China deployed thousands of troops to regain control of Urumqi, the capital of the western region of Xinjiang, after three days of rioting between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese. At least 156 people were killed and more than 900 injured in the violence, the worst outbreak of civil disorder in China since the suppression of the Tiananmen demonstration in 1989. The government said most of the dead were Han Chinese; the Uighurs claimed most of the victims as their own. [09/07]
THE progress of America’s surge in Afghanistan will become clearer over the week. Thousands of American marines are attempting to expel Taliban fighters form strategically important strongholds in Helmand province in the south of the country. America is deploying over 20,000 extra troops to try to ensure that presidential elections can go ahead in August. America also wants to disrupt the drug trade: most of the country’s opium poppies are grown in the region. [07/07]
US/Russia President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev struck a preliminary deal 6/7/2009 to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear warheads to as few as 1,500 each. [06/07]
South Korea, Japan and the United States condemned a barrage of short-range missiles fired by North Korea on 4/7, while Russia and China called for calm. North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles into the sea between the Communist state and Japan, flouting a United Nations Security Council resolution and sending a message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day holiday. [04/07]
There was a military coup in Honduras after Manuel Zelaya, the leftist president, tried to organise an unconstitutional referendum to allow him to stand for a second term in office. He was arrested and deported by the army, which acted with the support of Congress and the Supreme Court. The head of Congress was sworn in as president, pending an election in November. The Organisation of American States, the United States and the European Union all condemned the coup and called for Mr Zelaya’s reinstatement. [03/07]
Operation Khanjar, the new US surge strategy in Afghanistan, is tasked with wresting control of the Helmand River Valley from the Taliban. [02/07] </p
Iran News Agency says Ahmadinejad has called on Obama to "express regret" over alleged U.S. interference in election. [25/06]
North Korea boasted of being a "proud nuclear power" and threatened to harm the U.S. if attacked as tensions mounted over a possible crackdown on exports of suspected missile parts from the North [22/06].
