Morning Brief, Tuesday, February 12

2008 U.S. Elections

Win McNamee/Getty Images

With Barack Obama looking strong in today’s “Potomac Primary” in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, Hillary Clinton is already looking ahead to Texas and Ohio on Mar. 4.

Mike Huckabee is hoping to pull off a huge upset today in Virginia, where SurveyUSA has him gaining ground on John McCain in recent days.

Polls close at 7 p.m. EST in Virginia and 8 p.m. EST in Maryland and D.C.

Al Gore won’t endorse either Democratic candidate, CNN’s Political Ticker reports.

Middle East

Iran celebrated the 29th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution by excluding political reformers from the upcoming parliamentary elections. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used the occassion to whip up pro-nuclear and anti-American sentiment.

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert is in Germany to lobby Chancellor Angela Merkel to get tougher on Iran, which he says is pursuing the bomb.

Envoys from the United States and Iran are due to meet in a few days to discuss Iraq.

Asia

A U.S. defense official was arrested for spying for China.

The 69-year-old man who confessed to burning down South Korea’s historic Namdaemun gate says he did it because the government didn’t fully compensate him for redevelopment in his neighborhood.

Referring to an alleged rape by a U.S. Marine on Okinawa, Japanese PM Fukuda labeled it an “unforgiveable” act that has “happened over and over again in the past.”

Two Pakistani nuclear technicians have allegedly been kidnapped along the northwest frontier.

Europe

Other European countries are pressuring France to deal with its budget deficit.

Police in Denmark arrested five men accused of plotting to kill a cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Mohammed.

Here we go again: Russia is threatening to cut off Ukraine’s gas if the latter country doesn’t pay its bill by 15:00 GMT.

Elsewhere

The White House says the U.S. economy is on a “solid foundation” and a recession is unlikely.

The United States is seeking the death penalty for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and five others.

The horror: A network outage left millions of North Americans without fully functioning Blackberries for three hours Monday.

General Motors lost nearly $39 billion in 2007.

Warren Buffett is offering to reinsure some $800 billion in municipal bonds.

Today’s Agenda

• It’s Safer Internet Day in Europe.
• UNESCO debuts the International Year of Planet Earth, an initiative aimed at putting the best science in the hands of policymakers.
• Russia’s prime minister, Viktor Zubkov, is visiting India.
• Today is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.
• U.S. President George W. Bush welcomes Mali’s president to the White House.

Yesterday on Passport

• What We’re Reading
• Ten things that won’t change (no matter who gets elected)
• Why is it so easy to steal art in Europe?

Web Exclusive

The List: The World’s Best Places to Be an Immigrant
Throughout the developed world, countries are tightening up border security, building fences, and raising citizenship requirements. But there are still a few places left that are willing to say: “Give us your huddled masses.”