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《洛杉矶时报》说，中情局正在派遣一些小组前往阿富汗，作为增加在阿富汗加强情报工作的一部分。在增加力量计划完成后，中情局阿富汗情报站的规模将和该机构在伊拉克战争和越南战争最激烈的时期在那两个国家的规模相近。增派的人员将被安排进行范围广泛的工作，例如和特种部队一同追捕具有重要价值的目标人物，追踪公众情绪，以及搜集情报。一位官员的话说，中情局在阿富汗已经驻扎了700多人。

日本外相冈田克也谈新政府外交政策

冈田就朝鲜问题明确表示，在绑架日本人问题的再调查工作未有进展、发射导弹并进行核试验的情况下，日本不可能采取融和态度。将根据联合国安理会决议强化对朝制裁，等待朝鲜改变政策。

日本外相称“不可能”向阿富汗派遣自卫队

冈田克也20日就援助阿富汗问题表示：“治安状况还相当严峻。在各国都在考虑撤军的情况下，不可能突然间派遣自卫队。”他还指出：“美国也没有要求日本向阿富汗本土派遣自卫队。”关于普通人员实施的对阿援助工作，冈田表示“只会让他们前往安全有保障的地方。可能以金钱上的援助为主”，认为难以扩大人力支援。

美高官称将关注朝鲜是否有意重返六方会谈

美国主管亚太事务的助理国务卿坎贝尔19日结束访问日本回国。就朝鲜最高领导人金正日此前展现出有意寻求对话的姿态一事，坎贝尔称“朝鲜是否真的考虑负起责任重返六方会谈，我们将予以关注”，表示将与有关国家一同探明朝方的真正意图。

俄罗斯开始谈判购买法国军舰

俄罗斯国防部副部长波波夫金星期六表示，从法国购买“西北风”级直升机母舰的谈判已经开始。如果达成协议，这就将成为俄罗斯自苏联解体以来的第一宗重大外国军购。波波夫金说，谈判包括技术转让。这将使俄罗斯可以在今后自行生产更多类似军舰。俄罗斯最高海军官员曾表示，“西北风”级战舰可以在去年的格鲁吉亚冲突中有用武之地。格鲁吉亚冲突暴露了俄罗斯军事装备过时的问题。

俄拟开北极航道缩短地球东西航程

俄罗斯说，希望以该国北部沿海为基地，开辟一条新的北极航道。与目前的苏伊士运河航线相比，这条被欧洲探险者所称的"东北航道"可以大大减少欧洲和远东地区之间的航行时间。近20年来，由于全球气温升高，使这一海域的大部分冰都已溶化，使得大型船只有可能通过这一北极航道。从太平洋到欧洲，穿过这条东北航道比航行通过苏伊士运河能减少将近五千公里的航程。因此极其具有经济前景。

韩中贸易额2013年可能突破2000亿美元

韩国贸易协会20日在上海举行世博会韩国馆奠基仪式时说，中国从2004开始甩开美国和日本，成为韩国最大贸易对象国。去年韩中贸易额为1683亿美元，接近韩日894亿美元和韩美848亿美元贸易额的总和。韩国是中国第四大出口国，第二大进口国。但金融危机后，去年第四季度韩国对中国的出口额，比前一年同期竟减少了23.9%。据预测，今年两国间的贸易可能会进一步缩水，年贸易额将停留在1258亿美元水位，比去年减少25.3%。预计两国贸易额可能从明年开始转为增长趋势，但2011年才有可能达到与去年相接近的1670亿美元。

奥巴马：各国领导人协作解决金融危机

美国总统奥巴马说，“我们将讨论为保护全球金融体系和填补世界金融监管中的漏洞所应采取的一些必要步骤。这些漏洞使得那种不计后果的冒险和不负责任导致了危机。”他说：“我们不能让那些不计后果，但却能快速获利并为高级主管挣取巨额奖金的计划去抵消我们整个金融体系的安全，最后让纳税人为他们收拾烂摊子。”

