WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Train services were cancelled and workers scrambled to protect power lines in Washington on Thursday as Hurricane Irene threatened the U.S. capital days after it was rattled by a rare earthquake.

Irene, a major Category 3 hurricane now battering the low-lying Bahamas in the Atlantic southeast of Florida, was expected to make landfall on Saturday in North Carolina, with its high winds raking the heavily populated mid-Atlantic seaboard where Washington and New York were vulnerable.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Train services were canceled and workers scrambled to protect power lines in Washington on Thursday as Hurricane Irene threatened the capital days after it was rattled by a rare earthquake.

Irene, a major Category 3 hurricane now battering the low-lying Bahamas in the Atlantic southeast of Florida, was expected to make landfall on Saturday in North Carolina, with its high winds raking the heavily populated mid-Atlantic seaboard where Washington and New York were vulnerable.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China appears on track to forge a modern military by 2020, a rapid buildup that could be potentially destabilizing to the Asia-Pacific region, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

Fueled by its booming economy, China’s military growth in the past decade has exceeded most U.S. forecasts. Its aircraft carrier program, cyber warfare capabilities and anti-satellite missiles have alarmed neighbors and Washington.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China appears on track to build a modern, regionally-focused military by 2020, but often-touted advances like its stealth fighter jet are years away from being operational, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The Defense Department’s annual assessment of the Chinese military also flagged Beijing’s growing military edge over Taiwan and cyber attacks in 2010 — including on U.S. government computers — that seem to have originated in China.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pacific Rim is unlikely to bear the brunt of U.S. plans to cut $350 billion in security spending, but the prospect of decreased American military outlays has nonetheless prompted soul searching in a vital region where China is rapidly expanding its forces.

The intense infighting in Washington over how the pain will be spread has barely begun, but in Asia experts are warning against trimming U.S. sails too dramatically in a region dependent on maritime trade and home to U.S. treaty allies Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Australia.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned against a “devastating” second round of defense cuts on Thursday as the Pentagon stepped up its campaign to convince Congress to look elsewhere for savings as it works to trim the $1.4 trillion deficit.

Panetta, at his first Pentagon news conference, said the initial $350 billion cut in security spending signed into law this week was tough but manageable. He urged Congress to raise revenues or look at cutting other areas of the budget before taking anything more from defense.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and North Korea will meet on Thursday in New York to explore resuming nuclear disarmament talks frozen for two years while Pyongyang added to its atomic arsenal and raised regional tensions.

A U.S. delegation led by Special Envoy to North Korea Stephen Bosworth will host a North Korean team headed by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, a veteran nuclear negotiator.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund will give Pakistan $450 million in emergency flood aid and disburse funds in September to help the country’s economy cope with the devastation, the head of the IMF said on Thursday.

Severe flooding in Pakistan has destroyed cropland and livestock and displaced millions of people, causing damage the

WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) – South Korea should pursue “a
carefully calibrated exit” from economic stimulus policies in
the face of strong growth this year, the International Monetary
Fund said on Wednesday.

The IMF — which again revised the growth forecast of
Asia’s fourth-biggest economy upward, to 6.1 percent from 5.75
percent in a July report — said expansion was increasingly led
by private sector demand and was at or near full growth
potential.