Morning Brief, Wednesday, August 30

Iran

One day to go before the Security Council deadline. Michael Slackman reports that the press conference yesterday where Ahmadinejad challenged Bush to a televised debate was uncharacteristically free-wheeling, with reporters openly challenging the Iranian president with a few tough questions. 

The IAEA will formally announce tomorrow that Iran has begun enriching a new batch of uranium.  

Lebanon

As soon as about 5000 UN peacekeepers arrive in southern Lebanon, Kofi wants Israeli troops out. Olmert rejects Kofi's call for Israel to end its blockade of Lebanon. 

Lebanese PM Siniora says peace with Israel isn't in the cards. And Venezuela's Chavez vows to stand by Syria in the face of any US aggression.

Iraq

A bomb explodes in one of Baghdad's largest market districts, killing at least two dozen. Militias have begun targeting hospitals, dragging the wounded out and executing them. Rumsfeld invokes that ever-charged word "appeasement" when lashing out at antiwar critics in a speech yesterday.

Elsewhere

Have $5 billion? You can buy a slice of the Big Apple. Britain charges three more in connection with the airline bomb plot. CJ Chivers reports on disturbing incidents of torture and abuses of law and power in Chechnya. It appears Kim Jong Il is on a trip to Beijing. Peace monitors in Sri Lanka accuse the military of being behind the murders of 17 aid workers earlier this month.