Morning Brief: U.S. ambassador expresses doubts about Afghan troop increase

Asia 

• North Korea has promised to punish the south for this week's naval skirmish. 
• Visiting the Philippines, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged support for the country's fight against Islamist insurgents. 
• An employee of the Iranian consulate in Peshawar was murdered by gunmen. 

Middle East

• Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah lashed out at President Obama, accusing him of bias toward Israel.
• Israel has charged an American-born West Bank settler with murdering Palestinians and attackers left-wingers and gays.  
• Yemen urged Iran and Saudi Arabia to stay out of its fight with Houthi rebels. 

Europe

• The British government is planning to hand over control of Afghanistan's Helmand province to Afghan authorities over the next eight months.
• Eleven suspected terrorists have gone on trial in Spain for an alleged plot to attack the Barcelona subway system. 
• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called on Russia to modernize its economy in his annual address to parliament.

Americas

• Colombia has challenged Hugo Chavez's threats of war in the U.N. security council. 
• Brazil has ordered an inquiry into the causes of Tuesday's blackout. 
• Business groups in Mexico's Ciudad Juarez are calling for UN peacekeepers to stop the city's drug violence. 

Africa

• Libya has begun repatriating Tuareg rebels to Niger as part of an amnesty deal. 
• A judge with a reputation for jailing pirates was shot dead in Somalia. 
• Africa needs $93 billion in infrastructure development over the next decade, says the World Bank.