From the News, Nation, Dawn, Pakistan Observer, Daily Times, Frontier Post, Nawa-i-Waqt (Urdu), Jang (Urdu) and daily Express (Urdu) newspapers                                                                            

22 December 2009

International News

Political

• Tokyo (AP) Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator called for a global nuclear weapons ban on Monday but insisted all nations-including his own-have the right to develop nuclear energy (Daily Times, p- A5)

• Tokyo (AFP) Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, his ratings slipping on doubts about his leadership, weighed on Monday whether to keep key campaign pledges or try to rein in a huge public debt worrying investors and voters, alike (Pakistan Observer, p- 3)

Economic

• Tokyo (Reuters) Japan’s exports rose by the most in seven years in November on signs of a pickup in demand from China, calming worries that the economy will slip back into recession next year (Daily Times, p- B5)

• Tokyo (AFP) Japan’s exports fell at the slowest pace in more than a year in November as the world’s second-largest economy benefited from a recovery in Asian powerhouse China, data showed Monday (The News, p- 18)