Morning Brief, Tuesday, November 20
Middle East CHRIS HONDROS/Getty Images Baghdad residents are feeling safer, the New York Times reports. More and more, U.S. commanders say, insurgents are fighting for cash, not ideology. Lebanon’s presidential election? Delayed again until Nov. 23. Iran’s foreign minister says his country will hold new talks with the United States on Iraq. Israel is seeking ...
Middle East
Middle East
Baghdad residents are feeling safer, the New York Times reports. More and more, U.S. commanders say, insurgents are fighting for cash, not ideology.
Lebanon’s presidential election? Delayed again until Nov. 23.
Iran’s foreign minister says his country will hold new talks with the United States on Iraq.
Israel is seeking the help of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak in bringing other Arab countries on board for the upcoming Annapolis talks.
Asia
The government of Pakistan says it released about 3,400 prisoners who had been imprisoned as a result of the state of emergency.
China’s prime minister expressed his country’s growing concern over the decline of the U.S. dollar.
Bangladesh’s military and relief teams are still unable to reach some 30 percent of areas devastated by Cyclone Sidr.
Europe
Civil servants have joined transport and energy workers on strike in France.
Europe’s farmers may be getting their subsidies cut.
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned NATO’s “muscle-flexing” and said that his country must be ready to deal a “swift and adequate response” to any aggression.
Elsewhere
The United Nations says that only 33 million people have HIV, 7 million less than previously estimated.
A special U.N. internal investigative unit needs more time to investigate all the allegations of corruption it has received.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon doesn’t think a U.N. peacekeeping force for Somalia is a good idea. But U.N. officials who work on Somalia are clamoring to bring attention to Somalia’s worsening plight.
A new World Bank study finds that more than a third of countries have lowered the tax burden on businesses over the last three years.
Today’s Agenda
- U.S. President George W. Bush will pardon… a Thanksgiving turkey.
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez meets French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.
- Jordan holds parliamentary elections.
- Japan launches a controversial new program to fingerprint and photograph foreigners coming into the country. James at Japan Probe says it’s bad news, and has the videos to prove it.
- World Bank President Robert Zoellick is in Geneva for a World Trade Organization meeting on “aid for trade.”
- The Queen of England celebrates her 60th wedding anniversary.
Yesterday on Passport
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