Morning Brief, Friday, March 30

Al-Alam TV/Getty Images

Middle East

An Iranian TV station close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards broadcast a “confession” by a second British sailor, outraging the British government. But quietly, the Iranians also sent a letter to the British Embassy in Tehran that may resolve the standoff. (The letter apparently demands the British guarantee they will not enter Iranian waters.)

After a brief lull in violence, Iraq is exploding again in a frenzy of sectarian killings.

The Arab League’s annual summit ended with an affirmation of Arab states’ call for Israel to exchange land for peace. 

United States 

President Bush brought Republican congressional leaders to the White House in a show of support for his rejection of a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called for the closure of the military prison at Guantánamo Bay.

Europe 

Adding to Germany’s recent good news on employment, the ranks of French jobless declined by nearly 20,000 during February. But the Financial Times fears that France’s presidential candidates don’t understand labor markets, while the New York Times frets that Le Pen’s anti-immigrant message has gone mainstream.

Prisoners sent home by the United States from Guantánamo in 2004 were tortured in Russia, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. 

A resolution in the U.S. Congress condemning the “Armenian genocide” is angering the Turkish government.

Asia

Thailand’s interim prime minister promised to hold elections in December, but warned that violent protests against the military government would be met with the “full power of the law.” Also being met with the full power of the law: A Swiss man who spray-painted a picture of the Thai King while drunk gets 10 years in jail.

The U.S. Department of Commerce may impose tariffs on high-gloss paper from China, and that may off a wave of new import duties on other Chinese products.

An old enemy has returned to Japan: deflation.

Elsewhere 

Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe may be getting off the hook after all.