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BURMA
Marking new gambit, U.S. reengages
The United States reopened high-level engagement with Burma on Tuesday after a 14-year hiatus, giving the clearest expression yet of President Obama's vow to reengage with states his predecessor treated as pariahs.
Kurt M. Campbell, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, arrived in the Burmese capital, Naypyidaw, Tuesday morning for a two-day visit during which he will meet government officials, detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and representatives of the country's ethnic minorities
His visit comes after a nine-month policy review in which the State Department concluded that a decade of isolation had yielded little, although it does not intend to lift sanctions at this time.
Suu Kyi has backed the reengagement policy, although she remains publicly uncommitted on whether to continue to advocate sanctions or lend her moral authority to easing the restrictions.
Campbell and Deputy Assistant Secretary Scot Marciel are likely to meet with Gen. Thein Sein, the prime minister, but embassy officials played down the possibility of their meeting Gen. Than Shwe, the head of the junta.
-- Tim Johnston
MIDDLE EAST
Israel: Hamas has tested new rocket
Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip have successfully test-fired an Iranian rocket able to reach Israel's largest urban center, the country's military intelligence chief said Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin told parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee that the rocket could fly 37 miles and strike metropolitan Tel Aviv, Israeli media reported.
