Morning Brief: U.N. calls for political transition in Syria

Posted By Ty McCormick Thursday, May 16, 2013 - 8:36 AM

Top news: The U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday passed a non-binding resolution calling for an "inclusive" political transition to end the civil war in Syria. The measure, introduced by Qatar, passed by 107 votes to 12, with Iran, China, and Russia all voting "no" on the pretext that it could scuttle peace talks planned by the United States and Russia for June.

Meanwhile, Israel hinted at further military action in Syria to halt the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon, warning the Syrians not to retaliate in the event of a strike. "Israel is determined to continue to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah," an Israeli official told the New York Times. "If Syrian President Assad reacts by attacking Israel, or tries to strike Israel through his terrorist proxies, he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate."

Also on Wednesday, the U.N. raised its death-toll estimate for the Syrian crisis to more than 80,000.

War on Terror: Following revelations that the U.S. Justice Department seized phone records of journalists employed by the Associated Press, President Barack Obama has asked Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to reintroduce legislation that would shield members of the press from subpoenas. Meanwhile, the administration on Wednesday released 100 pages of emails revealing the internal debate about how to characterize the Sept. 11 consular attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Middle East

  • A series of bombings in heavily Shiite areas of Baghdad killed at least 14 people on Thursday.
  • With Iran's presidential election fast approaching, conservatives aligned with the country's Supreme Leader appear unable to unite behind a single candidate.
  • A court in Bahrain on Wednesday sentenced six people to a year each in prison for insulting King Hamad bin Issa al Khalifa on Twitter.

Africa

  • Nigeria launched a "massive" military campaign on Wednesday against the militant Islamist group Boko Haram, targeting strongholds in three different states. 
  • International donors on Wednesday pledged $4.22 billion to help Mali rebuild after the international operation that ousted Islamic extremists from the northern part of the country.
  • Authorities in Chad arrested Mahamat Djibrine, chief of police under former President Hissene Habre, on charges of torturing and killing hundreds of opposition members in the 1980s.

Asia

  • A suicide bomber killed two NATO troops in Kabul on Thursday. Another suicide bomber, targeting foreigners, meanwhile, killed six Afghans.
  • Japanese authorities said Wednesday that a nuclear reactor in the western city of Tsuruga is situated on a seismic fault line, a revelation that could potentially necessitate the plant's closure.
  • Authorities ordered thousands of people to evacuate low-lying areas in Bangladesh and Burma ahead of Cyclone Mahasen, predicted to make landfall on Thursday.

Americas

  • Peruvian Foreign Minister Rafael Roncagliolo resigned on Wednesday for "health reasons," shortly after being criticized over a dispute with Venezuela.
  • Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto sacked his attorney general for consumer protection, Humberto Benitez Trevino, over an abuse-of-power scandal involving Trevino's daughter.
  • Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla's top spokesman resigned on Wednesday amid allegations that the president improperly travelled on a private jet to Hugo Chavez's funeral.

Europe

  • The IMF's executive board on Wednesday signed off on a three-year $1.3 billion loan to Cyprus as part of a larger bailout deal.
  • France's economy shrank by 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013, plunging the country into its second recession in four years.
  • Bulgaria's center-right Gerb party called for the results of Sunday's election to be cancelled because of a "gross violation of the [election] law."



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Morning Brief: Russia expels U.S. diplomat accused of spying

Posted By Elias Groll Wednesday, May 15, 2013 - 8:41 AM

Top news: Russia expelled a low-level U.S. diplomat accused of sprying and trying to recruit a Russian security official as a U.S. agent, but the bizarre circumstances of the arrest have raised questions over the authenticity of the Russian allegations.

The alleged spy, a third secretary named Ryan Fogle who works in the political section at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, was arrested allegedly carrying two wigs -- one blonde, one brunette, and was wearing the blonde one -- maps, a strangely written recruitment letter, and an old-fashioned cell-phone. The FSB released images and video of Fogle's arrest, including a photo of Fogle face down on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back -- with the blonde wig askew under a baseball cap. 

The CIA declined to comment on the arrest, and Jen Psaki, the State Department's spokesperson, would only say that an embassy staffer was “briefly detained and was released.”

Fogle was allegedly trying to recruit a Russian counterterror agent with expertise in the Caucasus, a region of extreme interest to U.S. officials in recent weeks after it emerged that the suspects alleged to have carried out the Boston Marathon bombings hailed from the region.

Eurozone: The recession in the eurozone extended into its sixth quarter and is now longer than the contraction that hit the countries that use the common currency in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. According to eurostat, France is now also in recession, and in total nine of the 17 countries that use the euro are in recession.

Middle East

  • Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a unity government within three months.
  • Thousands of Palestinians are taking to the streets of Gaza and the West Bank today to protest their displacement in 1948 during the war that marked Israel's founding.
  • Kurdish fighters affiliated with the PKK began crossing into Iraq from Turkey as part of a peace deal between the group and the Turkish government.

Asia

  • Wal-Mart announced that it will not join a European plan to help improve safety conditions at garment factories in Bangladesh.
  • Taiwan recalled its representative from Manila amid a deepening row over the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine coast guard.
  • Distrustful of the government, many of members of the Rohingya ethnic group in Burma are refusing to evacuate low-lying camps ahead of an approaching cyclone.

Europe

  • British Prime Minister David Cameron, facing a rebellion within his party, was forced to bring forward a bill enforcing a referendum on continued U.K. membership in the European Union.
  • The French legislature passed a modest package of pro-business labor law reforms.
  • The European Union will pledge 520 million euros directed at helping to rebuild Mali.

Africa

  • Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in his fight against Islamist militants, who, he now says, control some villages and towns in the country's northeast.
  • The Congolese government will name a new city in honor of the country's first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, who was assassinated in 1961.
  • Activists released three dozen piglets and spilled animal blood at the entrance to the Kenyan parliament in a protest over salaries for legislators.

Americas

  • The council overseeing the Brazilian judiciary effectively legalized same-sex marriages in the country.
  • The Venezuelan opposition TV channel Globovision, one of the few vehement critics of the Chávez government inside Venezuela, has been sold, and it is expected it will move its editorial direction "toward the center."
  • Because of delays in completing the city's new stadium, Sao Paulo may lose the right to host soccer matches during the 2014 World Cup.



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Morning Brief: Justice Department subpoenas journalists' phone records

Posted By Ty McCormick Tuesday, May 14, 2013 - 8:23 AM

Top news: The U.S. Justice Department secretly obtained two months' worth of phone records for Associated Press journalists and editors, the AP announced on Monday. The seizures -- which covered 20 lines, including cell phones -- are most likely connected to an ongoing investigation into leaks that revealed the CIA's role in foiling an al Qaeda plot in Yemen. In a letter to the attorney general, Gary Pruitt, the president and chief executive of the Associated Press, called the Justice Department's actions a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" for which there can be "no possible justification."

"These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know," wrote Pruitt.

The White House denied having prior knowledge of the subpoenas. "We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday night.

Energy: The International Energy Agency predicted Tuesday that growth in North American oil production will outstrip that of other oil-producing regions over the next five years. The shift, which will likely come at OPEC's expense, is being driven by technological advances in areas like "fracking," as well as high energy prices.

Middle East

  • Israel's government on Tuesday approved a new budget that slashes spending and raises taxes.
  • Egypt's parliament on Monday approved a new income tax law that will increase the rate paid by wealthy citizens and reduce the rate paid by poorer ones.
  • A car bomb exploded in Benghazi on Monday, killing at least 4 people.

Asia

  • Bangladesh's cabinet on Monday approved changes to the country's labor laws, which if passed by the parliament, would bring the country closer in line with international labor standards.
  • A boat carrying roughly 200 Rohingya Muslims capsized off western Burma on Monday, leaving an unknown number of people missing.
  • Nawaz Sharif, former Pakistani prime minister and winner of Sunday's parliamentary election, named Ishaq Dar as his new finance minister even as the final vote is still being tallied.

Africa

  • Protesters demonstrated outside Kenya's parliament building after lawmakers demanded higher pay early in the legislative session.
  • Tanzania on Monday released three UAE citizens and one Saudi Arabian citizen held in connection with a recent church bombing in Arusha.
  • Authorities in Sierra Leone released Charles Francis Margai, a member of the opposition who had been imprisoned on charges of undermining state security.

Americas

  • Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro dispatched 3,000 troops into the streets of Caracas on Monday in an effort to crack down on crime.
  • Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt was rushed to the hospital Monday, after fainting on his way to a court hearing.
  • A construction company in Belize bulldozed one of the country's largest Mayan pyramids in order to produce gravel for road filler.

Europe

  • British Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday that everything should be on the table for a possible free trade deal between the EU and United States, with "no exceptions." 
  • France on Monday confirmed its second case of a coronavirus belonging to the same family as SARS.
  • Russia detained a U.S. Embassy official in Moscow on suspicion of trying to recruit a Russian intelligence official to work for the CIA.



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Morning Brief: Nawaz Sharif scores resounding win in Pakistan

Posted By Elias Groll Monday, May 13, 2013 - 8:40 AM

Top news: With initial returns indicating Nawaz Sharif secured a resouding majority in parliamentary elections Saturday, the former prime minister, who was ousted in a coup in 1999, has begun discussions to form a government, even as allegations of widespread voting fraud abound.

Current estimates indicate that Sharif's party, Pakistan Muslim League, has won at least 125 seats, short of a majority but sufficient to guarantee victory. His two main opponents, the Pakistan People's Party and former cricketer Imran Khan's Movement for Justice Party, have secured about 30 seats each. To win a majority takes 137 seats. Sharif's strong showing at the polls may hand him a government in a much stronger position than the outgoing PPP, whose weak coalition government frequently flirted with collapse.

But Saturday's vote, which marked the end of a frenetic and energized campaign, was also marred by violence and serious allegations of voting fraud, particularly in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city. Allegations include the forcible takeover of some polling stations, in addition to outright voter fraud in other parts of the city. Additionally, at least 38 people were killed Saturday in attacks through out the country aimed largely at derailing the vote.

Turkey/Syria:  After a car bombing killed 46 in a Turkish town on the border with Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said it was time for the international community to act against the Syrian regime. Despite Syrian denials of involvement, Davutoglu pointed to an "old Marxist terrorist organization" with ties to the Assad regime as responsible for the attack. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogarn added that Turkey will not be dragged into a war in Syria as a result of the attack, saying in a televised speech that "we will not lose our calm heads, we will not depart common sense, and we will not fall into the trap they're trying to push us into." He also added: "Whoever targets Turkey will sooner or later pay the price."

