Australia announces it will do something Europe should have done years, nay decades ago already: invest in its military.

Australia plans to buy 100 state-of-the-art U.S. jet fighters and double the size of its modest submarine fleet in a bid to keep pace with an Asian military buildup.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, announcing the plan on board the HMAS Stuart in Sydney Harbour on Saturday, said Australia’s military must be prepared for any situation.

“It’s important for our own capability requirements … for the Australian Defense Force to be prepared to meet a range of contingencies arising from military and naval buildups across our region,” Rudd said. “That is prudent, long-term defense planning, and we believe we’ve got the balance absolutely right.”…
The government is committed to increasing defense spending, which is $16 billion in the current fiscal year, by 3 percent each year despite the current recession.

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After a great day earlier this week, Thursday was a bad day for stock markets in Europe (still open of course) and, especially, Asia. The Nikkei index of Japan lost 11%.

That is the second worst performance of the Nikkei in history.

The stock market of Hong Kong fell approximately 5%, and at point of writing, European stock markets had taken a (relatively minor, but still) tumble as well: they were down some 2% to 3%. (more…)

A Korean woman who was found guilty of having sex with South Korean officials in order to get them to give her sensitive information, which she then gave to her North Korean bosses, was convicted to five years imprisonment on Wednesday.

Won Jeong Hwa was arrested in July of this year, on charges of giving classified information to the South’s enemy.| MORE ›

The Presidents of Pakistan and China, Asif Ali Zardari and Hu Jintao, met on Wednesday to talk about the nature of the relationship between the two countries in the years ahead.

Pakistan is an important ally for China and vice versa: Pakistan wants to attract Chinese financial and nuclear energy investments.

In the end, the two leaders signed 11 agreements, ‘one on technical and economic co-operation.’ (more…)