Japan’s new leader says he wants to build trust relationship with Obama, see economy improve

October 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - An influential US senator says it has been difficult for the US to build trust with Pakistan's military and intelligence services because ties between Islamabad's spy agency ISI and Taliban remain troubling. "We need to fix this relationship," Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic Chairman John Kerry said at a Congressional hearing Thursday on "Afghanistan's Impact on Pakistan": The US Congress had taken a "major step" in doing so with the passage of a legislation to triple non-military assistance to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year for the next five years, he said.

September 22nd, 2009 NEW YORK - US President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao have pledged to work closely to strengthen ties between the two countries. The two leaders met Tuesday at the Waldorf Astoria hotel on the sidelines of the climate change summit organised by the UN in the General Assembly in New York.

September 18th, 2009 Obama to meet Japan's new prime minister at UNWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will meet Japan's new leader for the first time at the United Nations next week. U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said that Obama will meet Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday.

September 16th, 2009 Japan's new leader vows economic, diplomacy shiftTOKYO — Longtime opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama took office as prime minister on Wednesday, naming a new Cabinet and vowing to rebuild the economy and refocus Japan's place on the world stage with his largely untested party. Hatoyama's victory over the conservatives, who have governed Japan almost nonstop since World War II, marks a major turning point for Japan, which is facing its worst postwar economic slowdown with unemployment at record highs and deflation intensifying.

September 16th, 2009 Hatoyama elected Japan's leader, names CabinetTOKYO — Longtime opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama took office as prime minister on Wednesday, naming a new Cabinet and vowing to rebuild the economy and refocus Japan's place on the world stage with his largely untested left-of-center party. Hatoyama's victory over the conservatives, who have governed Japan almost nonstop since World War II, marks a major turning point for Japan, which is facing its worst postwar economic slowdown with unemployment at record highs and deflation intensifying.

September 16th, 2009 Hatoyama Japan's prime minister, names CabinetTOKYO — Longtime opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama was elected prime minister and installed his new Cabinet Wednesday, promising to reinvigorate Japan's economy and shake up government with his left-of-center party after more than 50 years of nearly unbroken rule by conservatives. Hatoyama's victory marks a major turning point for Japan, which is facing its worst economic slowdown since World War II, with unemployment at record highs and deflation intensifying.

September 9th, 2009 Obama: 'I will protect Medicare'WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Wednesday night promised to protect Medicare and reassured the elderly that Medicare funds would not be used to pay for a health care overhaul. The president said the plan would eliminate billions of dollars in waste and fraud and what he called the "unwarranted subsidies" that go to insurance companies.

September 2nd, 2009 TOKYO - The politician slated to be Japan's next prime minister vowed Thursday in a telephone call with US President Barack Obama to maintain his country's close ties with its US ally and pledged cooperation with Washington to improve the economy. The state of US-Japanese ties has been a concern in the US capital with the landslide win of Yukio Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in Sunday's parliamentary elections.

September 2nd, 2009 Report: Hatoyama, Obama speak by telephoneTOKYO — Japan's incoming leader Yukio Hatoyama and President Barack Obama held telephone talks Thursday, a news report said, amid concerns Tokyo may pursue a more independent foreign policy under its new government. The phone conversation took place early Thursday in Japan, Kyodo News agency reported.

July 12th, 2009 DAMASCUS - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, speaking to reporters from Damascus Sunday, admitted that France and Syria were "not in full agreement" on Iran's nuclear programme. "We are not in full agreement on how to handle the Iranian nuclear file, but it was very useful to listen to the Syrian point of view on this matter," Kouchner said after meeting his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Moallem and President Bashar al-Assad.

June 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton turned to computer speak as she called for an "upgrade" in the US-India relationship to a new version she dubbed "US-India 3.0". Speaking before the US-India Business Council and an audience that included representatives from offshore outsourcing companies, Clinton said the US-India relationship needs an "upgrade." She dubbed this new version of their relationship "US-India 3.0" saying finally, "I want to put us in the solutions business." "We find ourselves at the beginning of a third era.

June 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton turned to computer speak as she called for an "upgrade" in the US-India relationship to a new version she dubbed "US-India 3.0". Speaking before the US-India Business Council and an audience that included representatives from offshore outsourcing companies, Clinton said the US-India relationship needs an "upgrade".

June 4th, 2009 Obama speaks out against extremism in IslamCAIRO — President Barack Obama says extremists have exploited tensions among Muslims. Obama on Thursday said that some people in the United States view Islam as hostile to Western countries.

May 8th, 2009 Obama: US relations with Russia can improveWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he thinks the United States and Russia can improve their relationship concerning nuclear weapons and several other issues. Obama met at the White House Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

April 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Friday US President Barack Obama had told him that he was keen to visit India early with his entire family and build on the improving relationship with this country. In his interaction with women journalists Friday, Manmohan Singh spoke about his meeting with the US president on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in London last week.