Middle East

  • Syrian government forces retook control of Khirbet Ghazaleh, a strategically important town near a highway that links Damascus with Jordan.
  • Syrian rebels released four Filipino peacekeepers captured near the Syria-Israel border.
  • Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak made his first comments to the media since being ousted from power, saying that he is worried about the country's state of affairs and conditions for the poor.

Asia

  • With the deathtoll of a factory collapse in Bangladesh at 1,127, the government announced it will raise the minimum wage for garment workers and allow workers in the industry to form trade unions without the consent of factory owners.
  • The Japanese stock market advanced Monday morning on news the G7 finance chiefs had approved efforts by the Japanese government to stimulate the economy, which has the yen hitting historic lows against the dollar.
  • North Korean leader Kim Jong Un fired his hard-line defense minister and replaced him with a little-known general.

Europe

  • According to exit polls, neither Bulgaria's center-right party nor the Socialists -- who finished first and second, respectively -- secured the necessary votes in parliamentary elections to form a government.
  • British Prime Minister David Cameron is facing a revolt within the Tory party on the issue of continued UK membership in the European Union.
  • Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic visited northern Kosovo and urged ethnic Serbs there to accept an EU-brokered agreement to normalize relations between the two countries.

Africa

  • Three activists were arrested in Zimbabwe for carrying out educational activities to increase awareness of the country's upcoming eleciton.
  • Forty patients escaped from a mental hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, after overpowering the guards.
  • Rebel soldiers who overthew the government in the Central African Republic are demanding payment before they disarm.

Americas

  • The former dictator of Guatemala, Efrain Rios Montt, was convicted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity and handed an 80-year prison sentence.
  • Pope Francis canonized the first saints of his papacy, including two Latin American nuns, one of which is the church's first Colombian saint.
  • Ilich Ramirez Sancez -- the Venezuelan terrorist better known as Carlos the Jackal -- has decided to appeal a life sentenced handed down by a Paris court.

 




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Morning Brief: Pakistan prepares for first democratic transition after wild and bloody campaign

Posted By Joshua Keating Friday, May 10, 2013 - 8:41 AM

Top news: With campaigning officially ended ahead of Pakistan's parliamentary elections tomorrow, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party is expected to take the most votes, but a late surge by the part of former cricket star-turned-populist politician Imran Khan could complicate his ability to form a government. A party would have to win 137 out of the National Assembly's 272 seats to govern with a simple majority but that appears unlikely, potentially setting the stage for days or weeks of coalition building. 

The final week of campaigning has been a wild conclusion to the landmark election, which would be Pakistan's first transition between two civilian governments. Five people were killed on Friday in bomb attacks on party offices in Quetta and Peshawar. Khan is currently recovering in the hospital after falling from a mechanical lift at a rally earlier this week. Nonetheless, 35,000 supporters turned up at a campaign rally in Islamabad that he didn't attend. On Thursday, Ali Haider Gilani, the son of former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and a candidate for local office for the ruling Pakistan People's Party was kidnapped near the city of Multan in Punjab.

The motive behind the kidnapping is unclear, but Taliban militants are widely suspected. The Taliban has threatened to disrupt this Saturday's election with suicide bombings. At least 110 people have been killed in election-related violence and Taliban attacks and threats have hampered the ability of several parties to campaign.  

Medicine: Two companies that produce vaccines against cervical cancer announced that they would cut their prices for poor countries. 

Middle East

Asia

  • A woman was rescued alive from the rubble 17 days after the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh. 
  • Taiwan has demanded an apology for the shooting of a fisherman by the Philippines Coast Guard. 
  • The yen hit a four-year low against the dollar ahead of a G7 finance ministers meeting in London.

Europe

Africa

  • Three suicide attacks hit Malian and Nigerien troops in Mali. 
  • Amnesty International accused Eritrea of detaining around 10,000 dissidents in recent years. 
  • Liberian newspapers have protested a government threat against a journalist by running black front pages. 

Americas

  • Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Riot Montt denied any role in atrocities against the country's Mayans at his trial for genocide. 
  • Tens of thousands of Chilean students have resumed their protests calling for free education.
  • The Vatican has condemned Mexico's cult of "Santa Muerte."

 




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Morning Brief: Bangladesh factory toll passes 900 amid news of new tragedy

Posted By Ty McCormick Thursday, May 9, 2013 - 8:27 AM

Top news: The death toll from last month's building collapse in Bangladesh topped 900 Thursday, amid news that the country had been hit with a fresh industrial disaster. Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, a fire swept through a clothing factory in Dhaka's Mirpur industrial district, killing eight people. The fire, which was most likely caused by a short circuit, would almost certainly have claimed more lives except that it happened after normal business hours.

The latest accident comes after authorities forced 18 factories to shut down temporarily in order to comply with safety standards. (Six were apparently up and running again by Thursday.) The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Department of State, and Department of Labor, meanwhile, convened a conference call with 70 retailers and manufacturers that do business in Bangladesh to discuss coordinating efforts to improve working conditions. None of the companies said they planned to scale back production in the South Asian country.

The April 24 collapse of the Rana Plaza complex in Dhaka was the world's worst industrial accident since the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India.

Benghazi: The House Oversight Committee held a hearing Wednesday to determine if the Obama administration responded appropriately to the Sept. 11 consular attack in Benghazi, Libya that left four Americans dead. FP's John Hudson reports on six new things we learned from the hearing.

Middle East

  • U.S. senators on Wednesday introduced bipartisan legislation that would tighten sanctions on Iran, denying its government access to critical foreign exchange reserves.
  • Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said Thursday that her ministry is drafting legislation to end gender segregation in public spaces, including buses.
  • A court in Egypt charged five democracy activists with an arson attack on former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq's campaign headquarters.

Africa

  • A Zambian court charged two men with engaging in homosexual acts, a crime that carries up to 14 years in prison.
  • Members of the Nigerian Ombatse militia ambushed police officers as they attempted to arrest the group's leader, killing at least 23 and setting their bodies alight.
  • South Sudanese rebels seized a military base Wednesday in the eastern town of Boma and claimed to have killed more than 50 soldiers.

Asia

  • China dispatched hundreds of police officers to a southern section of Beijing on Thursday, following a rare protest by migrant workers.
  • Gunmen in Pakistan's southern Punjab province abducted the son of former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday as he attended an election rally.
  • Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday that the United States could keep nine military bases in the country after the 2014 withdrawal deadline.

Americas

  • Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday announced plans to expand access to credit for small businesses.
  • Argentina's Senate on Wednesday passed a controversial judicial reform bill that critics worry could leave courts vulnerable to political influence.
  • Tens of thousands of Chilean students have taken to the streets once again to demand free education.

Europe

  • An Italian appeals court on Wednesday upheld a tax fraud conviction on former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and sentenced him to four years in prison.
  • British Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday that he didn't think Britain should leave the EU, adding that it is "possible to change and reform this organization."
  • Police in France, Switzerland, and Belgium detained 17 people on Wednesday in connection with the February heist of $50 million worth of diamonds at the Brussels airport.  



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Morning Brief: Obama backs South Korean president's strategy on North

Posted By Elias Groll Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - 8:42 AM

Top news: President Obama endorsed Tuesday South Korean President Park Geun-hye's strategy for resolving tensions on the Korean Peninsula after meeting with her at the White House. Still, some tensions remain between the United States and South Korea over the degree to which the South should engage the North and whether the South ought to expand its own nuclear program.

"If Pyongyang thought its recent threats would drive a wedge between South Korea and the United States, or somehow garner the North international respect, today is further evidence that North Korea has failed again," Obama said. "President Park and South Koreans have stood firm, with confidence and resolve."

But it remains unclear whether Park considers a commitment to denuclearization by the North a precondition to talks. Park, who took office earlier this year, campaigned on a platform of trustpolitik, and analysts question whether her willingness to entertain trust-building talks with the North is at odds with U.S. policy. In recent days, tensions on the Korean Peninsula appear to have significantly de-escalated, with the North removing several missiles from their launch platforms.

U.S. and South Korean officials are currently in the process of negotiating a new civilian nuclear deal, and prior to Park's visit, they agreed to renew the current deal for two years after they were unable to reach an agreement. The Obama administration is hesitant to allow the South to reprocess or enrich its nuclear fuel, a step that would allow the country to restart its long-dormant nuclear program.

Syria: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that they will convene within weeks a conference aimed at ending the Syrian civil war. Though short on details, the announcement is a rare diplomatic breakthrough in a conflict that has been marked at the international level by a total stalemate between the United States and Russia. The announcement also comes against the background of escalating violence on the ground in Syria, including recent raids by Israeli jets inside Syria, indications of chemical weapons use, and an escalating refugee crisis.

Middle East

  • Syrian troops pushed into the strategic town of Khirbet Ghazaleh south of Damascus.
  • Israeli activist groups said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stopped approving new settlement activity in the West Bank.
  • Under the terms of a ceasefire, Kurdish rebel fighters are leaving southeastern Turkey for safe havens in northern Iraq.

Asia

  • Imran Khan, the Pakistani cricketeer turned politician, was seriously injured when he fell head frist from a mechanical lift.
  • Chinese exports surged 14.7 percent in April, beating analysts expectations.
  • The death toll in the collapse of a Bangladesh garment factory reached 761.

Europe

  • Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov, a longtime political adviser to Vladimir Putin, was forced to resign amidst a power struggle.
  • Police arrested 31 people in connection with a massive diamond heist at the Brussels airport earlier this year.
  • A cargo ship crashed into the control tower at the port in Genoa, killing four.

Africa

  • A youth political activist will spend another week in jail after he allegedly called President Robert Mugabe a "limping donkey."
  • A Pakistani U.N. peacekeeper was killed in an ambush in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • A raid by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria killed 55.

Americas

  • The Argentine government announced a new tax amnesty scheme aimed at pulling undeclared cash into the banking system.
  • A Chilean court sentenced two former navy officers to three years of house arrest in the Pinochet-era disappearance of a left-wing priest.
  • The explosion of a natural gas tanker killed 22 people in a Mexico City suburb.



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Morning Brief: Pentagon accuses China of cyberattacks against the U.S. government

Posted By Ty McCormick Tuesday, May 7, 2013 - 8:39 AM

Top news: In its annual report to Congress on Monday, the Pentagon accused the Chinese military of mounting cyber attacks on the U.S government and various defense contractors, marking the first time that the Obama administration has explicitly blamed Chinese officials for the country's offensive cyber activities. The report, which called the cyber attacks a "serious concern," said that U.S. government computer systems "continued to be targeted for intrusions, some of which appear to be attributable directly to the Chinese government and military."

China's primary objective appears to be the theft of industrial technology, but according to the report, the information gathered by Chinese hackers could easily be used for "building a picture of U.S. network defense networks, logistics, and related military capabilities that could be exploited during a crisis." The diplomatic, economic, and defense industrial sectors that form the basis of U.S. defense programs are all being targeted, according to the report.  

