BBC Monitoring News Prospects for Tuesday 11 May 2004.

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

Main stories at 0200 gmt

USA/IRAQ: Watching for reaction in Iraq, the Middle East and Muslim countries following President Bush's backing for defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.

Asia-Pacific

JAPAN: New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff ends three-day visit visits for talks on Pacific, bilateral issues (Japanese news agency Kyodo)

JAPAN: Honduran President Ricardo Joest visiting (-13); meets Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (11), gives speech on Japan-Latin America economic exchanges at summit in Tokyo (12) (Japanese news agency Kyodo)

SRI LANKA: Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen ends visit aimed at restarting stalled peace talks between Colombo and Tamil Tiger rebels (Sri Lankan Daily News web site)

CHINA: US Under Secretary for International Affairs John Taylor ends two-day visit for talks on Chinese economy; goes on to Japan (Chinese news agency Xinhua)

CHINA: South Korean diplomats led by head of Foreign Ministry task force on North Korean nuclear issue, Cho Tae-yong, on second day of three-day visit to Beijing to discuss six-way talks on North Korean nuclear programme; formal meetings begin Wednesday (12) (South Korean news agency Yonhap)

LAOS: Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen on second day of three-day visit to meet President Khamtai …