Morning Brief, Tuesday, May 8

Europe

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The endgame for L’Affaire Wolfowitz is in sight. European governments to the United States: Relent on Wolfowitz, and we’ll let you pick the next Bank president. An ad hoc committee found that Wolfowitz did violate ethics rules and will issue a report to that effect today. Kevin Kellems announced his departure yesterday, and another top Wolfowitz aide stands accused of devising a misleading statement claiming that the ethics committee had approved the terms of Shaha Ali Riza’s secondment to the State Department.

Northern Ireland’s Catholic Sinn Fein is now sharing power with its longtime foe, the top Protestant party.

Serbia’s Radical Party chose a nationalist hardliner to be the speaker of parliament.

Middle East

Iraq’s child mortality rate is up by 150 percent since 1990, according to a new report by Save the Children. 

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s move to delay a planned trip to Israel may be “unprecedented,” but it makes sense given the shakiness of the Israeli government.

U.S. troops are up-armoring their small, vulnerable outposts in Iraq. September could be a crucial month for the fate of the U.S. troop presence in that country. The top combat commander of the U.S. Air Force says his fleet is in terrible shape because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Asia

China is working members of the U.S. Congress in order to head off future attempts to link the 2008 Olympics to Darfur. A new Amnesty International report accuses China and Russia of violating a U.N. weapons embargo of the Sudanese government. 

The chairman of Macao’s Banco Delta Asia claims the United States once supported his bank’s dealings with North Korea.

Indonesia’s president reshuffled his cabinet in a time-tested maneuver designed to show action against corruption.  

Elsewhere

Nigerian militants claimed to have bombed three major oil pipelines in the south of the country. 

Astronomers are agog over an astonishingly bright new supernova, the largest star explosion ever recorded.

Citigroup plans to boost its spending on environmental projects to $50 billion over the next 10 years. 

Today’s Agenda

• North and South Korea are resuming military-to-military discussions.
• U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney travels to the Middle East for talks with Arab leaders.
• European finance ministers are meeting in Brussels to wrangle over the EU budget.

Yesterday on
Passport

• Canadian spy coins explained
• Billionaires don’t do divestiture
• What We’re Reading