China rejected the accusations on Tuesday, saying that it "resolutely oppose[s] all forms of hacker attacks." "We're willing to carry out an even-tempered and constructive dialogue with the U.S. on the issue of Internet security. But we are firmly opposed to any groundless accusations and speculations, since they will only damage the cooperation efforts and atmosphere between the two sides to strengthen dialogue and cooperation,'' said a spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Syria: The United Nations on Monday distanced itself from comments made by Carla Del Ponte, a member of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, alleging that rebel forces may have used chemical weapons in their fight against the Syrian government. The commission, according to a statement released Monday, "wishes to clarify that it has not reached conclusive findings as to the use of chemical weapons in Syria by any parties to the conflict."

Middle East

  • Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy on Tuesday reshuffled his cabinet, naming nine new ministers, including two additional members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
  • A series of attacks in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, left at least 17 people dead on Monday.
  • Turkish and Israeli officials held talks on Monday in Jerusalem over the deadly 2010 flotilla raid that drove a wedge between the two countries.

Asia

  • North Korea took a pair of Musudan missiles off launch-ready status and moved them away from the country's east coast, according to U.S. officials. 
  • Clashes Monday between Islamists and police in Bangladesh left at least 20 people dead.
  • A Taliban bomb killed at least 20 people Monday in Pakistan's Kurram tribal region.

Americas

  • Ecuador withdrew its ambassador to Peru Monday, following a scuffle with two women in a supermarket checkout line last month.  
  • Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said Monday that he has begun negotiations to bring some 6,000 Cuban doctors to Brazil.
  • The trial of four former policemen accused of failing to prevent the 1996 murder of presidential campaign treasurer Paulo Cesar Farias began Monday in Brazil.

Europe

  • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Moscow Tuesday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
  • Immigration to Germany increased by 13 percent in 2012 from a year earlier, according to statistics released Tuesday.
  • Thousands of demonstrators turned out in Moscow on Monday to protest what they consider to be politically motivated prosecutions stemming from last year's riot in Bolotnaya Square.

Africa

  • Authorities in Tanzania on Monday arrested four Saudi Arabians and four Tanzanians in connection with a Church bombing in Arusha that killed two people.
  • British Prime Minister David Cameron is scheduled to hold a peace conference in London Tuesday with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
  • Democratic Republic of Congo is the worst country in the world to raise a child, according to a new report.



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Morning Brief: Israel strikes military facility in Damascus, U.N. investigator says rebels used sarin

Posted By Elias Groll Monday, May 6, 2013 - 8:44 AM

Top news: The Syrian government charged Sunday that an overnight airstrike that targeted what is believed to be a military research center in Damascus was carried out by Israel, a development that marks the most significant international military action in the ongoing Syrian conflict and raises the specter that the conflict will spread beyond Syrian borders.

The Israeli government has neither confirmed nor denied the attack, which caused a massive explosion in the hills above Damascus, but it is the second such attack believed to have been carried out by Israel in recent days. On Thursday, Israeli jets are believed to have targeted a shipment of rockets bound for Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. "Israel cannot allow weapons, dangerous weapons, to get into the hands of terror organizations," said Danny Danon, a deputy defense minister.

Both Syria and Iran issued statements that hinted at the possibility of retaliation, but given the scale of the explosion in Damascus, the statements were rather muted in tone. As a preventive measure, Israel moved units of its Iron Dome system to the northern part of the country to guard against possible retaliatory rockets strikes.

In separate news in Syria, a U.N. human rights investigator said that she has gathered evidence indicating that Syrian rebels have used sarin gas. In an interview with Swiss television, Carla del Ponti described the evidence as "strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof" that the rebels used sarin. The news threatens to upend a debate being carried out in Washington and European capitals over whether reported use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime constitutes sufficient reason for a limited military intervention in Syria.

Malaysian elections: Malaysia's governing coalition extended its 56-year hold on power after fending off the strongest challenge from the country's political opposition in its history.

Middle East

  • The Libyan parliament passed a sweeping law banning anyone who had served as a senior official under Muammar al Qaddafi from serving in the current government.
  • A series of attacks in and around Baghdad killed nine and wounded dozens.
  • A 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck a region near Iran's main nuclear reactor.

Asia

  • Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that he has been assured by the CIA station chief in Kabul that deliveries of cash from the agency to his office will continue.
  • Seven U.S. troops and a member of the NATO coalition were killed Saturday in Afghanistan, one of the deadliest days in recent months for U.S. troops there.
  • The death toll in the collapse of a Bangladeshi garment factory reached 645.

Europe

  • Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is accused of cozying up to anti-Semitic groups, told the World Jewish Congress that his government has "zero-tolerance" for anti-Semitism.
  • Tens of thousands of leftists marched through the streets of Paris to express their disappointment with President Francois Hollande's first year in office.
  • A high-profile murder trial of a group of neo-Nazis began in Munich.

Africa

  • Reneging on a promise that he would not run again, Madagascar's president, Andy Rajoelina said that he will stand for reelection in July.
  • A Kenyan court sentenced two Iranian men to life on prison on charges they planned to carry out terrorist attacks.
  • A suicide car bomber targeting a government convoy killed seven people in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Americas

  • President Barack Obama prodded Central American leaders to take a more aggressive stance in fighting drug-related violence.
  • President Barack Obama dismissed as "ridiculous" charges that an American filmmaker held by the Venezuelan government is a spy.
  • Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said that he would take Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to court after he accused Uribe of being complicit in the killing of a Venezuelan journalist.



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Morning Brief: Assad offensive continues as U.S. mulls response

Posted By Joshua Keating Friday, May 3, 2013 - 8:45 AM

Top news: Opposition groups say at least 50 people were killed when Syrian government forces stormed the coastal town of Baida on Thursday. The raid came in response to a rebel attack on a bus carrying pro-Assad militiamen. Pro-Assad forces appear to have made substantial gains in recent weeks, recapturing suburban areas outside Damascus and territory around Homs.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel acknowledged in a joint appearance with British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond that arming the rebel forces was "an option," but both officials said evidence of chemical weapons use by the Syrian government was not yet sufficient to trigger an international response.

After months of frustrated diplomatic efforts, Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League envoy for Syria, has informed senior U.N. diplomats that he wants to resign. 

Boston bombing: Investigators say Dzhokar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev initially planned to carry out their attack on the Fourth of July. 

Asia

Middle East

Americas

  • President Obama met with President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City. 
  • Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles has formally challenged the results of last month's presidential election.
  • Guatemala has declared a state of emergency in several regions after clashes between police and anti-mining protesters. 

Europe

Africa

  • A new report says U.S. policy was partially responsible for Somalia's catastrophic 2010-2012 food crisis.
  • Kenya's newly-elected president, Uhuru Kenyatta, will likely appear at a Somalia conference in London next week despite charges against him in the International Criminal Court.
  • A Kenyan court found two Iranian citizens guilty of planning a terrorist attack. 



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Morning Brief: Classmates of alleged Boston bomber charged with impeding investigation

Posted By Ty McCormick Thursday, May 2, 2013 - 8:37 AM

Top news: Prosecutors on Wednesday charged three college friends of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, with destroying evidence and misleading investigators -- crimes that could carry between five and eight years in prison. Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, both from Kazakhstan, were charged with removing Tsarnaev's laptop and a backpack containing fireworks from the suspected bomber's room, while Robel K. Phillipos, an American, is charged with lying to investigators. The four men met while attending the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

According to court documents obtained by the New York Times, the three friends returned to Tsarnaev's apartment on the April 18 -- after the F.B.I. had released photographs of the bombing suspects -- and placed the damning evidence in a dumpster outside. Kadyrbayev reportedly sent a text message to Tsarnaev noting his resemblance to the F.B.I.'s photo. "lol," the suspected bomber replied, "you better not text me." "[C]ome to my room and take whatever you want," he added.

There is no evidence that any of Tsarnaev's friends knew about the bombing plot beforehand.

AfPak: Pakistani troops clashed with Afghan police Wednesday in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, where Kabul says Pakistan is building a military installation on its side of the Durand Line. The fighting, which lasted several hours, left one Afghan police officer dead and two Pakistani soldiers wounded. Afghanistan has since dispatched hundreds of additional troops to the disputed border region.

Middle East

  • Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made a rare public appearance Wednesday, visiting workers at the Umayyad Electrical Station in Damascus.
  • Flash floods killed least 13 people in Saudi Arabia Wednesday after the country was hit with unusually heavy rains. 
  • A series of attacks and bombings across Iraq on Wednesday left at least 22 people dead.

Africa

  • Authorities in Chad on Wednesday foiled a coup attempt against President Idriss Deby.
  • Some 260,000 people died during the famine that struck Somalia between 2010 and 2012, according to a new study.
  • Nigeria on Wednesday pledged to take action against soldiers found guilty of misconduct during last month's raid in Baga that destroyed thousands of homes and left at least 37 dead.

Americas

  • Venezuelan lawmakers brawled on Wednesday after members of the opposition flouted a gag order by National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello.
  • Bolivian President Evo Morales on Wednesday expelled USAID from the country to protest a comment made by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in April. 
  • Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff sent lawmakers a second proposal to earmark all future oil royalties for public education. 

Europe

  • The European Central Bank on Thursday slashed interest rates to .5 percent from .75 percent.
  • The EU is mulling trade action against Bangladesh to pressure the country to tighten safety regulations after last week's factory collapse that left more than 400 dead.
  • A new report by the U.S. Trade Representative named Ukraine as the worst abuser of intellectual property rights.

Asia

  • North Korea on Thursday sentenced U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae to 15 years of hard labor for crimes against the North, according to the state news agency.
  • Since 2007, Chinese computer hackers have breached almost every major U.S. defense contractor, stealing closely guarded technological secrets.
  • South Korea announced Wednesday that it will provide $270 million in emergency loans to companies operating in the shuttered Kaesong joint-industrial park in North Korea.



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Morning Brief: U.S. considers providing lethal aid to Syrian rebels

Posted By Elias Groll Wednesday, May 1, 2013 - 8:36 AM

Top news: The Obama administration is once more considering supplying rebels in Syria with lethal aid, a policy reversal that would firmly inject the United States into a conflict that has claimed the lives of 80,000 Syrians and shows no signs of abating.

But President Obama and anonymous senior administration officials speaking to the Washington Post remain cagey about the likelihood that the United States will provide arms to Syrian rebels when the White House has consistently pursued a strategy aimed at preventing the United States from becoming entangled in yet another armed conflict in the Middle East. If it is confirmed that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, Obama said that "there are some options that we might not otherwise exercise that we would strongly consider." While Obama staked out that highly cautious position in public, a senior administration official told the Post that the current thinking within the White House indicates that the United States is on an "upward trajectory" toward providing "assistance that has a direct military purpose."

