Morning Brief: Obama rules out troop reduction

Asia

• Japan's new foreign minister will review the agreement allowing U.S. troops to base in Okinawa.
• The Dalai Lama might not have gotten an audience with President Obama but he did receive an award from the U.S. Congress yesterday. 
• Pakistan's military raised concerns over a new U.S. aid bill. 

Middle East

• The Iranian government shut down three opposition newspapers.  
• A senior Palestinian official says the government erred in not pushing forward the controversial Goldstone Report on Israeli human rights abuses.  
• Saudi King Abdullah is making a rare visit to Syria this week to pressure the Assad government to cut ties with Iran. 

Africa

• Kenyan ethnic groups are rearming for the 2012 elections, the BBC says.  
• International mediators have agreed to let Madagascar coup leader Andry Rajoelina stay has head of state, but not run in upcoming elections. 
• Ugandan authorities briefly arrested Somalia's junior defense minister by mistake. 

Americas

• Diplomats from throughout Latin American have converged on Honduras to mediate talks on resolving the country's political standoff. 
• Ecuador's government is considering changing the resource laws that provoked violent protests from indigenous groups. 
• The Mexican State of Baja California is creating a special bilingual police force to protect tourists. 

Europe

• Greece's new socialist government was sworn in. 
• A Moscow court ruled that Russian human rights group Memorial defamed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov by saying he killed activist Natalia Estemirova. 
• Director Roman Polanski lost his appeal to be released from jail in Switzerland.