USA
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has begun a week-long trip to Asia, her first in her new post. In Tokyo, where she commenced the tour, her schedule includes a meeting with families of Japanese abducted decades ago to help train North Korean spies. She plans to press North Korea on this issue. Other stops will take her to Indonesia, South Korea, and China.
The US has ordered 30,000 Haitians, including 600 in detention, to leave the country, according to a report in Monday's South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Storm-ravaged Haiti says it is trying to rebuild and can't handle returning deportees.
Instead of a "car czar" to direct the restructuring of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, President Obama will establish a task force jointly overseen by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, according to a senior administration official. The government panel will hold the companies to the recovery plans due Tuesday for repaying government loans.
