Washington  - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Wednesday as the United States reviews plans to field a missile-defence system in Eastern Europe.

The two diplomats did not raise the issue during their brief appearance before reporters before meeting behind closed doors.

The Bush administration forged an agreement with Poland for hosting 10 interceptors missiles, while the Czech Republic would be the site for its radar.

Washington  - China's human rights record worsened in 2008 as the government stepped up crackdowns on dissidents and minorities in Tibet, with abuses peaking around high profile events like the Summer Olympics, the US State Department said Wednesday.

China continued to tighten restrictions on religious freedom in Tibet and in Uighur areas, and monitor, harass and arrest political activists, journalists and lawyers, the department's annual human rights report said.

Washington - Chin

Harare/Johannesburg  - The United Nations' top humanitarian official said Wednesday she was told by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe that political prisoners still in detention would have to pass through the courts and, if convicted, would then go before clemency appeals, which are heard by him.

Washington - US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso pledged to work quickly and closely together to address the world's economic crisis during the first meeting of a foreign leader at the Obama White House.

Obama and Aso will work to jump-start consumer demand and unfreeze credit markets ahead of a global economic summit in London in April, the White House said. Obama told Aso in a brief appearance with the press that hosting the Japanese leader as his first foreign guest showed the importance of the US-Japanese relationship.