Throughout the conflict in Syria, the Obama administration has shown a clear preference toward finding a negotiated solution, and Tuesday's leak to the media may be part of a diplomatic strategy aimed at getting the Russian government to finally stop protecting the Assad regime. Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke via phone on Monday, and Secretary of State John Kerry plans to travel to Russia in coming days. 

Guantanamo Bay: President Obama said Tuesday that he would once more seek to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, an effort he abandoned during his first term amid stiff opposition in Congress. Inmates at the prison are currently conducting a mass hunger strike, with 100 of the prison's 166 inmates participating.

Middle East

  • Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, said that fighters from his organization may intervene in Syria to protect the Assad regime.
  • Israeli forces killed a Palestinian militant in a missile strike after an Israeli settler was stabbed to death in the West Bank.
  • The Arab League revised its proposal for achieving peace between Israel and Palestine by offering concessions to Israel.

Americas

  • President Obama said that he would decline to assess Mexico's decision to scale back security cooperation with the U.S. until he meets with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto later this week.
  • A fistfight broke out in the Venezuelan parliament amid an ongoing dispute over the country's recent presidential election. 
  • The Mexican Congress passed a bill aiming to introduce more competition into the country's telecommunications industry.

Asia

  • The death toll in the collapse of a factory in Bangladesh passed 400.
  • Insurgents killed an Afghan official tasked with setting up peace talks with the Taliban.
  • A Pakistani court issued Pervez Musharraf, the country's former military ruler, a lifetime ban against holding public office.

Europe

  • Russian security officials placed Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder of two brothers alleged to have carried out the Boston Marathon bombings, under surveillance during a six-month visit to Russia.
  • Greek labor unions have launched a 24-hour general strike to protest austerity measures.
  • Europe's human rights court ruled that the jailing of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was a politically motivated violation of her rights.

Africa

  • A French convert, Gilles Le Guen, fighting with Islamist militants in Mali was captured.
  • Rebels in eastern Congo say they are preparing to fight a new peacekeeping force due to arrive in the country with an expanded mandate to take aggressive action against armed rebels.
  • Human Rights Watch said that satellite images reveal that 2,275 homes were destroyed in a raid by the Nigerian army on the town of Baga.



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Morning Brief: Damascus bombing kills 13 after prime minister survives attack

Posted By Ty McCormick Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - 8:40 AM

Top news: A car bomb exploded in the center of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Tuesday, killing at least 13 people and wounding another 70. The attack, near the rear entrance of a building in Marjeh Square used by the Ministry of Interior, comes just one day after a similar blast nearly killed Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi in the Mezzeh district of southwest Damascus.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency as well as several opposition sources confirmed Monday that the prime minister was unharmed, but the blast killed five other people in al-Halqi's convoy. No one has yet claimed responsibility for either attack, but the al Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front has claimed responsibility for similar bombings in the past.

China: Chinese authorities detained 19 people in a heavily ethnic Uighur part of Xinjiang, following clashes between residents and police last week that left 21 people dead. The Chinese government has called the violence, the deadliest in Xinjiang since 2009, a "terrorist attack," though the exiled World Uyghur Congress disputes that claim. 

Middle East

  • Israel killed what it called "a key terror figure" Tuesday in an airstrike in Gaza, only hours after an Israeli was stabbed to death in the West Bank.
  • Libya's parliament postponed its next session after heavily armed protesters surrounded the foreign ministry building.
  • A series of car bombs exploded across Iraq on Monday, leaving at least 23 people dead in mainly Shi'ite areas.

Africa

  • Guinea-Bissau's interim president, Manuel Serifo Mhamadjo, said Monday that elections will be held before the end of the year.
  • Botswana's President Ian Khama received stitches in his face Monday after being wounded by a cheetah.
  • Britain announced Tuesday that it will end direct aid to South Africa by the year 2015.

Asia

  • Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is in the midst of a new disaster caused by a flood of radioactive wastewater.
  • A U.S.-operated cargo plane crashed in Afghanistan Monday, killing all seven crew members.
  • Bangladesh on Monday defended its decision to turn down foreign assistance after last week's factory collapse that killed at least 382 people.

Americas

  • A court in Bolivia ruled Monday that Evo Morales is eligible to seek re-election to a third term as president.
  • Chilean businessman Laurence Golborne, an independent who was backed by the center-right UDI party, quit Chile's presidential race on Monday over a billing scandal.
  • A Venezuelan court on Monday charged retired Gen. Antonio Rivero, a member of the opposition Popular Will movement, with inciting post-election violence.

Europe

  • Cyprus's parliament is expected to approve the terms of an EU bailout deal on Tuesday by a narrow majority. 
  • A French soldier was killed in Mali on Monday, bringing the death toll to six French troops during the intervention to expel Islamist militants from the country's north. 
  • Spain's economy shrank in the first quarter of 2013, marking the seventh straight quarter that it has done so.  



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Morning Brief: Italy swears in unity government, 2 police shot outside PM's office

Posted By Elias Groll Monday, April 29, 2013 - 8:43 AM

Top news: Two months of political gridlock in Italy came to an end Sunday with the swearing in of a grand coalition government headed by Prime Minister Enrico Letta, a member of the center-left Democratic Party. Letta's coalition brings together his Democratic Party with Silvio Berlusconi's People of Liberty party, forming a unity government with backing from both sides of the aisles and a mandate to implement reforms to Italy's sclerotic economy.

But Monday's ceremony was marred by the shooting of two police officers standing guard outside the prime ministers office. The man responsible for the shooting, which also injured a pregnant passerby, was an unemployed bricklayer from Calabria driven to desperation who said that he had intended to target politicians, but when he was unable to reach them decided to shoot the police instead. The shooting, which took place as the government was being sworn in, served as a poignant reminder of the ills this new government faces: rampant unemployment that threatens to turn into a social crisis.

"He is a man full of problems, who lost his job, who lost everything," Rome Prosecutor Pierfilippo Laviani told reporters. "He was desperate."

Italian markets responded positively to the swearing in of the new government. The Italian stockmarket inched up 1.4 percent while Italian bonds traded under 4 percent for the first time since 2010.

Bangladesh: A fire broke out Sunday at a collapsed garment factory in Bangladesh where rescue workers are conducting a frantic search for survivors. The fire broke out as people at the site sought to extract a woman pinned in the rubble, but the fire apparently killed her. So far, the death toll has reached 377, but that number may increase as workers continue to pull bodies from the rubble. The owner of the building, Sohel Rana, was arrested near the Indian border.

Middle East

  • The Syrian prime minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy.
  • Five car bombs across various Shiite areas of Iraq killed 26 and wounded dozens.
  • The Iraqi government revoked the liscence of Al Jazeera and nine other television stations, alleging they are inciting sectarian conflict.

Asia

  • According to the New York Times, the CIA has attempted to buy influence with Afghan President Hamid Karzai by dropping off bags filled with cash totalling tens of millions of dollars.
  • The last 50 South Koreans still remaining at the jointly operated industrial park at Kaesong are expected to leave today.
  • A suicide bombing in Pakistan killed the son and nephew of an Afghan official involved in peace negotiations with the Taliban, in addition to killing four others and wounding 30.

Europe

  • The Greek parliament approved a plan to lay off 15,000 civil servants by the end of next year as part of reforms required by its creditors.
  • Voters in Iceland ousted a center-left coalition and restored to power the center-right grouping that held power in the run-up to the country's financial crisis.
  • A large explosion, believed by police to have been caused by a natural gas leak, injured up to 40 people in downtown Prague.

Africa

  • During a visit to Mali, the French defense minister said his country will keep up to 1,000 troops there after the arrival of U.N. peacekeepers.
  • A report by a U.S.-based NGO alleges that Joseph Kony received support and protection from the Sudanese government.
  • According to a Nigerian government report, Boko Haram was paid a ransom of $3 million to release from captivity a French family of seven.

Americas

  • The Venezuelan government arrested an American documentary filmmaker and accused him of fomenting unrest in the aftermath of the country's contested presidential election.
  • Venezuela's election commission said that an audit of the country's recent presidential election will begin May 6 but denied opposition demands for a full recount.
  • Some 400 people in Mexico's Veracruz state protested against attacks on the press and demanded justice in the case of the killing of Regina Martinez, an investigative journalist.



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Morning Brief: White House says chemical weapons likely used in Syria

Posted By Joshua Keating Friday, April 26, 2013 - 8:26 AM

Top news: In a letter to Congress, the White House said that U.S. intelligence agencies had assessed "with varying degrees of confidence" that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons -- in particular, the nerve agent sarin. However, it also said that more conclusive evidence would be needed before the U.S. makes a decision to intervene. President Barack Obama had previously described the use of chemical weapons as a "red line," that would cause him to reconsider his stance on military intervention.

Officials say the attacks in question took place last month near Aleppo and in the outskirts of Damascus. “Fortunately the deaths have not been high, but there have been deaths,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

U.S. officials had cast doubt earlier this week on claims made by the Israeli government about chemical weapons. The British and French government have also reported that they believe the weapons have been used. British Prime Minister David Cameron repeated his assertion on Friday, saying, “there’s growing evidence that we have seen, too, of the use of chemical weapons, probably by the regime. It is extremely serious, this is a war crime, and we should take it very seriously.” However, Cameron also said more information was needed before a decision could be made on intervention.

Meanwhile on the ground, the Syrian regime reported on Friday that it had captured the strategic town of Otaiba, east of Damascus. A pro-government newspaper reported that troops had found tunnels "utilized by the terrorists for transport and hiding and to store weapons and ammunition." Opposition activists disputed these accounts.

Boston case: Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was moved from a hospital in Boston to a prison at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. 

Middle East

Asia

  • South Korea is pulling its remaining workers from a jointly-owned factory in the North. 
  • Rescue workers continued to remove survivors from the wreckage of a factory collapse outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, but hundreds are still trapped inside. 
  • A court ordered house arrest for former Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf in connection with the killing of Benazir Bhutto. 

Europe

Africa

Americas

  • Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered the arrest of an American filmmaker, accusing him of fomenting unrest. 
  • The Justice Department accused a U.S. citizen now living in Sweden of being a Cuban spy. 
  • 94 Guantanamo Bay inmates are now on hunger strike. 



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Morning Brief: U.S. still investigating possible chemical weapons use in Syria

Posted By Ty McCormick Thursday, April 25, 2013 - 8:33 AM

Top news: The White House said Wednesday that it is still investigating allegations that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against rebel forces, an escalation that President Barack Obama has said would be a "game changer," potentially necessitating direct U.S. intervention in the conflict. "It is precisely because this is a red line that we have to establish with airtight certainty that this happened," an anonymous senior White House official told the New York Times. "The bar on the United States is higher than on anyone else, both because of our capabilities and because of our history in Iraq."

