Morning Brief, Wednesday, October 3

Asia STR/AFP/Getty Images North Korea has reportedly agreed to disable its nuclear facilities and disclose more information about its plutonium and alleged uranium programs. In Pyongyang, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun turned down an offer to linger an extra day in the North with Kim Jong Il. Judging by today’s photos, Roh has made the ...

By , a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.
598924_071003_kim_05.jpg
598924_071003_kim_05.jpg

Asia

Asia

STR/AFP/Getty Images

North Korea has reportedly agreed to disable its nuclear facilities and disclose more information about its plutonium and alleged uranium programs. In Pyongyang, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun turned down an offer to linger an extra day in the North with Kim Jong Il. Judging by today’s photos, Roh has made the dour Kim smile again.

Pakistan is losing ground against al Qaeda and the Taliban, Western and Pakistani officials say. Meanwhile, Benazir Bhutto complains that her power-sharing deal with Pervez Musharraf has “stalled“.

Perhaps responding to the unanimous disgust of the U.N. Human Rights Council, Burma’s government released 229 monks and nuns. Other monks are fleeing the capital, the BBC reports.

Middle East

The Polish ambassador in Iraq was wounded in an apparent assassination attempt in Baghdad.

As sectarian violence decreases, Iraq’s bonds are making a surprising comeback.

But U.S. Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, second in command in Iraq, said that Iraqi forces would take up to a year to pacify Baghdad. Those efforts could be complicated now that Iraq’s ruling Shiite bloc has condemned U.S. efforts to stand up former insurgents as police forces in Baghdad.

Europe

Ukraine’s “orange coalition” is reiterating its claim to victory in that country’s recent parliamentary elections.

European leaders want to halt the U.S. dollar’s slide against the euro.

Snus, a popular Swedish smokeless tobacco, is heading for the United States

Elsewhere

Mexico is becoming a country of drug users as well as traffickers.

Aid agencies are struggling to cope with rising food and shipping costs. 

Indian-Americans are turning to Jewish-Americans for guidance in establishing themselves in U.S. social and political life.

Today’s Agenda

Yesterday on Passport

Blake Hounshell is a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.

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