Japan ordered two warships to join an anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden, following the example set by the US, European and Chinese efforts. The Japanese military may be permitted to reassess their anti-force policies.
Nikkei closed up 5.12%, buoyed by continuing gains on Wall Street, after the Nikkei slipped to 26-year lows last week. The Japanese government announced last month it is to launch another stimulus package.
After easing restrictions during the 2008 Olympics, Chinese authorities are again clamping down on foreign journalists, barring them from talking to Tibetans and blocking them from hotels, says FRANCE 24's Henry Morton in western China.
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Pakistani police charged into protestors in Karachi, defying the thousands on a five-day march to Karachi, as they demonstrated for the reinstatement of judges sacked under former President Pervez Musharraf.
North Korea has said it will go ahead with a satellite missile launch in early April, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. The US sees the launch as a disguised missile test and has urged the communist state to scrap its plans.
In this edition: a suicide bomber in Sri Lanka mobilizes the local blogosphere, which followed the drama. In Syria, an on-line campaign against the rights of the homosexuals provokes strong reaction.
With foreign journalists barred from Tibet, France 24 reporters travelled to the neighbouring province of Sichuan to speak to Tibetans about the 50th anniversary of their failed revolution. They found the Chinese authorities less than welcoming.
After talks with fellow NATO leaders in Brussels, US Vice-President Joe Biden told reporters it was "worth exploring" possible talks with Taliban moderates as part of a change of strategy in Afghanistan.
A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber killed at least 15 people and wounded 20, including Sri Lanka's telecommunications minister, during a parade in the south of the Indian Ocean island on Tuesday, officials said.
The Dalai Lama said life under Beijing's rule had often been "hell on earth" for Tibetans in a speech on the 50th anniversary of Tibet's failed uprising against China. FRANCE 24 correspondents were held by police after trying to interview Tibetans.
