuesday, opposition lawmaker Park Jie-won said
North Korea has asked the country's main bodies and its diplomatic
missions to pledge loyalty to Kim Jong Un.
South Korean media also reported the news, refering to unnamed sources.
The South's Yonhap news agency said Park was among a group of lawmakers
briefed Monday night by Seoul's spy agency on the North Korean
succession issue.
GM - CHINA: The head of General Motors's Chinese operations says the unit will not
be affected by the U.S.-based parent company's bankruptcy filing.
G.M. China President Kevin Wale says the subsidiary is profitable,
self-sustaining and does not require financing from U.S. headquarters
in Detroit, Michigan.
Wale says G.M. China sold 156,000 vehicles in May, an 75 percent
increase from the previous year. He says the subsidiary sold a total of
670,000 vehicles for the first five months of 2009 -- up 33 percent
from the same period in 2008.
OBAMA MIDEAST: U.S. President Barack Obama will depart Tuesday for Riyadh, the first stop on a five-day tour of the Middle East and Europe. On Wednesday, Mr. Obama will meet with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah. Thursday he travels to Cairo for a much-anticipated address to the Muslim world. The U.S. president will deliver his speech at Cairo University. In an interview broadcast Monday by the BBC, Mr. Obama said he wants to affirm to the world that the United States will hold to its important values even when it's hard, not just when it's easy.
PAKISTAN: Pakistani officials say troops have rescued all students and staff who
were kidnapped Monday by suspected Taliban militants in northwestern
Pakistan.
Military and government officials say the army recovered 71 students
and 9 staff members following a fierce gunbattle with militants early
Tuesday in in North Waziristan.
The military said the clash occurred when government troops stopped the
militants on a road as they tried to move their captives into
neighboring South Waziristan.
No casualties were reported.
PAKISTAN - INDIA: A Pakistani court has ordered the release of a man who heads a group accused of links to last year's terrorist attack in the Indian city of Mumbai. A high court in Lahore ruled Tuesday that there were no legal grounds for keeping Hafiz Mohammad Saeed under house arrest. Saeed heads the charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which Pakistan outlawed after the United Nations Security Council labeled the group a terrorist organization in December 2008. Saeed also founded the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which India blames for the Mumbai attack. The Indian government has accused Saeed's charity of being a front for the militant group. India's Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi Tuesday that the release raises serious doubts about Pakistan's sincerity in bringing those responsible for the Mumbai attack to justice.
SOMALIA - FIGHTING: More heavy fighting has broken out in Somalia's capital between Islamist insurgents and forces backing the Somali government.
Witnesses reported hearing very heavy gunfire Tuesday in Mogadishu's
Derkenley district. Hundreds of residents fled the area, which houses
thousands of people displaced from other parts of the war-ravaged city.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
At least nine people were killed in fighting Monday, including four
police officers in a roadside bomb and five others in a battle over a
police station. (News Updates)
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