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

6 January, 2009

LOCAL NEWS   

POLITICAL

-          Islamabad (APP) The Ambassadors designate of Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Egypt, Yemen and Russian Federation to Pakistan presented their credentials to President Asif Ali Zardari at an impressive ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Monday. (Pakistan Observer, p-9; Daily Times, p-B2; The Post, p-11)

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

POLITICAL

-          Tokyo, Jan 5 (AFP) Japan’s unpopular Prime Minister Taro Aso faced a show of defiance on Monday at the start of a high-stakes Parliament session as a senior lawmaker threatened to leave the ruling party. (Dawn, p-15; Daily Times, p-A9)

-          Tokyo (AFP) A former Japanese financial services minister threatened to quit the ruling party on Monday if his policy demands were not met, in the latest sign of Prime Minister Taro Aso’s Fraying leadership as he tries to revive the economy. (Pakistan Observer, p-3; The Frontier Post, p-5)

-          Tokyo (Agencies) Emperor Akihito marks two decades on the Japanese throne on Wednesday, but the anniversary is set to pass quietly given the poor health of the royal family that some officials blame on internal squabbling. (The Frontier Post, p-5)    

-          Tokyo (AFP) Japan, Sri Lanka’s top donor, was curious on Monday after the Tamil Tiger rebels’ capital fell, with an officials saying that only a political solution could resolve the island’s ethnic war. (The Frontier Post, p-8)

ECONOMIC 

-     Tokyo (Agencies) Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., Japan’s two biggest carmakers, led a drop in the country’s auto sales last month as a recession cut wages and crippled consumer demand. (Pakistan Observer, p-7)

MISC

-          Tokyo (AFP Picture) Women in Kimono pose with an ox character symbolizing the “year of the Ox” as they join the ceremony to start the first trading at the Tokyo Stock Exchange after the New Year holidays. (The Nation, p-17)