BEIJING – China pledged to strengthen bonds with isolated North Korea, nudging it to improve its economy, while reports of Indian and South Korean swoops on North Korean shipping underscored strains behind a recent easing of tension.
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ATHENS – Socialist PASOK leader George Papandreou started putting together a cabinet yesterday after winning a decisive mandate to battle corruption and lead Greece out of an worsening economic downturn.
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WASHINGTON – The White House yesterday ruled out any consideration of a US withdrawal from Afghanistan as part of President Barack Obama’s sweeping strategy review of the increasingly unpopular war there.
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WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama gathered doctors from every US state at the White House yesterday to press his case for healthcare reform in a week when the sweeping overhaul could clear a major hurdle in Congress.
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BERLIN – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives began talks with their pro-business allies yesterday to form Germany’s first centre-right government in 11 years and promised to revive the economy and create jobs.
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TOKYO – Support for Japan’s new cabinet is riding high at 71 percent, but in one sign of possible trouble ahead, the same percentage of voters are unhappy with the prime minister’s explanation of funding scandal, a survey showed yesterday.
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RAMALLAH – The Western-backed Palestinian government pledged yesterday “to confront Israel” via diplomatic means as Israeli troops clashed with protesters for a second day in the Jerusalem area.
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KIEV – Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko yesterday put off the unpopular step of raising gas prices at home until after the Jan. 17 presidential election despite a promise to the International Monetary Fund.
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PADANG, Indonesia – Markets reopened and some children attended school in the earthquake-shattered city of Padang yesterday, but inland villages engulfed by landslides were to be left as mass graves to focus on getting aid to survivors.
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WARSAW – Poland’s sports minister resigned yesterday over a lobbying scandal that has begun to tarnish the image of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s ruling centre-right Civic Platform (PO).