Barack Obama has arrived in the Canadian capital Ottawa on his first foreign trip as president, for talks with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.Trade, the global economy and the war in Afghanistan are the main issues to be discussed during the six-hour visit.As America’s biggest trade partner, Canada is worried about the “Buy American” measures in the $787bn (£546m) stimulus plan.Canadian troops are due to pull out of the Nato force in Afghanistan in 2011.President Obama was met by Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean and an escort of Royal Canadian Mounted Police at Ottawa’s airport.
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Two Italian nuns kidnapped in Kenya three months ago and then held in neighbouring Somalia have been freed, the Italian prime minister has said.Gunmen abducted Maria Teresa Olivero and Caterina Giraudo on 10 November in the northern Kenyan district of Mandera and then took them across the border.The women, in their 60s, were working on hunger and health programmes.PM Silvio Berlusconi said the two Roman Catholic nuns were now at the Italian embassy in Kenyan capital, Nairobi.”Their morale is up,” he told reporters, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Kyrgyz MPs have voted to close a key US base supplying troops in Afghanistan, hours before Nato chiefs meet to study a US plea to boost troop levels.The Manas base in Kyrgyzstan is used by thousands of US soldiers every month on their way to and from Afghanistan.The US is extremely concerned about a resurgence of the Taleban, and said this week it would send an additional 17,000 troops there.It will ask Nato to provide more troops ahead of general elections in August.US Defence Secretary Robert Gates will present the request to Nato allies in Krakow on Thursday.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has praised Indonesia for showing that “Islam, democracy and modernity” can thrive together.She spoke in the capital, Jakarta, on the second leg of her Asian tour, after talks with counterpart Hassan Wirajuda.The two discussed building ties on issues such as climate change, trade, security and counter-terrorism.Mrs Clinton said Indonesia shared both interests and values with the US, and had an important global role to play.”Building a comprehensive partnership with Indonesia is a critical step on behalf of the United States’ commitment to smart power,” she said.
A magistrate in Zimbabwe has ruled that there is enough evidence for politician Roy Bennett to face charges including that of terrorism.The charges against the MDC party’s nominee for deputy agriculture minister relate to illegal arms possession. He was cleared of immigration offences.Journalist David Farira told the BBC Mr Bennett looked tired in court and shook his head when he heard the ruling.Last week his party joined the ruling Zanu-PF in a unity government.
Israel’s security cabinet has decided there will be no truce in Gaza until an Israeli soldier captured in 2006 is freed, Israel’s interior minister says.Meir Sheetrit told reporters that the cabinet had backed demands to link Cpl Gilad Shalit’s release to the lifting of Israel’s blockade of Gaza.Israel has closed Gaza’s borders, allowing only essential supplies in.
A large stockpile of unexploded weapons has disappeared in Gaza, before United Nations experts were able to dispose of it safely, the BBC has learned.The explosives, including aircraft bombs and white phosphorus shells, were fired by the Israeli military during its recent offensive in the Gaza Strip.UN officials said they were urgently trying to establish where the arms had gone and have called for their return.Israel has accused Hamas of taking the stockpile, which was under Hamas guard.A UN Mines Action Team has been in Gaza since the end of the war, last month, its job to locate unexploded Israeli ordnance and to organise its safe disposal.
A reward of $250,000 (£172,000) has been offered by Microsoft to find who is behind the Downadup/Conficker virus.Since it started circulating in October 2008 the Conficker worm has managed to infect millions of computers worldwide.The software giant is offering the cash reward because it views the Conficker worm as a criminal attack.”People who write this malware have to be held accountable,” said George Stathakopulos, of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group.
Australian police have charged a man with arson causing death over one of the country’s deadly bushfires.The 39-year-old was also charged with deliberately lighting a bushfire near Churchill, in eastern Victoria state. The blaze killed at least 21 people.Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has described Australia’s deadliest bushfires as mass murder.At least 181 people were killed as the fires swept through Victoria in south-east Australia at the weekend.
The US military has failed to keep track of thousands of weapons shipped to Afghanistan, leaving them vulnerable to being lost or stolen, a report says.The report – compiled by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) – was obtained by news organisations.It found that, in the four years up to June 2008, the US military failed to keep complete records on some 222,000 weapons entering the country.The report will be discussed in the US House of Representatives on Thursday.It states that weapons supplied by the US to the Afghan military “are at serious risk of theft or loss”, reported the New York Times and the Associated Press, both of which obtained copies of the report ahead of publication.