Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to a joint meeting of Congress yesterday, making her the first leader of unified Germany to do so. Merkel began her speech by commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall and remembering her own childhood in a divided Germany.
NewsHour’s Margaret Warner interviews Abdullah Abdullah, former Afghanpresidential candidate. ‘People are very agitated, they witnessed whathappened during the campaign,’ he said of his supporters. Abdullah saysthat he has called for restraint, but that he will not join a Karzaicampaign based on principles.
In light of the Oct. 28 attack on U.N. personnel in Afghanistan, theU.N. is working to reduce further threats to staff by temporarilyrelocating them throughout Afghanistan and elsewhere. More than half ofthe staff in Afghanistan will be moved while further securityprecautions are taken.
U.S. Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Tom Shannon held a briefing via DVC from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Shannon said that he and his team are in Honduras to help foster a national dialogue that they hope will lead to a fair and legitimate election. “We respect Honduras’ sovereignty, we respect Honduras’ democracy…and at the end of the day, the solution to this crisis, which is Honduran in origin, will be Honduran also,” he said.
President Barack Obama met with European leaders to discuss a wide range of issues from Afghanistan to climate change. Obama said he believed that a strengthened E.U. is a positive development for trans-atlantic relations and congratulated the leaders on recieving the last signature needed on the Lisbon treaty.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germans received 100 Deutschmarks to help start their new lives. Twenty years later, recipients remember how they spent their welcome money while former politician Theo Waigel remembers the high price of reunification.
Hassan Abbas of the Asia Society speaks with WorldFocus’ DaljitDhaliwal. The former Pakistani government official offers insight intowhat a Karzai second term means for the United States and how theU.N.’s decision to stop development work along the dangerousAfghanistan-Pakistan border will affect locals.
As an American colony for 50 years, the Philippines has come to regard the United States as both a friend and at times an enemy to their interests. As a Filipino labor force faces difficulties trying to emigrate in hopes of earning more money in the United States, their families back home enjoy American fast food and basketball. WorldFocus’ Mark Litke reports.
A new gas pipeline connecting Myanmar and China will provide some ofChina’s most landlocked parts of the country with natural gas whilestrategically avoiding the crowded Malacca Straits in order to securean uninhibited supply of energy. As Myanmar and China move forwardwith the plan, onlookers voice concern that the lucrative businesstransaction will make it even harder to influence the military regimein Myanmar.
Margaret Warner of PBS’ Newshour interviewed Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton in Islamabad at the end of her trip to Pakistan. “I knew before I came that we had our work cut out for us,” Clinton said. Clinton said that she focused her trip on trying to create a good dialogue while listening to the concerns of various groups within Pakistan that harbor animosity and suspicion toward the United States.
Aid workers are facing increasing dangers worldwide, but are continuingwith their work. Some aid groups are reluctantly looking to militarysupport as a last resort when trying to deliver aid to some of theworld’s most dire cases. Rachel Smalley reports for VOA News.