On Tuesday, Israeli officials said they were "nearly 100 percent" certain forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons to kill dozens of rebels. "To the best of our professional understanding, the regime used lethal chemical weapons against gunmen in a series of incidents in recent months," said Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, Israel's top military intelligence analyst. The allegations come less than a week after Britain and France made similar assertions, placing additional pressure on the United States to act.

Boston bombings: It emerged on Wednesday that prior to his trip to Dagestan and Chechnya last year, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, had been entered into two different United States government watch lists.

Middle East

  • Clashes between Iraqi police and Sunni Islamist militants on Thursday left at least 19 people dead in the northern city of Mosul.
  • Fighting between Syrian rebels and government forces on Wednesday destroyed the11th-century minaret of the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo.
  • Egypt's parliament on Wednesday moved forward with a controversial law that could force many senior judges into retirement.  

Asia

  • South Korea on Thursday summoned Japan's ambassador in Seoul after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe defended visits to the Yasukuni war shrine by more than 160 Japanese lawmakers.
  • Taiwan on Wednesday reported the first case of H7N9 bird flu outside mainland China.
  • An industrial building collapsed in Bangladesh on Wednesday, killing 125 people and injuring as many as 1,000.

Americas

  • Venezuela's parliament on Wednesday launched a probe into opposition leader Henrique Capriles alleged role post-election violence.
  • Teachers protesting sweeping education reforms on Wednesday attacked the local headquarters of the PRI and PAN parties in Mexico's Guerrero state.
  • The U.N. appointed Brazilian Gen. Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz to lead the peacekeeping force in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Europe

  • Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Wednesday asked Enrico Letta, deputy leader of the center-left Democratic Party, to form a coalition government.
  • Switzerland announced Wednesday that it will reintroduce quotas for European Union workers. 
  • Spain's unemployment rate reached a record high of 27.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013.

Africa

  • Sudan began African Union-led peace talks with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North on Wednesday in Addis Ababa.
  • Cashew nut farmers rioted in southern Tanzania after co-operative societies offered lower-than-expected prices for their crop.
  • U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Wednesday urged Angola's government to reduce the "huge disparities that have developed between the richest and the poorest."



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Morning Brief: Suspect in Boston Marathon bombing cites extremist Islam as motive

Posted By Elias Groll Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - 8:34 AM

Top news: Statements made by Dzokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, to investigators indicate that he and his brother, Tamerlan, carried out the attacks on the basis of an extremist interpretation of Islam and that they acted alone.

While investigators are still corroborating the statements made by Dzokhar from his hospital bed, his comments provide the clearest picture yet of what drove the two men to carry out the deadly bombing. His statements suggest that the Tsarnaev brothers were largely self-taught jihadists, having learned how to make a bomb online and by absorbing extremist ideology through the internet. But according to the Associated Press, a local Boston-area convert to Islam -- a mysterious figure known only as "Misha" -- played a key role in Tamerlan's radicalization, suggesting that while online tools may have allowed the brothers to carry out the operation, their radicalization may have occurred within their community in Boston.

Dzokhar also told investigators that he and his brothers purchased fireworks from a New Hampshire dealer in February, but it remains unclear whether the gunpowder from the fireworks would have been sufficient to produce the explosions seen in the attack.

A team from the U.S. embassy in Moscow was dispatched to Dagestan Tuesday to interview the mother of the Tsarnaev boys. Investigators have been trying to learn more about a trip Tamerlan took to Dagestan in 2012 and whether he came into contact with militants there.

Italy: Italian President Giorgio Napolitano tasked the center-left deputy leader Enrico Letta with forming a government, finally bringing to an end a two-month political stand-off. The new government will be made up of Letta's center-left and Silvio Berlusconi's center-right. Letta, at 46, will become the second youngest prime minister in the country's history and as a staunch pro-European is likely to end market jitters for now over the ability of the Italian government to push through necessary reforms.

Asia

  • South Korea and the United States failed to reach a compromise solution on a civilian nuclear deal that would the South to enrich nuclear material.
  • The Burmese government pardoned 93 prisoners, at least 59 of them political prisoners, though hundreds more are believed to remain in jail.
  • An eight-story building housing garment factories collapsed near the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, killing at least 70.

Middle East

  • A deadly government raid on a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq sparked widespread anger and violent clashes in several cities.
  • Alleging that the Muslim Brotherhood is inappropriately consolidating power, the top legal adviser to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy resigned.
  • The government of Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour won a confidence vote amid price hikes and concerns over escalating violence in neighboring Syria.

Europe

  • After a lengthy, deeply polarizing debate, the French National assembly voted to legalize same sex marriage. 
  • The European Union is likely to launch legal proceedings against Hungary for changes to its constitution widely seen as undermining democracy.
  • The trial of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny resumed Wednesday.

Americas

  • The Venezuelan government is carrying out a campaign of reprisals against state workers who did not support or did not show sufficient enthusiasm for the ruling party candidate, Nicolas Maduro, in the recent election.
  • The U.S. military announced a hunger strike at the prison at Guantanamo Bay now includes 84 prisoners, 17 of whom are being force-fed liquid nutrients.
  • Nicaraguan police captured a former U.S. teacher wanted in connection with a child pornography investigation and who had landed on the F.B.I's 10 most wanted list.

Africa

  • A Sudanese rebel charged with war crimes committed in Darfur and set to go on trial in 2014 at the ICC was killed in fighting in North Darfur.
  • Following heavy fighting in Bagu between Boko Haram and the Nigerian Army believed to have killed as many 185 people, the army seized heavy weapons believed to belong to the group.
  • A new militant group in Nigeria, an offshoot of Boko Haram known as Ansaru, says that it eschews killing Nigerians and will instead concentrate its attacks on foreigners.



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Morning Brief: Car bomb hits French embassy in Tripoli

Posted By Ty McCormick Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - 8:19 AM

Top news: A car bomb exploded outside the French embassy in Tripoli early Tuesday morning, injuring two French guards and causing one corner of the embassy building to cave in. The first major attack on a Western target in Libya since the Sept. 11 assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, the blast destroyed part of the compound wall and shattered windows for several blocks around the embassy. Only the timing of the blast, which occurred before normal business hours, appears to have minimized the carnage. 

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but U.S. officials told Reuters that al Qaeda was most likely involved. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has threatened to retaliate against France for its involvement in the Malian conflict. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who is expected in Tripoli later today, said that the attack "targets not only France but all countries that fight against terrorist groups." Security, he said, would be stepped up across the region.

Libyan authorities responded promptly to the attack. Firefighters arrived within minutes and forensic investigators could be seen on Tuesday combing through the rubble for evidence, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Boston bombing: Prosecutors formally charged Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with deploying a weapon of mass destruction that killed three people and wounded 170 others. In a bedside F.B.I. interrogation, Tsarnaev admitted to having carried out the attacks. He said he and his brother had acted alone, and that he knew of no other plots. Tsarnaev could face the death penalty or life in prison.  

Asia

  • The European Union on Monday lifted all sanctions on Myanmar, with the exception of an arms embargo.
  • The Taliban claimed to have captured a group of foreigners on board a helicopter that was forced to make an emergency landing in Afghanistan's Logar province.
  • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai as well as top Pakistani officials on Wednesday in Brussels.

Africa

  • Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni faced criticism on Monday for publicly handing a sack of cash (containing roughly $100,000) over to a youth group. 
  • Nigeria's military would not allow aid workers to enter the northeastern town of Baga, following days of heavy fighting with Islamist militants that left as many as 187 dead.
  • U.N. political chief Jeffrey Feltman urged rebel leaders who recently overthrew Central African Republic's government to establish law and order.

Middle East

  • Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, Israel's top military analyst, said Tuesday that the Syrian military has used chemical weapons, most likely nerve gas, in its fight against rebel forces.
  • Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy held talks with members of the judiciary on Monday, following the resignation of the country's justice minister.
  • Gunmen abducted two Syrian archbishops near Aleppo on Monday and killed their driver.

Americas

  • Canadian police foiled a plot to derail a passenger train near Toronto.
  • Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Monday that he is no longer considering running for an abbreviated, two-year term in 2014. 
  • Authorities in Honduras reportedly uncovered a plot by drug cartels to assassinate a lawmaker, reporter, and police chief.

Europe

  • Britain's finance minister said Tuesday that there would be "no clear reason" to allow an independent Scotland to continue using sterling as its currency.
  • Spain's population shrank in 2012 for the first time in decades as immigrants fled the country in search of work. 
  • Spanish authorities announced Tuesday that they arrested two men suspected of being linked to al Qaeda.  



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Morning Brief: Syrian forces kill 'hundreds' near Damascus

Posted By Ty McCormick Monday, April 22, 2013 - 8:36 AM

Top news: Six consecutive days of fighting in Damascus's Jdaidet Artouz and Jdaidet al-Fadel suburbs have left as many as several hundred dead, according to anti-regime activists. The increased violence comes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad ramp up their offensive against rebels in the capital city, and in a critical corridor connecting southern Damascus with the city of Dara'a. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has identified 80 people who died in the latest clashes, but said the death toll could be as high as 250. Another activist group put the number at 483.

In the Syria's Homs province, meanwhile, Hezbollah-backed militias known as Popular Committees have been helping government forces regain control of the border with Lebanon. Following the capture of several contested border towns, the pro-government Al-Watan newspaper on Monday predicted the "liberation" of Qusair, another town which has seen heavy fighting in recent days.

Speaking after a meeting with members of the Syrian opposition in Istanbul, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that the United States would double its non-lethal aid to opposition forces to $250 million.

Turkey: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday urged Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to postpone a trip to Gaza so as not to derail plans to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. "The timing of it is really critical with respect to the peace process that we're trying to get off the ground," Kerry said Sunday in Istanbul. "We would like to see the parties begin with as little outside distraction as possible."

Middle East

  • U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Israel Sunday to close a $10 billion arms with Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
  • Egyptian Justice Minister Ahmed Mekky resigned on Sunday to protest President Mohamed Morsy's "assault" on the judiciary.
  • Bahrain held its Formula One Grand Prix race on Sunday despite violent anti-government protests.

Africa

  • Sudan is expected to begin peace talks on Tuesday with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North.
  • Fighting between Islamic extremists and the Nigerian military over the weekend left at least 185 people dead in northeastern Nigeria.
  • Gunmen shot dead Mohamed Abdullahi Haji, an editor at Somalia's state-run news agency.

