Pakistan

PAKISTAN:  Pakistani security forces targeted militant strongholds throughout the northwest Thursday, killing dozens of Taliban fighters in a 24-hour period. The military said it used helicopter gunships in Bannu district, where security forces began attacking some 600 militants on Wednesday. At least 34 militants were killed. Bannu lies near the border of Pakistan's lawless tribal area of South Waziristan, where troops on Thursday retaliated after a militant attack on army posts in Splitoi and Jandola. Military officials say at least 20 militants and three soldiers were killed in the fighting.

North Korean female workers toil at a South Korean-run plant in the inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong (File)

KOREAS - TENSIONS: North Korea is demanding hundreds of millions of dollars from South Korean companies operating at a joint industrial complex that has been pulled into the center of worsening relations between the rivals. The demands were issued Thursday during talks at the complex in Kaesong, located just over the border with North Korea.  A spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry says the regime wants the salaries of the 40,000 North Koreans working at the plant raised from $75 to $300 a month.

United Nations Security Council (file photo)

NOKOR - NUCLEAR:  Seven world powers on Wednesday agreed on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution to expand sanctions against North Korea for its recent underground nuclear test and a barrage of missile tests. The draft resolution condemns North Korea's tests as a violation of previous U.N. resolutions and imposes additional sanctions, including cargo inspections, a total arms embargo, and stronger financial sanctions. China reportedly resisted making the cargo provision mandatory.

Photo taken on 01 June shows a guard and a Chinese Uighur Guantanamo detainee communicating at the Camp Iguana detention facility at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba

GUANTANAMO - UIGHURS:  Beijing says a group of 17 Chinese Muslims the United States is sending to the Pacific island of Palau are terrorists and should be handed back to China. Speaking with reporters Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang urged Washington to stop handing over "terrorist suspects" to third countries and return them to China soon. The United States has already cleared the men of any wrongdoing, but they remained at the controversial Guantanamo Bay camp in Cuba due to fears they would be tortured if handed over to Beijing.

A Chinese seamstress puts together a garment at a clothing factory on the outskirts of Beijing (file photo)

CHINA - ECONOMY:  China says it exports suffered record losses in May, as the global economic recession continued to be felt in the world's third-largest economy. Figures released Thursday by customs bureau show exports plunged 26.4 percent last month from the same period in 2008. China's global trade surplus stood at $13.4 billion in May, compared to $13.1 billion in April. Demand for Chinese exports has plunged in the United States and Europe, leading to massive layoffs of factory workers in China.

A masked child plays with classmates at a kindergarten situated in a residential estate in Hong Kong, 11 June 2009

SWINE FLU:  Hong Kong authorities have ordered all kindergartens and primary schools closed for two weeks after a dozen students tested positive for the H1N1 virus. Hong Kong's chief executive Donald Tsang told reporters Thursday that authorities were unable to identify the source of the infection, making it the first cluster of human swine flu cases without a known link to someone traveling overseas. The closure of the schools comes as the World Health Organization is convening an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss whether it should declare the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years.

Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before Senate Armed Services Committee's confirmation hearing, 02 Jun 2009

US - AFGHANISTAN:  The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal to be the next commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan. McChrystal, who was also elevated to the rank of general, has spent most of his career in combat special operations and is considered an expert in the complex warfare of counterinsurgency. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates chose McChrystal to replace General David McKiernan, who was asked to step down to allow a new military leader to implement an updated U.S. strategy for the Afghan war.

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