2008 U.S. Elections

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Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama held their 21st debate in Philadelphia last night. It was tense. The New York Times calls it "arguably one of Mr. Obama's weakest debate performances."

Americas

The pope loves the United States but fears the "subtle influence of secularism" creeping in.

The world was not impressed with President George W. Bush's climate speech. Meanwhile, British economist Lord Nicholas Stern says his influential report on climate change was not pessimistic enough.

Rio de Janeiro is suffering from a major dengue-fever outbreak.

Asia

The U.N. World Food Program expects a huge food shortfall in North Korea.

China is putting huge tariffs on fertilizer exports in a bid to keep domestic prices down. Indonesia is raising the price of subsidized rice. A major contributing factor to the food crisis? Australia's drought.

The Olympic torch protests reach India. A new Beijing museum about Tibet takes the Chinese viewpoint.

A bird-flu outbreak in South Korea could mean the slaughter of 3 million birds.

Middle East

A suicide bomber killed at least 45 people at an Iraqi funeral.

An errant Israeli tank shell appears to have killed a Reuters cameraman in Gaza during a day of bloody fighting.

Europe

A bomb claimed by Basque separatists injured seven police officers in northern Spain.

The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis strikes Germany.

Georgia is accusing Russia of trying to "annex" its territory.

Africa

Raila Odinga is now officially Kenya's prime minister.

Nigeria's oil output could fall by a third, an internal govenment report has warned.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader has been accused of treason for promoting "regime change." Well, duh.

Today's Agenda

The pope will say mass in front of 45,000 Catholics at the Washington Nationals' stadium today.

British PM Gordon Brown visits the White House.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visits Moscow.

The Middle East Quartet (remember those guys?) meets in Amman, Jordan.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is visiting the United States.

Yesterday on Passport

• The climate speech that wasn't
• Jimmy Carter wanted to meet with Islamic Jihad?
• The Boss backs Obama