Asia

  • South Korea's foreign minister canceled a trip to Japan after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the controversial Yasukuni shrine on Sunday.
  • Two more people died in China from the H7B9 bird flu, bringing the death toll up to 20.
  • Human Rights Watch on Monday accused authorities in Myanmar of participating in the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims last year.

Americas

  • Horacio Cartes, a tobacco magnate who has never before held political office, won Paraguay's presidential election Sunday with 46 percent of the vote.
  • A court in Brazil sentenced 23 police officers to 156 years in prison for their involvement in a 1992 prison massacre.
  • Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reshuffled his cabinet on Sunday, tapping two allies of late President Hugo Chavez for top positions.

Europe

  • Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Saturday won a second term in office, becoming the first Italian president to be re-elected.
  • Thousands of people rallied against gay marriage in Paris on Sunday ahead of a controversial vote to make it legal.
  • The European Commission on Monday recommended that the EU begin membership talks with Serbia, following the country's historic accord with Kosovo.



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Morning Brief: One suspect in marathon bombing killed, manhunt on for second

Posted By Joshua Keating Friday, April 19, 2013 - 8:42 AM

Top news: During a wild chase through the suburbs of Boston last night, one of the suspects identified by authorities in connection with Monday's bombing at the Boston marathon, as well as a security guard at MIT were killed. A transit police officer was also injured.

The surviving suspect, Dzhokar Tsarnaev, is still at large. The man killed last night is believed to be Tsarnaev's brother Tamerlan. Both men are believed to be Chechens, who had been living in Cambridge. 

Police have asked residents of Watertown, Newton, Waltham and Cambridge to stay in doors while a manhunt is underway. Several area universities have cancelled classes for the day. Police are conducting a house-to-house search in Watertown.

Last night's chase began with reports of a 7/11 robbery near Cambridge's Kendall Square, during which a security camera caught one of the men identified as a bombing suspect. A short time later an MIT security guard was shot in his cruiser. The suspects then reportedly hijacked an SUV and were chased by police to Watertown, while throwing explosive devices from a car. One of the bombs was reportedly a large unwieldy device that looked "like a pressure cooker." Tamerlan Tsarnaev was critically injured in a shootout with police and later died at a hospital while Dzhokhar was able to escape in the SUV.

Pakistan: Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was brought back to court to face charges after fleeing yesterday. He has reportedly been taken into police custody.

Americas

  • Election officials in Venezuela agreed to an expanded audit of president election results. 
  • A judge has granted an appeal to annul the genocide trial of former Guatemalan leader Efrain Rios Montt.
  • Tens of thousands took part in protests against Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's government in Argentina.

Middle East

  • Britain and France told the United Nations that there is credible evidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons. 
  • The leader of the Syrian Opposition Council called on the Nusra Front to break its ties with al Qaeda. 
  • Seven worshippers were killed in a mortar attack on a Sunni Mosque in Iraq's Diyala province.

Europe

  • Three Greeks were arrested for the shooting of 28 Bangladeshi migrant workers. 
  • Italy's parliament failed to elect a new president. 
  • French prosecutors have opened a probe to look into whether former President Nicolas Sarkozy received illegal campaign contributions from Muammar al-Qaddafi in 2007.

Asia

Africa




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Morning Brief: Assad frames Syrian uprising as Western plot

Posted By Ty McCormick Thursday, April 18, 2013 - 8:38 AM

Top news: In an interview broadcast on television Wednesday, embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rejected the idea of negotiations and described what he said was a Western plot to recolonize his country. "It is a war in every sense of the word. There are big powers, especially Western powers who historically never accepted the idea of other nations having their independence. They want those nations to submit to them," he said. Assad also warned that supporting his opponents was a losing strategy, because the rebels would ultimately turn on their Western backers.

In Washington, differences between top administration officials on Syria came into focus as Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all delivered Congressional testimony on Wednesday. While Kerry described a close working relationship with the Syrian rebels and emphasized the need to take further action to speed Assad's exit, Hagel and Dempsey appeared reluctant to deepen U.S. involvement in Syria. Dempsey, who had previously supported a plan by then CIA director David Petraeus to arm the Syrian rebels, said he was no longer sure you "could clearly identify the right people." "It's actually more confusing on the opposition side today than it was six months ago," he said.

Despite his misgivings about deeper involvement, Hagel announced Wednesday that the United Sates is sending additional military planners to Jordan to prepare for any contingencies involving chemical weapons or spillover of the Syrian conflict.

United States: The U.S. Senate on Wednesday rejected a bipartisan plan to expand background checks, ban assault weapons, and outlaw high-capacity magazines, dealing a crippling blow to the administration's campaign to curb gun violence. President Barack Obama called it "a pretty shameful day for Washington."

 

Middle East

  • A Cairo appeals court announced Wednesday that the retrial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will begin on May 11.
  • A U.S. drone strike in Yemen's Dhamar province killed al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Hamid al-Radmi and four other militants on Wednesday, according to a Yemeni official. 
  • A new report endorsed by a number of experts and former government officials urged the Obama administration to reconsider its policy toward Iran.

Africa

  • Sudan's army claimed Wednesday to have retaken the rebel-held towns of Muhajeria and Labado in eastern Darfur.
  • Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan established a new committee to work out how an amnesty program for the militant Islamist group Boko Haram can be implemented.
  • Senegalese prosecutors charged Karim Wade, son of former President Abdoulaye Wade, with corruption on Wednesday and ordered him taken into custody.

Asia

  • The European Union is expected to lift all sanctions on Myanmar next week, with the exception of an arms embargo.
  • North Korea on Thursday demanded the removal of international sanctions as a precondition for dialogue or negotiations with the United States.
  • Pakistan ordered troops into the country's southwestern Balochistan province to aid victims of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck over the border in Iran on Tuesday. 

Americas

  • What looks to be an accidental explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant on Thursday morning killed as many as 15 people and injured 160 others.
  • The leaders of Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil will hold an emergency meeting Thursday Peru to discuss the political crisis in Venezuela.
  • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday urged Venezuela to hold a recount, following its contentious presidential election.

Europe

  • Thousands of Britons paid their final respects to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on Wednesday.
  • Talks between Serbia and Kosovo ended Wednesday without a deal to resolve their differences. 
  • The trial of leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny began Wednesday in Kirov.



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Morning Brief: Boston Marathon investigation focuses on pressure cooker bomb

Posted By Elias Groll Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - 8:48 AM

Top news: Police investigating the bombing at the Boston Marathon on Monday said that explosives housed in a pressure cooker had likely been used in the attack that killed three and wounded 176. But police still lack any solid leads as to who carried out the attack, though they are said to be combing through images and videos from the day of the attack for a man carrying heavy, possibly black, nylon bags.

At a televised briefing Tuesday, Richard DesLauriers, the FBI's top agent in Boston, said that "the range of suspects and motives remains wide open” and pleaded with the public to send in any tips to the authorities, adding "someone knows who did this." DesLauriers said that the remnants of the bomb recovered from the blast had been sent to the FBI's lab and that the agency was working feverishly to identify the make and model of the pressure cooker. President Barack Obama, who said Tuesday the attack was being investigated as "an act of terrorism," will travel to Boston Thursday for a memorial service.

Though no group ties or affiliation have been established in the attack, the nature of the bomb may suggest a connection to al Qaeda or perhaps a domestic sympathizer of the group. Pressure cooks have been used widely in Afghanistan and by mujahideen in India, and methods for manufacturing the device are widely available online and in al Qaeda's propaganda magazine.

More details emerged Tuesday about the medical response to the attack as doctors described a frantic but efficient effort to save lives after the blast. Despite over 170 wounded, Boston-area hospitals were at no point during the response overwhelmed by the number of wounded, as a triage system was able to distribute patients to hospitals with available resources. Still, doctors described a grisly scene as patients arrived with devastating injuries caused by the shrapnel-loaded devices that shredded flesh and resulted in many amputated limbs.

Venezuela: Tensions in Venezuela over the disputed outcome of Sunday's presidential election increased on Tuesday as large opposition-led protests turned violent, killing at least seven. Nicolas Maduro, who triumphed on Sunday by a razor-thin margin, vowed to crack down on the protests, leading his challenger, Henrique Capriles, to suspend a planned march.

Europe

  • Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is being laid to rest today at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
  • The trial against Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, on trumped-up embezzlement charges began today.
  • The European Parliament approved new rules on bonuses for bankers and capital minimums.

Middle East

  • A 7.80magnitude earthquake in Iran may have killed as many as 46 people, but initial reports differed on the exact death toll.
  • Militants in the Sinai Peninsula fired two rockets at the southern Israeli city of Eilat.
  • A government rocket attack killed at least 12 in the Syrian village of Buwaydah.

Asia

  • The Pakistani Army was dispatched to Baluchistan province to evacuate individuals wounded in a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that occurred just over the border in Iran.
  • Pakistan's former military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, was disqualified from upcoming parliamentary elections, snuffing out hope of a political comeback.
  • New Zealand's Parliament voted to legalize same-sex marriage, making it the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to do so.

Africa

  • Kenya's Supreme Court found that while there were irregularities in the country's recent election they were not sufficiently substantial to challenge the election's credibility.
  • The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said that following the overthrow of the government at least 119 people have been killed in the Central African Republic.
  • Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Niger, a country with vast uranium reserves, but local officials denied his visit was related to the material.

Americas

  • A letter sent to Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker was found to contain the lethal poison ricin.
  • Top officials at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay defended a recent raid that resulted in injuries on both sides.
  • Police in Colombia seized nearly 300 properties around the country belonging to a notorious drug lord.



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Morning Brief: FBI probe underway after Boston Marathon bombings

Posted By Ty McCormick Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - 8:36 AM

Top news: The FBI is leading the investigation into yesterday's bombing at the Boston Marathon, which left three people dead and injured more than 100. At 2:50 pm on Monday, after roughly three-quarters of the runners had finished the race, a pair of bombs packed with gunpowder and ball bearings exploded near the finish line, knocking runners to the ground and transforming the springtime spectacle into one of carnage. The attack, which claimed the life of an 8-year-old boy and cost numerous people their limbs, according to witness reports, was the worst on American soil since September 11, 2001.

Speaking at the White House on Monday, President Barack Obama vowed to bring those responsible for the bombing to justice, but warned against "jumping to conclusions" based on incomplete information." Obama did not refer to the bombing as terrorism, but a White House official later clarified that "Any event with multiple explosive devices -- as this appears to be -- is clearly an act of terror, and will be approached as an act of terror." The official cautioned, however, that "we don't yet know who carried out this attack, and a thorough investigation will have to determine whether it was planned and carried out by a terrorist group, foreign or domestic."