奥巴马希望建立一个消费者金融保护机构。这个机构将更加严格地监管华尔街，并且避免借贷机构误导消费者。他说，对贷款行业懈怠的监管是美国经济崩溃的一个主要原因。奥巴马说：“在很多人借贷了高于他们知道他们所能承担的债务时，人们常常签下了他们并不完全理解的合约。制定这些合约的借贷方并不总是告诉人们真相。这就是为什么我们需要制定清楚的规则，这些规则还需要被清楚地执行。这就是这个机构将要做的。”

澳大利亚采金热产量将仅次于中国

Good Will, but Few Policy Benefits for Obama

Eight months after his inauguration, all that good will so far has translated into limited tangible policy benefits for Mr. Obama...foreign leaders have not gone out of their way to give him what he has sought...European allies still refuse to send significantly more troops to Afghanistan. The Saudis basically ignored Mr. Obama’s request for concessions to Israel, while Israel rebuffed his demand to stop settlement expansion. North Korea defied him by testing a nuclear weapon. Japan elected a party less friendly to the United States. Cuba has done little to liberalize in response to modest relaxation of sanctions. India and China are resisting a climate change deal. And Russia rejected new sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program even as Mr. Obama heads into talks with Tehran.

Pakistan police raid US-linked security firm

Pakistani police say they have raided the offices of a private security firm hired by the US embassy and seized a large number of unlicensed weapons.

Police entered the offices of Inter-Risk Company in the capital Islamabad on September 19 and confiscated around 70 weapons, including 61 assault rifles and nine pistols.

Two employees of the company - a Pakistan-based firm that provides security for the US diplomatic posts in the country - were also arrested.

Police say the detainees have admitted that the illegal weapons belonged to the owner of the company Syed Ali Jafar Zaidi, a retired Pakistani army captain.

Authorities are now seeking the company's owner, whose whereabouts are still unknown.

A spokesman for the US Embassy in Islamabad confirmed that they had hired Inter-Risk last year, but denied knowing anything about the allegations of illegal weapons.

"We hired them to augment at the embassy and our consulates. They applied for licenses to fulfill their contractual obligations with us. We assumed they had their licenses," Rick Snelsire said.

The raid comes amid rumors and media reports suggesting that the US is using contractors from the notorious security firm Xe - formerly known as Blackwater - as part of a secret plan to track and kill anti-US elements in Pakistan.

Blackwater/Xe has provided mercenaries to carry out many tasks to the US government formerly, including security operations in Iraq since 2003.

It was banned from Iraq in 2008 for indiscriminate and unprovoked killings of civilians on a number of occasions. Under the US occupation rules, foreign mercenaries enjoyed legal immunity in Iraq.

Taliban prepared for 'a long war'

A taped message purportedly from the Taliban's head says that Nato and the US would understand their lack of military success in Afghanistan if they studied the country's long history of war.

In his Muslim Eid holiday "message" released on Sunday, Mullah Omar referred to the last empire that tried to occupy the mountainous land-locked country.

"We fought against the British invaders for 80 years from 1839 to 1919 and ultimately got independence by defeating Britain," the voice says.

"Today we have strong determination ... we have preparedness for a long war and ... we will continue to wage jihad until we gain independence and force the invaders to pull out."

Omar is believed to be in hiding in Pakistan but has not been seen in years.

In his own public statement on Sunday, Hamid Karzai Afghan, the Afghan president, called on the Taliban to end the conflict.

"On this auspicious day once again I ask all those Afghan brothers who are unhappy or are in others' hands to stop fighting, destroying their own land and killing their own people," he said at the presidential palace in Kabul.

"They must come to their houses and live in peace in their own country".

Karzai said should he win another five years as president, he will launch peace talks with Taliban leaders whose anti-government campaign has intensified in recent months to deadly effect.

The Danish military said on Saturday that one of its soldiers was killed after Taliban forces fired on troops on patrol in the southern province of Helmand. Denmark has lost 25 soldiers in Afghanistan since it joined the US-led multinational force in 2002.

And Hungarian officials said a suicide attacker drove a vehicle into a convoy in the northern city of Pul-e-Khumri. No soldiers were killed.