Morning Brief, Friday, March 14
Asia MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images Protests inside Tibet are reportedly gaining steam, and external activists are targeting the international torch relay for the Beijing Olympics. Rumor has it the electricity has been cut off in Lhasa and several shops are on fire. Meanwhile, Indian police arrested more than 100 Tibetan exiles for planning to march across ...
Asia
Asia
Protests inside Tibet are reportedly gaining steam, and external activists are targeting the international torch relay for the Beijing Olympics. Rumor has it the electricity has been cut off in Lhasa and several shops are on fire. Meanwhile, Indian police arrested more than 100 Tibetan exiles for planning to march across the Chinese border.
Hu Jintao’s expected successor, Xi Jinping, is already playing an unusually public role in major government initiatives such as the Beijing Olympics. Perhaps he’s trying to get a leg up on his rival.
China may now have more Internet users than the United States.
Outgoing Taiwanese President Chen Shui-Bian says unification with mainland China “is becoming ever more remote.”
Bhutto widower and PPP chairman Asif Zardari is tipped to become Pakistan’s prime minister. The coast seems clear after an Islamabad court dismissed the final corruption charge against him.
Japan is having unusual trouble appointing a central bank chief.
Middle East
An archbishop of Iraq’s Chaldean Church was found dead in Mosul. According to the provincial police chief, al Qaeda had tried to ransom him for $1 million.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak skipped a three-way meeting with Gen. William Fraser, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s local implementer of the Annapolis process, and Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad.
Europe
People in five major Europe countries and the United States hate their retirement systems.
Germany’s interior minister says German schools should teach Islam.
Britain reversed its decision to deny asylum to a gay Iranian teen.
Elsewhere
Migrants trying to reach the United States illegally are turning increasingly to dangerous sea routes.
Chad and Sudan have signed a peace agreement.
Cuba has lifted restrictions on the sale of computers, DVDs, and video players.
Today’s Agenda
- Iranians headed to the polls today for an election whose outcome was largely predetermined. Results may take a few days.
- U.S. lawmakers are expected to vote on a controversial wiretapping bill.
- President George W. Bush addresses the Economic Club of New York.
- Happy Pi Day!
Yesterday on Passport
Blake Hounshell is a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.
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