Little information has emerged about the ongoing investigation except that authorities reportedly searched a house in the Boston suburb of Revere late on Monday. "It is a criminal investigation that is a potential terrorist investigation," said Richard DesLauriers, the FBI special agent in charge for Boston.

Syria: Rebels suffered a significant setback Monday as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad breached the blockade of two important bases in the country's Idlib Province, potentially re-opening supply lines and clearing the way for the government to retake rebel-held territory.

Middle East

  • A series of bombings in Iraq Monday killed 33 people ahead of provincial elections.
  • A court in Kuwait sentenced Musallam el-Barrak, a prominent opposition politician, to five years in prison for insulting the country's emir.
  • Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak remained behind bars despite winning a petition Monday for temporary release until his retrial.

Africa

  • The U.N. Security Council is considering a draft resolution establishing a U.N. peacekeeping force that would take over in Mali as early as July 1.
  • A new report from the World Bank predicted that growth in sub-Saharan Africa will significantly outpace the global average in the next three years.
  • Chadian President Idriss Deby announced Monday that his troops have "no ability" to fight guerrilla forces in Mali and that they will be returning home.

Asia

  • South Korea's government proposed a $15.3 billion stimulus package Tuesday to boost the country's slumping economy.
  • China's economic growth slowed to 7.7 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2013, falling short of many forecasts.
  • South Korean President Park Geun-hye will meet with President Barack Obama at the White House on May 7 to discuss economic and security issues.

Americas

  • Supporters of Henrique Capriles demonstrated in Caracas on Monday after the defeated presidential candidate demanded a recount.
  • A Mexican judge on Monday acquitted Noe Ramirez, the country's former top anti-drug prosecutor, who was arrested in 2008 on corruption charges.
  • Two football fans were killed on Monday near Brazil's 2014 Olympic venue.

Europe

  • French police arrested dozens of protesters in Paris Monday, after lawmakers moved the vote on a controversial bill legalizing same-sex marriage forward to April 23.
  • U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced two new rounds of discussions Monday aimed at diffusing tensions over human rights.
  • All 38 members of President François Hollande's cabinet disclosed their financial holdings Monday in an effort to "moralize" French politics.



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Morning Brief: Maduro scores narrow victory in Venezuelan elections

Posted By Elias Groll Monday, April 15, 2013 - 8:45 AM

Top news: Venezuelans narrowly re-elected Nicolas Maduro to serve out the remainder of Hugo Chavez's term as president, but with about 230,000 votes separating Maduro and his opponent, opposition leader Henrique Capriles refused to concede defeat, demanded a full recount, and alleged that the vote had been marred by inconsistencies.

After being tapped by Chavez as his political heir, Maduro had been expected to cruise to victory amid widespread public grief for Chavez's death and promises to continue the late commandante's Bolivarian revolution. But with chronic inflation, crumbling infrastructure, power outages, and goods shortages, political realities on the ground in Venezuela nearly caught up with Maduro on Sunday, when he managed to beat Capriles by a mere 1.6 percent of the vote -- 50.7 to 49.1 percent. After a campaign that hinged on transferring public support for Chavez onto his presidential bid, Maduro hailed his predecessor once more last night when he declared that in his victory Chavez "continues to be invincible." 

But Capriles remained defiant on Sunday night and said in arguing for a recount that his campaign had reached "a result that is different from the results announced today." Addressing Maduro, Capriles said: "The big loser today is you -- you and what you represent."

Maduro said Sunday that he would be open to an audit of the vote, but in announcing the vote totals, the head of the electoral council called the outcome "the irreversible results that the Venezuelan people have decided with this electoral process."

Despite Maduro's victory, dissent within the ranks of the Chavista movement, taken by surprise at the razor-thin margin, boiled to the surface last night. "The results oblige us to make a profound self-criticism. It's contradictory that the poor sectors of the population vote for their longtime exploiters." Diosdado Cabello, the president of the national assembly, tweeted.

North Korea: North Koreans celebrated the birthday of Kim Il Sung, their nation's founder, without incident Monday, a day widely seen as a prime window for the isolated nation to make good on its threats to fire off missiles. Amid the tensions, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sought to de-escalate the situation and provided an opening for a resumption of talks on the Korean Peninsula, saying that the North would find a willing partner in the United States if it committed itself to a program of denuclearization.

Middle East

  • Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, resigned, creating an early stumbling block for the Obama administration's nascent peace initiative.
  • A series of bombings and shootings across Iraq killed 27 and wounded over 100 people.
  • A prominent Kuwaiti opposition leader was sentenced to five years in jail on charges he insulted the country's emir.

Asia

  • Opium production in Afghanistan increased for the third year in a row, raising fears that the crop will become the country's main economic activity after NATO's withdrawal.
  • Chinese authorities reported 11 additional cases of the H7N9 strain of bird flu, bringing the total number of reported cases to 60.
  • The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactor discovered yet another leak, which has likely resulted in contaminated water seeping into the ground.

Europe

  • The London School of Economics accused the BBC of endangering its students after the broadcaster used a student trip to North Korea to covertly send a group of reporters there.
  • Pope Francis announced the formation of an international panel of advisers to guide reform efforts and wrest power from the Curia.
  • Total worldwide military spending dropped for the first time since 1998 -- though China and Russia still saw major increases -- according to data compiled by a Swedish watch dog group.

Africa

  • Al-Shabab militants stormed the supreme court complex in Mogadishu, Somalia, in an attack that killed at least 35.
  • Sudan and South Sudan agreed to resume oil exports and border trade after a period of violent tensions along the frontier.
  • Chad announced that it will begin withdrawing its troops from Mali, a move that could set back the military mission there.

Americas

  • Using makeshift weapons, inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison clashed with guards carrying out a raid on a communal living area.
  • The United States released the names of Russian officials to be targeted by sanctions under the so-called Magnitsky act, a move that led to retaliatory designations of U.S. officials by the Russian government.
  • The family of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda agreed to send his remains to a U.S. lab that will seek to definitively determine the cause of his death. 



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Morning Brief: North Korea may have capacity to build nuclear missile

Posted By Ty McCormick Friday, April 12, 2013 - 8:46 AM

Top news: A report issued last month by the Defense Intelligence Agency found, with "moderate confidence," that "North [Korea] currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles." The assessment, disclosed Thursday by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) during a House Armed Services Committee hearing with Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advises that the reliability of any such weapon "will be low." Dempsey refused to comment on the report, citing the fact that it was classified.

But later on Thursday, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. released a statement casting doubt on the DIA assessment. "North Korea has not yet demonstrated the full range of capabilities necessary for a nuclear armed missile," the statement read. Pentagon press secretary George Little also released a statement clarifying the assessment: "It would be inaccurate to suggest that the North Korean regime has fully tested, developed or demonstrated the kinds of nuclear capabilities referenced in the passage."

South Korea: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Seoul Friday for meetings with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se. At a press conference with Yun, Kerry pledged strong support for South Korea and Japan, and warned that the United States would prevail in any conflict with the North. "Kim Jong Un needs to understand, as I think he probably does, what the outcome of the conflict would be," he said.

Middle East

  • Syrian government forces reportedly massacred roughly 60 civilians in the town of Sanamayn, located between Damascus and the southern city of Dara'a.
  • Egypt's parliament on Thursday approved a revised election law, which will be reviewed by the Supreme Court in the next 45 days.
  • The Tunisian government on Thursday recouped $29 million of ex-President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali's illegitimate funds from the U.N.'s Stolen Asset Recovery team.

Asia

  • Four top Japanese automakers recalled a total of 3.4 million cars because of airbag defects.
  • A report on the first three patients to contract the H7N9 bird flu in China "raises many urgent questions and global public health concerns," according to health officials.
  • Space is playing an increasingly prominent role in U.S.-Chinese security discussions, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Thursday.

Africa

  • The Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram on Thursday rejected President Goodluck Jonathan's amnesty proposal, saying that it had done nothing wrong.
  • The Democratic Republic of Congo suspended 12 senior military officers Thursday over possible involvement in a mass-rape incident last November.
  • Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is scheduled to visit South Sudan on Friday for the first time since 2011.

Europe

  • Eurozone finance ministers are scheduled to meet Friday in Dublin to finalize a bailout plan for Cyprus.
  • Bosnian Croat leader Zeljko Komsic on Thursday cancelled what would have been an historic visit to Serbia, citing "meddling" by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic.
  • The Italian coastguard on Thursday rescued nearly 500 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, off the Sicilian coast.

Americas

  • Riot police clashed with protesters in the Chilean capital, Santiago, as more than 100,000 demonstrators took to the streets across the country in opposition to education reforms.
  • The Brazilian state of Acre declared a state of emergency Thursday, following the arrival of some 1,700 illegal immigrants in the last two weeks.
  • New polls show that Nicolas Maduro's lead over Henrique Capriles has narrowed going into Sunday's presidential election.



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Morning Brief: North Korean missiles under observation for possible launch while rhetoric cools

Posted By Joshua Keating Thursday, April 11, 2013 - 8:33 AM

Top news: U.S. and South Korean authorities continue to monitor the medium-range missiles that North Korea has moved to its east coast for signs of a possible launch. The five Musudan missiles could theoretically reach U.S. bases in Guam, though it's not known if they have been tested at that distance.

Despite the missile threat, the North appears to be toning down its rhetoric after a month of near daily threats against the South and its allies. The country has begun inviting visitors in anticipation of celebrations on Monday for the birthday of the country's founding father, Kim Il-sung.

After categorically rejecting early talks with the North, the South Korean government is also easing its rhetoric, with unification minister Ryoo Kihl-jae saying in a televised speech on Thursday, "We hope the North Korean authorities come out to the dialogue table."

Earlier that day, President Park Geun-hye had invited a group of foreign investors to the presidential Blue House to reassure them that her country has seen "dramatic economic growth and democratization in the past 60 years despite the provocations and threats from North Korea."

Taiwan has become the first country to warn its citizens to delay travel to South Korea due to the risk of war.

Budget: U.S. President Barack Obama's $526.6 billion 2014 defense budget keeps military spending relatively stable, but assumes that automatic spending cuts mandated by congress will be averted this year.

The administration's foreign aid budget dramatically reduces the government's requirement to purchases food from U.S. farmers to ship overseas.

Asia

Europe

Americas

Middle East

Africa

  • Nigeria's Boko Haram militants rejected a government amnesty proposal.
  • Lawmakers have given Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara the authority to rule by decree on economic issues.
  • Nelson Mandela's children have launched a court case over the control of two companies.



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Morning Brief: Korean armed forces raise alert level

Posted By Elias Groll Wednesday, April 10, 2013 - 8:40 AM

Top news: U.S. and South Korean troops increased their military alert level amid indications that North Korea is on the verge of a missile launch that would deliver on weeks of bellicose rhetoric from Pyongyang.

