Morning Brief

Americas

• The U.S. brokered pact to end Honduras's political crisis has failed, says ousted President Manuel Zelaya, as interim president Robert Micheletti announced he would form a cabinet without Zelaya's suporters. 
• Peru's Shining Path rebels attacked a military base, killing one soldiers. 

Asia

• Pakistani troops have entered what they call the "headquarters" of the Taliban. 
• China denounced U.S. protectionism a week before President Obama's visit.
• Burmese troops launched an attack on rebels in the country's northwest. 

Africa

• Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has ended his boycott of cabinet meeting with President Robert Mugabe. 
• The world's diamond watchdog is giving Zimbabwe more time to comply with an order to clean up abuses in one of its fields. 
• The war crimes trial of former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba will begin in April. 

Middle East

• Saudi officials have denied widespread media reports that they attacked rebel bases inside Yemen.
• Israel has rejected a U.N. General Assembly resolution urging it to investigate the findings of the Goldstone report.  
• Exxon-Mobile has signed a deal to develop a major oil field in Iraq.

Europe

• Serbia charged six former fighters for war crims committed during the Bosnian war. 
• Russia has arrested two neo-nazi suspects for the January killing of a human rights activist and a reporter. 
• British Prime Minister Gordon Brown strongly condemned the corruption of Hamid Karzai's government. 

Asia

• The United Nations is relocated nearly half of its Afghanistan-based staff after last week's Taliban attack. 
• Two senior Indonesian officials resigned in a graft scandal.
• The U.S. and EU filed a complaint at the WTO against China's high export tariffs.

Middle East

• The UN General Assembly is due to call a vote on a resolution endorsing the findings of the Goldstone report. 
• Morocco has expelled a Swedish diplomat for passing document to rebels in Western Sahara. 
• Hezbollah has denied any connection to a weapons-carrying ship seized by Israel this week. 

Europe

• An Italian judge convicted 23 CIA agents in absentia for the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric. 
• German Opel workers went on strike to protest GM's decision not to sell the company. 
• Croatia and Slovenia settled a long-running border dispute. 

Africa

• The International Criminal Court's prosecutor says he wants to investigate crimes committed during Kenya 2007 postelection violence. 
• A senior Lord's Resistance Army commander has surrendered to the Ugandan military. 
• South African mediators wil facilitate talks to try to save Zimbabwe's coalition government. 

Americas

• Paraguay's president replaced his top military officers after rumors of a coup. 
• An off-duty U.S. airman was killed by gunmen in a bar in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. 
• Manuel Zelaya has asked the U.S. State Department to clarify why it will recognize Honduras's election, even if he is not reinstated. 

Middle East

• The Israeli navy intercepted a container ship carrying weapons for Hezbollah.
• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argued in Egypt that while Israel's settlements are illegitimate, peace talks should resume before a complete freeze.  
• Yemen rebels have crossed the border into Saudi Arabia where they have "taken control" of a small area. 

Asia

• An Afghan policeman opened fire on British soldiers on Helmand province, killing 5. 
• U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell met with imprisoned Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 
• The Pakistani military claims to have entered a major Taliban stronghold in South Waziristan. 

Americas

• Honduran lawmakers put off a vote on whether to reinstate ousted president Manuel Zelaya.
• Mexican police accidentally shot a federal agent at a checkpoint. 
• Floods have forced 44,000 people from their homes on Mexico's gulf coast. 

Africa

• The U.N. has cut aid to a Congolese army brigade after reports that it has massacred civilians. 
• South Africa will miss a 2014 deadline to redistribute land to the country's black majority. 
• An outbreak of cholera has killed 20 people in Northern Nigeria. 

Europe

• Czech President Vaclav Klaus signed the Lisbon treaty, paving the way for greater European integration. 
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to the U.S. congress, urging action on climate change. 
• New rules will restrict the benefits enjoyed by British lawmakers, in the wake of this year's expenses scandal. 

Asia

• A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people outside a bank in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. 
• North Korea says it has reprocessed enough spent nuclear fuel rods to create another atomic bomb. 
• The U.S. diplomats have arrived in Burma. They plan to meet with imprisoned democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 

Middle East

• According to Israeli intelligence, Gaza militants have test-fired a rocket capable of reaching Tel Aviv. 
• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a new aid initiative to boost U.S. ties in the Middle East. 
• The Iranian police have warned the opposition not to use tomorrow's anniversary of the U.S. embassy takeover as an opportunity to hold new protests. 

Europe

• The Czech Constitutional Court struck down a complaint against the E.U.'s Lisbon Treaty, removing the last legal obstacle to the treaty's ratification. 
• Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is seeking to delay the resumption of his trial for fraud. 
• Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic made his first appearance at his trial to ask for more time to prepare his case. 

Africa

• Equatorial Guinea has pardoned British mercenary Simon Mann for his role in a failed 2004 coup. 
• African countries boycotted U.N. climate change talks in Barcelona. 
• Rwanda is demanding that genocide convicts be returned home to seve the remainder of their sentences. 

Americas

• Honduras's parliament is due to meet today to consider a motion that could bring ouster President Manuel Zelaya back to power, but a date for the vote has not been set. 
• Venezuela says two of its national guard soldiers were shot near the border with Colombia. 
• Argentina's last dictator and five former generals went on trial yesterday for their participation in human rights abuses. 

