China, the U.S. and Cuba

Meetings begin tomorrow on the cause and effect of the mid-air collision over the South China Sea. Although both the US and China are talking tough, neither is likely to risk their highly developed trade relationship. There's also concern about arms for Taiwan, a US missile defense and tomorrow's UN vote on human rights. We look at what's at stake in US relations with China, on the eastern and western sides of the world, with China security experts and historians from print and the Pentagon as well as a a representative of Human Rights Watch.

• Newsmaker: Lebanese Reaction to Israeli Fighter Attacks - As Israel responds to mortar attacks by pushing its borders further into the Gaza strip, Arab states refuse Syria's call to cut ties with Israel after Israel's attack on a Syrian radar station in Southern Lebanon. Gibran Tueni, of Beirut's daily An-Nahar, updates the situation, including demands that Syria extricate itself from Lebanese internal affairs.
• Reporter's Notebook: Takeover of NTV - Journalists on Russia's NTV are accusing President Putin of trying to silence the one network that has aired critical reports about his regime. Today, print media run by NTV's former boss have been closed down too. Konstantin Eggert, who's in Moscow for the BBC, expounds on the reasons and ramifications of the "political vendetta."

American Enterprise Institute

An-Nahar newspaper

BBC

BBC Russian Service

Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire

Center for Naval Analyses Corporation

Cuba and the United States: A Chronological History

Human Rights Watch

Japan Policy Research Institute

The Wall Street Journal