"Based on intelligence we and the Americans have collected, it's highly likely that North Korea will launch a missile," South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told a parliamentary hearing Wednesday. "Such a possibility could materialize at any time from now."

According to South Korean military officials, the North has in recent days moved several kinds of missiles -- including Musudan, Rodong, and Scud varities -- to the country's east coast, where they can easily be fired off in tandem. While the North has tested the shorter-range Rodong and Scud varieties, it has so far not fired its longer-range Musudan rockets, which can travel just over 2,000 miles and if proven successful would give the North the ability to strike all of Japan and U.S. military bases in the Pacific, including Guam.

In the past, North Korea has often timed missile tests to important holidays and milestones in the country's history. Several such dates will occur in the next few days, including the anniversary of Kim Jong Un's ascent to power and the birthdate next monday of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung.

Kenya: Uhuru Kenyatta, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for his role in 2007's post-election violence, was sworn in as Kenya's president. Kenyatta's inauguration caps a long and tumultous election season in Kenya, and in his inauguration speech Kenyatta called for his country's many ethnic groups to establish a lasting peace capable of overcoming the kind of violence that marred the 2007 eleciton. Given the allegations against him, Kenyatta's formal ascent to the presidency presents a difficult problem for the West: The grave charges leveled against him are difficult to overlook, but as Kenya is the most important Western ally in East Africa, some level of engagement with the new head of state will be all but impossible to avoid. 

Asia

  • The operator of the crippled nuclear reactor in Fukushima, Japan, discovered an additional leak in a tank used to store radioactive runoff.
  • The death toll from a recent outbreak in China of bird flu rose to nine.
  • A NATO helicopter crashed in Afghanistan, killing two American soldiers.

Middle East

  • Iran announced two new nuclear-related projects that expand the country's ability to extract and process uranium.
  •  Al Qaeda's branch in Iraq and Jabhat al-Nusra, the most prominent and successful radical Islamist rebel group in Syria, announced plans to merge.
  • A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in a rural area of southern Iran killed at least 37 and injured hundreds but according to authorities did not damage a nearby nuclear reactor.

Europe

  • Following a ministerial scandal over secret Swiss bank accounts, French President François Hollande called for the "eradication" of tax havens.
  • An anti-blasphemy law drafted after the Pussy Riot controversy received initial approval in the Russian Duma.
  • A veteran of the Balkan war killed 13 people in his village, including his mother and son, in an overnight shooting rampage. 

Africa

  • Somalia's government acknowledged that its troops were involved in widespread rapes carried out during March.
  • Rebels in South Sudan attacked a U.N. convoy and killed five Indian peacekeepers and injured at least seven civilian.
  • A camel given to French President François Hollande by the government of Mali was killed and eaten by the family in whose care he left the animal, prompting embarrassed promises from Malian officials to replace the camel.

Americas

  • A couple who had lost custody of their two sons but kidnapped them and fled to Cuba were handed over to U.S. authorities by the Cuban government.
  • Brazilian authorities granted Chevron permission to resume oil extraction of the country's coast after more than 100,000 gallons of crude leaked into the ocean.
  • An appeals court upheld a decision acquitting former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo on charges he embezzled $15 million while in power.



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Morning Brief: Japan deploys interceptor missiles to Tokyo in anticipation of North Korean test

Posted By Ty McCormick Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - 8:50 AM

Top news: In anticipation of a possible missile test by North Korea, Japan deployed a Patriot anti-missile battery to central Tokyo and moved warships equipped with Aegis radar and interceptor missiles to the waters off the Korean Peninsula. Japan also ordered its military to shoot down any missile that threatened to hit Japanese territory, as it has done during previous North Korean tests.

Japan's decision to deploy interceptor missiles comes against the backdrop of increasingly belligerent rhetoric from Pyongyang, which on Tuesday warned foreigners to leave South Korea before they fall victim to a "merciless, sacred, retaliatory war." According to the official KCNA news agency, "all foreign institutions and enterprises and foreigners, including tourists … are requested to take measures for shelter and evacuation in advance for their safety."

Since the North has not yet mobilized ground troops, most analysts believe the fiery rhetoric is intended to bolster Kim Jong Un's domestic standing and extract concessions from the international community.

Iran: Authorities announced Tuesday that operations have begun at the Saghand 1 and 2 uranium mines in Iran's Yazd province, as well as at a nearby milling plant. The announcement comes after negotiators failed to resolve the nuclear standoff during several days of talks in Kazakhstan last week.

Middle East

  • Clashes between tribesmen and army deserters in southern Yemen on Monday left seven people dead.
  • The U.S. Navy announced Monday that the United States and more than 30 allies will hold naval exercises in the Persian Gulf in May.
  • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that he will meet with members of the Syrian opposition later this week.

Africa

  • Kenya will swear in Uhuru Kenyatta as its next president Tuesday.
  • President Barack Obama announced Monday that Somalia is legally eligible to receive U.S. military aid, though no decision has been made to do so.
  • Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will visit South Sudan Friday for the first time since the South seceded in July 2011.

Asia

  • International donors pledged some $3.6 billion in reconstruction aid to Sudan's Darfur region.
  • Chinese authorities reported another death from the H7N9 bird flu virus on Tuesday, bringing the total number of deaths to eight.
  • India's foreign ministry said Tuesday that rebels ambushed and killed five Indian peacekeepers in South Sudan.  

Americas

  • Chilean authorities exhumed the remains of poet Pablo Neruda in order to determine if he died of cancer or was poisoned by Gen. Augusto Pinochet in 1973.
  • A federal judge declined to release Eric G. Harroun, a U.S. Army veteran who fought alongside the Nusra Front in Syria, into his mother's custody.  
  • The IMF could approve $958 million in a four-year loan package for Jamaica as early as the end of April.

Europe

  • Protesters, some of them topless, greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Germany and the Netherlands Monday as he met with the leaders of both countries for trade talks.  
  • French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius proposed keeping a permanent force of 1,000 counterterrorism troops in Mali.
  • British authorities announced Tuesday that the funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher will be held on April 17.



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Morning Brief: Margaret Thatcher has died

Posted By Elias Groll Monday, April 8, 2013 - 8:41 AM

Top news: Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died from a stroke Monday morning, her spokesman announced.

The first female prime minister in her country's history, Thatcher came to embody a turn toward a free-market political program that sought to unleash economic dynamism through an aggressive program of privatizations and tax reductions. Thatcherism -- as her political program became known to both her supporters and detractors -- would throw off the heavy hand of the state and seek a Britain with greater vitality. Her perhaps defining moment came in 1984 when she broke a major strike launched by the miners union, a victory that consolidated her political power and represented a triumph over the country's strike-prone unions.

The woman who came to be known as the Iron Lady matched her pioneering domestic agenda with a muscular foreign policy that saw Britain come to blows with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. And just as she refused to cede British sovereignty in the South Atlantic, she remained deeply skeptical toward the European project and laid the groundwork for Britain's taciturn relationship with the European Union and its decision not to adopt the euro. Together with Ronald Reagan, a man who would become a close friend, she emerged as a canny leader in the Cold War, recognizing early on that Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms presented an opportunity for the West.

But to her detractors, Thatcher's free-wheeling market ideology came to embody an uncaring political philosophy, one willing to sacrifice at the altar of economic dynamism a state apparatus directed toward the common good.

Regardless, she is likely to go down in history as Britain's greatest post-war prime minister.

Korean Peninsula: North Korean authorities announced that they have suspended production at the Kaesong industrial zone, the last remaining symbol of North-South cooperation amid heightening tension on the Korean Peninsula. The closure of Kaesong deprives the North of crucial hard currency, and its continued operation has been seen as a weather-vane in the current conflict over North Korean nuclear and missile tests and subsequent sanctions imposed on the regime.

Middle East

  • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is expected to take up shuttle diplomacy to broker a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, expressed interest in reviving the Arab Peace Initiative.
  • The Syrian army launched a counteroffensive to roll back extensive rebel territorial gains in the south of the country and elsewhere.
  • Heavy fighting between Coptic Christians and Muslims on the streets of Cairo claimed the lives of two people.

Asia

  • Speaking at an Asian regional forum, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that no one country should be allowed to cause "chaos for selfish gain," a comment interpreted as a rebuke of North Korea.
  • Amid fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban, an airstrike in Afghanistan killed 11 children.
  • Pakistan's top court ordered Pervez Musharraf, the country's former president, to appear before the body on charges he committed treason.

Europe

  • U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said at a meeting with Jose Manuel Barroso, the head of the EU's executive, that European governments should ease off austerity measures and seek to generate demand.
  • Prime Minister David Cameron will visit Madrid, Paris, and Berlin this week to pitch skeptical European leaders on his vision for EU reform.
  • Amid an ongoing crackdown in Russia in civil society groups, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged her Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to encourage civil society groups.

Africa

  • Following treatment for pneumonia, former South African President Nelson Mandela was discharged from the hospital.
  • Fighting between Christian and Muslim villagers in central Nigeria left 11 people dead.
  • South Sudan restarted oil production, more than a year after tensions with its northern neighbor led to a halt in output.

Americas

  • A group of independent prosecutors in Brazil opened an investigation into allegations that would directly connect former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
  • The head of a Cuban publishing house was fired from his post after he wrote an op-ed in the New York Times describing persistent racial discrimination in Cuba.
  • The body of poet Pablo Nerudo is being exhumed in an effort to definitively establish whether he died of natural causes or was killed by the government shortly after the military took power in a coup in 1973.



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Morning Brief: Tensions with North cause jitters in South Korean markets

Posted By Joshua Keating Friday, April 5, 2013 - 8:34 AM

Top news: Senior officials say North Korea has moved two mobile missile launchers to an unknown location in the east of the country, possibly to demonstrate its ability to strike Japan or U.S. bases in the Pacific. However, there was none of the strident rhetoric from Pyongyang, that has been intensifying in recent days, as the country celebrated a national holiday.

After years of on-again-off-again tensions, threats from the North generally don't have much impact on South Korean financial markets, but this time has been different with stocks falling 1.64 percent on Friday amid a flurry of sell offs by foreign investors. Fears were further intensified by comments from GM CEO Dan Akerson, who suggested the ongoing tension could lead the company to move its South Korean production elsewhere. 

South Korea's central bank and regulatory agencies have held emergency meetings and promised strong action to restore stability to the markets if needed. This has raised investor expectations of an interest rate cut next week. 

Bird flu: Shanghai has temporarily closed its poultry markets over an outbreak of bird flu that has killed at least 6 people. More than 20,000 birds have been slaughtered.

Middle East

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Americas

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