Americas

• Beleaguered Detroit automaker Ford posted an unexpected profit of nearly $1 billion.
• Mexico extradited its hundredth person to the United States this year, demonstrating improved cross-border relations and continuing heightened drug conflict.
• The New York Yankees are one game away from winning the World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Africa

• Leaders from Swaziland, Mozambique, and Zambia will meet this week to discuss the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe.
• The U.S. Navy reports an American vessel evaded pirates in East Africa.
• President Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivory Coast delayed again a much-delayed national election.

Asia

• A suicide bomber killed 34 near the headquarters of Pakistan's army, near Islamabad.
• A rescue is ongoing in Australia to save dozens from a sinking ship.
• North Korea again requested biparty talks with the United States on the issue of nuclear disarmament.

Middle East

• Over the weekend, Iran asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to review the UN's plan for sending much of Iran's uranium abroad for enrichment.
• U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with foreign ministers of the Arab League today, who plan to tell her the United States hasn't put enough pressure on Israel over settlement-building.
• Gamal Mubarak, the son of the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, raised speculation he will take over for his father at a national party conference.

Europe

• As work continues on the Copenhagen climate change agreement draft, the U.N. climate chief said the deal must be legally enforceable.
• British and Russian ministers will meet to mend ties; the countries' relationship has been frosty due to Russian refusal to extradite the man who poisoned Alexander Litvinenko with polonium-210, a rare isotope, in London five years ago.
• Lawyers for Radovan Karadzic, a former leader of Bosnian Serbs currently on trial for war crimes at The Hague, said he would appear in court tomorrow. He has been boycotting his trial.

Middle East

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
• An al Qaeda-linked Lebanese group claimed responsibility for this week's rocket attack on Israel.  
• Israel marked the fourteenth anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. 

Asia

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Pakistani journalist she believes the country is still doing too little to fight al Qaeda. 
• South Korea announced plans to send troops to Afghanistan to protect its civilian aid workers. 
• China has invited North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong Il for a visit. 

Africa

• The African Union is planning to impose sanctions on Guinea's leaders. 
• A Liberian Government investigation has concluded that the Firestone Rubber Company polluted local water sources. 
• At least 47 policemen were killed after trying to intervene in an ethnic clash in the D.R. Congo.  

Americas

• Haiti's Prime Minister has been fired by the senate.
• The U.S. and Colombia signed a controversial agreement to increase the U.S. military  
• Buenos Aires have been paralyzed by strikes of teachers, doctors and, transit employees. 

Europe

• Former French President Jacques Chirac has been ordered to stand trial for embezzlement. 
• On the last day of their summit, EU leaders are working to reach an agreement on climate change funding. 
• A U.N. Human Rights Council report condemned Russia's failure to protect its journalists. 

Asia

• Afghanistan is planning to open more polling stations in for the Nov. 7 runoff than were open during the original election, against the advice of the U.N.
• U.S. and Chinese officials are holding talks in China on climate change and recent trade disputes. 
• Mongolia's parliament confirmed a new prime minister.

Middle East

• Iraq has made dozens of arrests in connection with the recent bombings in Baghdad. 
• An employee of the British embassy in Iran has reportedly been sentenced to four years in jail. 
• Kuwait's supreme court ruled that female lawmakers are not required to wear a head scarf. 

Africa

• Zimbabwe has expelled a U.N. human rights investigator. 
• Kenya will carry out a controversial census of its gay population. 
• A French court threw out a lawsuit by Transparency International against three former African leaders. 

Europe

• E.U. leaders are meeting for a two-day summit in Brussels to discuss climate change and the Lisbon treaty. 
• U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss nuclear disarmament and Iran. 
• Germany's unemployment rate fell, prompting hopes of an economic recovery. 

Americas

• Nicaragua's congress decided not to discuss a controversial court ruling allowing President Daniel Ortega to run for another term. 
• The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba. 
• A visiting U.S. mission urged both sides in Honduras's ongoing political standoff to show more "flexibility".

Middle East

• Lebanese militants fired rockets into Israel but the attack was stopped by the Lebanese military. 
• Yemen's government says it has intercepted an Iranian ship carrying arms to its Shiite rebels. 
• Relatives of imprisoned Iranian opposition activists held a rally in Tehran. 

Asia

• The New York Times reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother -- a suspected narco-trafficker -- is on the payroll of the CIA. 
• Australia has refused to accept dozens of Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka. 
• China's government says it has rescued 2,000 children from kidnapping in the last six months. 

Africa

• Mozambique holds presidential elections today. 
• Zimbabwe's government blocked a visit from a U.N. torture investigator. 
• A Washington lobbyist allegedly worked secretly for Sudan's government, in violation of an embargo. 

Europe

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel was formally reelected by parliament. 
• Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has opened a libel case against one of Russia's most prominent human rights campaigners. 
• An attack by gunmen wounded six Greek police officers. 

Americas

• Honduras's interim president Roberto Micheletti wants to end talks on his country's political crisis until after Nov. 29 elections. 
• Venezuela claims to have captured two Colombian spies. 
• The U.N. General Assembly will vote, as it does every year, to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba today.