Morning Brief, Friday, October 6

Nuclear Friday The U.N. Security council meets to discuss North Korea's plans for nuclear tests. Meanwhile, the U.S. is drafting a list of possible sanctions against North Korea, should talks fail. South Korea's Ban Ki-Moon, who is expected to be confirmed as the next U.N. Secretary General next week, says he will use his U.N. ...

Nuclear Friday

Nuclear Friday

The U.N. Security council meets to discuss North Korea's plans for nuclear tests. Meanwhile, the U.S. is drafting a list of possible sanctions against North Korea, should talks fail. South Korea's Ban Ki-Moon, who is expected to be confirmed as the next U.N. Secretary General next week, says he will use his U.N. mandate to engage Pyongyang directly to dissuade it from further testing.

Top officials from the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China were supposed meet in London to figure out what's next regarding Iran's nuclear program. But Condoleeza Rice's plane was delayed flying out of Baghdad, so the meeting has been postponed to next week. They are expected to confirm that negotiations are not going anywhere, and refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council.

Love thy neighbor

Tensions between Georgia and Russia escalate after Russia deports a planeload of Georgians. Russia recently placed sanctions against Georgia after officials in Tbilisi detained four Russian military intelligence officers, accusing them of spying.

Elsewhere

An estimated one million Israel bomblets remain unexploded in Lebanon, leftover from this summer's conflict. Some Sunnis in Syria are becoming Shiite, out of admiration for Hezbollah's efforts. Peace talks in Uganda may be breaking down, with the Ugandan military resuming patrols seeking out members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Sudan continues to resist the possibility of a U.N. peacekeeping mission to Darfur.

After years of negotiations, the U.S. and the EU finally agree to share passenger data. Hitachi becomes the lastest company to recall Sony batteries, following recalls from Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. Sony's stock price continues to slide

Christine Y. Chen is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.

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