China’s top military newspaper warned the United States on Saturday that U.S.-Philippine military exercises have fanned risks of armed confrontation over the disputed South China Sea.

The commentary in China’s Liberation Army Daily falls short of a formal government statement, but marks the harshest high-level warning yet from Beijing about tensions with the Philippines over disputed seas where both countries have recently sent ships to assert their claims.

This week American and Filipino troops launched a fortnight of annual naval drills amid the stand-off between Beijing and Manila, who have accused each other of encroaching on sovereign seas near the Scarborough Shoal, west of a former U.S. navy base at Subic Bay. [Read more...]

North Korean women attend a grand chorus event in Pyongyang to mark Kim Il-sung’s 100th birthday [Reuters]

As the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPRK) heralds an imminent rocket launch from the Tongchang-ri site, its neighbours anxiously await the fallout.

While the North says the send-off is merely to put a civilian satellite into space, the country’s adversaries have denounced what they describe as provocation by Pyongyang. [Read more...]

As Syrians took part of “Damascus here we come” demonstrations across the country on Friday, a pilot rejected orders to kill civilian protesters and instead targeted a military security building in Aleppo.

After depleting his ammunitions, the pilot flew to Turkey, a country that already hosts Syrian army defectors. Head of the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA), Colonel Riad al-Asaad, is currently residing in Turkey.

A member of the Syrian National Council (SNC) confirmed that the defected pilot has reached Turkey, and said that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has become incapable in controlling the army. Fearing an attack against the presidential palace, the army is sending military pilots without ammunitions, the SNC member added. [Read more...]

World stocks gained Wednesday on renewed investor confidence in the U.S. economy while concerns about Greece’s debt crisis eased.

Most major European and Asian equity markets rose, bolstered by a 1.7 percent jump in the Dow Jones industrial average Tuesday. Markets in China and Taiwan were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Investors were cheered by signs the U.S. economy may be improving. On Tuesday. Kraft Foods Inc. and apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch reported earnings that beat expectations, while drugmaker Merck & Co. said profits jumped. UK banking giant Barclays also reported soaring profits.

Traders will be eyeing reports on housing starts, jobless claims and inflation later this week for more evidence the U.S. economy is rebounding strongly from last year’s recession.

Markets also got a boost from news European officials are working with Greece to control its debt crisis. European Union leaders on Tuesday gave Greece one month to prove it can cut its fiscal deficit.

Concerns about rising debt burdens in Greece, Portugal and Spain have undermined investor confidence during the last few weeks.

As trading got underway in Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7 percent, Germany’s DAX index gained 0.9 percent, and France’s CAC-40 added 1.2 percent.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average jumped 272.58 points, or 2.7 percent, at 10,306.83 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 265.32, or 1.3 percent, to 20,534.01.

South Korea’s Kospi gained 26.38, or 1.7 percent, to 1,627.43 while Singapore added 1.3 percent and India 1.3 percent. Australia’s benchmark advanced 2.1 percent.

In the U.S. on Tuesday, the Dow rose 169.67, or 1.7 percent, to 10,268.81. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 19.36, or 1.8 percent, to 1,094.87, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 30.66, or 1.4 percent, to 2,214.19.

Oil prices extended gains above $77 a barrel in Asia amid expectations a growing U.S. economy will fuel increased crude demand.

Benchmark crude for March delivery was up 52 cents at $77.53 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.88 to settle at $77.01 on Tuesday.

In currencies, the dollar rose to 90.54 yen from 90.14 yen. The euro fell to $1.3752 from $1.3764. By Alex Kennedy, Philadelphia Daily News

Statistics reveal stunning increase in poverty in Pakistan impacted by the prices of energy and food in the past three years.

These happen to be the worst years as far as the poverty situation in the country is concerned, data reveals.

The Federal Bureau of Statistics data updated for the Centre for Poverty Reduction and Social Policy Development (CPRSPD), Planning and Development Division, shared with The News indicates an upswing in the headcount poverty ratio for 2008-09.

The steep increase in the prices of petroleum products, electricity and natural gas as well as food items (especially flour, sugar and meat) began in 2007, while the situation worsened in 2008 with global increase in POL and commodity prices.

The financial meltdown followed as industry could not cope with the rising energy prices triggered sharp slowdown in growth and high inflation.

This situation impacted Pakistan’s economy generally and the poor households particularly, as the report indicates.

The government is yet to make this report public after its preparation is formalized and the relevant officials in high places approve its launch.

The News obtained salient figures from this report revealing that the increase in food and energy prices since late 2007 compelled the government to launch a household income and expenditure survey for assessment of poverty increase and vulnerability of the countryside and city-slum majority.

Survey to make such assessment got delayed for inexplicable reasons but the reports based on a 5-year old assessment got regularly updated for the federal cabinet’s appraisal.

The updated Planning Commission’s Interim Report based on 2004-05 poverty head count number of 23.9 percent put the increase in poverty at around 6 percent for the year 2008-09. The newly updated figures say this ratio must go as high as 29.9 percent.

The World Bank’s Task Force on Food Security had put the ratio at 29.2 percent in 2004-05, 33.8 percent in 2007-08 and 36.1 percent in 2008-09. Such estimates placed 62 million people of the country Below the Poverty Line (BPL) in 2008-09.

The new assessments say at least 20 million people might have joined the previous headcount on BPL population.

The poverty increase situation thus stood as follows: 22.3 percent of the population in 2005-06 to between 30-35 percent in 2008-09; now this population is beyond 40 percent.

The data is explained in a manner that the increase in BPL population in the rural areas is more tragic as people lost their small holdings to inflation and overall expenditure per family unit increased by more than 20 percent in the past 3 years.

Though the increase of inflation-hit population in the urban areas remained more pronounced, the net impact was far lower than in the rural areas.

More than 50 percent of the urban workforce underwent decrease in actual wages viz a viz inflation.

The high food prices undermined the government efforts for poverty reduction as food price hike severely eroded poor households’ purchasing power.

This situation indicates a serious risk of massive school dropouts at primary levels while fresh enrolments would also be on the decline.

The poorest households are compelled to spend more than 78 percent of incomes on food and other most essential expenditure, while health and education are tragically compromised areas. By Ikram Hoti, The News International