Morning Brief: Kim Jong Il dying?

Mon, 07/13/2009 - 6:06am
Top story: Kim Jong Il, the leader of North Korea, allegedly has a fatal form of cancer. A South Korean cable news channel, citing unnamed Chinese and South Korean intelligence sources, reported that that doctors diagnosed Kim with pancreatic cancer when he had a stroke, last August.

The highly secretive leader of the nuclear state appeared frail and sickly on state television in April, raising questions about his health. In June, Kim apparently tapped his son, 26-year-old Kim Jong Un, as his successor.

Prime numbers: Goldman Sachs, which recently repaid a U.S. government bailout loan, earned $2 billion between March and June.

Europe

  • Iranian officials said an employee of the British embassy in Tehran will be tried for fomenting mass protests and spying.
  • Swiss and U.S. officials continue negotiations over whether banking giant U.B.S. will release privileged data on 52,000 accounts for a tax-evasion case.
  • A group of Spanish nobles are planning to challenge a new law allowing women equal claim to hereditary titles.

Asia

  • Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, headed by Prime Minister Taro Aso, lost its majority in the Tokyo local assembly. Aso called a general election for August 30.
  • Maoist rebels ambushed and killed at least two dozen police officers in India's restive Chattisgarh province.
  • In and around Pakistan's Swat Valley, officials cleared roads to allow persons displaced by the conflict with the Taliban to return home.

Middle East

  • In Iraq's Dhi Qar province, an explosive detonated in an attack on U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill; there were no injuries in the moving convoy.
  • At the same time, a series of bomb attacks in Baghdad targeted churches; at least four died.
  • Today, the European Union and Turkey plan to sign agreements on the Nabucco gas pipeline, which will deliver gas from the Middle East to Europe. Turkey said Europe may also buy Iranian gas, despite U.S. objections.

Americas

  • An eight-year old Central Intelligence Agency spy program may have been kept secret from congress on the orders of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, the CIA director, Leon Panetta, said.
  • U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered a national security review into whether U.S. forces knew a coalition-backed Afghan warlord murdered hundreds of Taliban fighters in custody in 2001.
  • Colombian President Alvaro Uribe paid out nearly $1 million in reparations to victims of paramilitary violence.

Africa

  • Amid fierce fighting, Islamic separatists approached Somalia's presidential palace in Mogadishu on Sunday. African Union peacekeepers intervened.
  • Today, Nigeria may release a top rebel, currently held on charges of treason; some commentators fear it may stoke sectarian violence. This weekend, Nigerian militants attacked a Lagos jetty where oil rigs dock.
  • U.S. President Barack Obama completed a widely praised trip to Accra, Ghana, where he cautioned African governments over corruption.
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Annie Lowrey | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register
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In the Uighur hour of the night

by panthercat on Mon, 07/13/2009 - 9:48pm

“As one man in Kashgar told me, "Because I am born a Uighur, I am a terrorist -- that is what the government thinks?"”
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While there are individuals within government who think, as an entity, governments do not think, rather they believe. There is a difference. They tend to over react bringing the term “overkill” to mind. They have their own dogma, are capable of being indistinguishable from a recognized religion and a fundamental Atheist could be no different than a fundamentalist from any other belief system.

Iran should supply gas to proposed Nabucco pipeline

by Garvagh on Mon, 07/13/2009 - 5:36pm

Turkey is quite right to believe Iranian participation in the proposed Nabucco gas pipeline makes eminent good sense. The US should be encouraging this increase in gas supply for the coming decade, and drop the pathetic effort to isolate Iran.