Morning Brief, Monday, February 19

DAVID SILVERMAN/AFP Middle East In a familiar story, Condoleezza Rice made little or no headway in today’s talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Attacks shatter Baghdad’s relative calm. Iran is testing new missiles that could sink “big warships.”  Europe  The EU thinks its regulations are the best, and so it wants everyone else to adopt ...

By , a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.
603936_rice_021907_05.jpg
603936_rice_021907_05.jpg

DAVID SILVERMAN/AFP

DAVID SILVERMAN/AFP

Middle East

In a familiar story, Condoleezza Rice made little or no headway in today’s talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Attacks shatter Baghdad’s relative calm.

Iran is testing new missiles that could sink “big warships.” 

Europe 

The EU thinks its regulations are the best, and so it wants everyone else to adopt them.

British police arrested a suspect in the mysterious rash of letter bombings.

Gazprom’s flashy new building is creating a stir in St. Petersburg.

Asia

Bombs killed 65 on a midnight train headed from India to Pakistan.

GUANG NIU/AFP

Thailand is threatening to ignore existing patents and make its own generic drugs.

Japan doesn’t want to apologize for its use of sex slaves during World War II, as called for in a prospective resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives.

It’s the Year of the Pig, perhaps even the Golden Pig.

Elsewhere

Toyota dominates the Detroit auto show.

The backlash about free trade is growing worldwide, writes Mark Trumbull of the Christian Science Monitor.

Energy majors are making big bets on nontraditional sources of oil and gas, and that could damage the environment.

Ban Ki Moon, the new U.N. secretary general, wants to change the way the United Nations does peacekeeping operations.

Blake Hounshell is a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.

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