Morning Brief, Wednesday, October 24

Middle East MUSTAFA OZER/AFP/Getty Images Turkish troops and warplanes struck targets in northern Iraq, but the Turks say they are refraining from larger operations against Kurdish militants across the border. For now. The good news: U.S. troop deaths in Iraq declined for a second straight month.  East Asia Anti-dumping complaints against China have increased dramatically ...

By , a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.
598536_071024_turkey_05.jpg
598536_071024_turkey_05.jpg

Middle East

Middle East

MUSTAFA OZER/AFP/Getty Images

Turkish troops and warplanes struck targets in northern Iraq, but the Turks say they are refraining from larger operations against Kurdish militants across the border. For now.

The good news: U.S. troop deaths in Iraq declined for a second straight month. 

East Asia

Anti-dumping complaints against China have increased dramatically in the past three months.

China launched his first lunar orbiter amid a frisson of national pride.

Japan’s got a record trade surplus with the United States.

South Asia

Tamil Tiger militants destroyed eight government planes Monday, the Sri Lankan government acknowledged. 

Pakistan is sending an additional 2,500 troops into the tribal areas to root out local allies of the Taliban. 

In a move sure to pique the United States, Indian officials are renewing their commitment to a new oil-and-gas pipeline to Iran. 

Europe

Seeming to undercut his own secretary of defense’s efforst to reassure the Russians, U.S. President George W. Bush vowed to push ahead with missile defense in Eastern Europe.

Spanish police arrested six men suspected of distributing jihadist propaganda on the Internet. 

Economic growth is slowing in Europe, a key index indicates.

Elsewhere 

The U.N. Security Council condemned violence against women, a problem that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said had reached “hideous and pandemic proportions” in many places of the world. 

In a speech today, President Bush is expected to warn that the United States will not accept a transition from one Castro brother to another

A new poll by Public Agenda finds declining public confidence in U.S. foreign policy

Today’s Agenda

  • NATO defense ministers are meeting in the Netherlands to discuss Afghanistan.
  • The U.N. Security Council meets today regarding the Middle East and Darfur. 
  • Today is U.N. Day, which marks the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. 
  • The Outsource/World conference begins in New York.

Yesterday on Passport

Blake Hounshell is a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.