JAPAN

JAPAN
Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, April 3: In a last-minute deal ... South Korea and the United States thrashed out an agreement to sharply reduce tariffs and other barriers to bilateral trade. The FTA (free trade agreement) deal that was struck after months of grueling negotiations should give a jolt to Japan's trade strategy, which has focused more on protecting domestic interests.
The deal with Seoul represents the biggest achievement for the U.S. in its recent trade diplomacy. For South Korea, it is probably the most significant trade agreement it has ever concluded.
Great opportunity
The successful conclusion of an FTA with the United States may prompt South Korea to seek a similar pact with Japan. This offers a great opportunity for Japan to reopen the stalled trade talks.
Some observers say the United States, encouraged by its success in prying open South Korean markets, will propose FTA talks to Japan. It is a fair bet that Washington, which places great importance on its relations with fast-growing Asian economies, will rev up its trade strategy with Japan.
CANADA
Free Press, Winnipeg, April 3: The government of Iran is outraged that a Hollywood movie about the battle of Thermopylae portrays ancient Persians as brutal, bungling barbarians. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has denounced the film, "300," as a calculated insult and a deliberate attempt to injure Iran by the United States government. It is doubtful that the film industry is that sophisticated in its knowledge of either history or Iran, but Mr. Ahmadinejad then proceeded to reinforce the slander he saw in the movie by behaving in a brutal, bungling and barbaric way in the seizure of 15 British sailors in the Persian Gulf and then parading them on television. Iran appears to revel in its status as an outcast regime.
Bungling barbarians
So, too, does Zimbabwe. The government of Zimbabwe is outraged that other governments and human rights organizations portray President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF government as brutal, bungling barbarians. Mr. Mugabe condemns his critics as imperialists and colonialists opposed to Africans ruling themselves, but he governs in such a brutal, bungling, barbaric way that Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket and economic engine of southern Africa, now sees thousands of people die every week from starvation and disease and is economically bankrupt.
BRITAIN
The Daily Telegraph, London, April 4: As our creaking, over-stretched, over-priced trains continue to pack in passengers like sardines, the British look with envy across the Channel.
France's train a grande vitesse (high-speed train) proved worthy of its name yesterday by breaking the world railway speed record.
Double-decker
At nearly 360 mph, the TGV rocketed from Strasbourg to Paris at almost three times the cruising speed of Britain's "high-speed" trains. It is also, rather cleverly, a double-decker -- a design that would certainly help us combat overcrowding. But when it comes to high-capacity fast trains, our bridges are too low, our tracks too old, our locomotives too dated, our signaling infrastructure too old-fashioned.
JORDAN
Jordan Times, Amman, April 4: Contrary to U.S. President George Bush's opinion, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad and other high-ranking Syrian officials can make a dent in Syrian policies on Lebanon and Iraq, and contribute to their solution.
Aware that solutions to some problems in the region follow the Damascus route, powerful Democrat Pelosi dismissed criticism of her visit, expressing her delegation's "clear intention" to make its stances very clearly to the Syrian leadership.
There can be no harm in trying to persuade Syria to be more forthcoming and cooperative, and that's obviously what Pelosi and her delegations plan to do during the visit.
International conflict
The Iraqi conflict has become a major regional and international conflict that calls for bipartisan American efforts to solve it. The initiative of the U.S. House speaker must be regarded, therefore, as an effort that complements those of the U.S. president, in an attempt to deal with the issues of Lebanon and Iraq, rather than a negative interference.
LATVIA
Diena, Riga, April 1: Sergei Mironov, chairman of Russia's upper house of Parliament, proposed an "ingeniously" simple solution to the so-called 2008 problem, or the power change in the Kremlin, when Vladimir Putin's second term ends. And what should be done? Change the constitution, so that the president can remain in office a third term.
The Kremlin once again immediately declared that Putin would not stay in office. However, Mironov's "hysterical weeping," as Garry Kasparov, one of the remaining opposition leaders, described it, is first of all testimony to the existing power clan's well-being and influence if changes were to take place in the upper-end of the "power vertical."
Ambuiguity
Second, Putin himself willingly maintains a lack of clarity about his "heir" in the Kremlin. ... This ambiguity helps him avoid the gradual loss of influence that normally occurs with departing state leaders. There is no doubt that the current ruler wishes to continue ruling but doesn't want to be regarded an uncivilized tyrant who changes the rules of the game for his own benefit.
The search for a solution how to keep power before the end of term will continue in Moscow, and Mironov's seemingly simple-minded initiative helps the Kremlin to continue muddying the waters of Russia's political future.
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