Morning Brief, Monday, April 2

MANNIE GARCIA/AFP

2008

Hillary Clinton leads Democratic presidential candidates with over $26 million raised in the first quarter of 2007.

Middle East

Iran is digging in for a long hostage crisis, analysts tell the Associated Press. 

Meanwhile, the violence in Iraq continues. 

Hamas has learned from Hezbollah’s experience and is hardening its defenses in Gaza. 

Europe

The UK will need to quadruple its planned production of renewable energy by 2020 in order to meet EU targets. 

An English church becomes a mosque—and a symbol of further changes to come.

Asia

A tsunami struck the Solomon Islands off the coast of Australia, but the damage appears limited.

South Korea reached a major free trade deal with the United States.

The Chinese government isn’t happy about a new U.S. tariff on coated paper. Dollar holders didn’t like it either.

Japan’s trouble with history continues: New textbooks no longer say that the Japanese military told civilians to commit mass suicide in Okinawa during WWII.

Elsewhere

47,000 Somalis have fled Mogadishu since March 21, the U.N. reports.

U.S. intelligence officials say that al Qaeda is stronger than they thought, with new leaders filling out middle ranks of the organization.

Climate change could endanger the lives of hundreds of millions, according to a forthcoming report by a U.N. panel of climate change experts. 

Meet the Central African Republic, one of the worst places on Earth.