Morning Brief, Friday, June 22

Middle East

TEH ENG KOON/AFP

With Jalal Talabani in China for a historic visit by an Iraqi head of state, Beijing agreed to relieve an unspecified portion of Iraq's debt and aid the struggling country with health and education projects. Apparently, Chinese President Hu Jintao also offered Talabani a special chair.

Iraqi soldiers are joining the U.S. sweep operation in Baquba, but their insertion into the mix is fraught with political peril. 

Europe

It was a good week for Airbus at the Paris Air Show. 

Under Kremlin pressure, BP may give up on its gas project in Russia and cede its fields to Gazprom.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to review his country's economic agreements with Saudi Arabia. 

Asia

U.S. envoy Christopher Hill waxed positive about his trip to Pyongyang. He says North Korea is ready to shut down its nuclear reactor. But beware of shifting goal posts, a former U.S. official warns.

In response to the knighting of Salman Rushdie, a group of Pakistani clerics bestowed the title "Sword of Allah" on Osama bin Laden. 

The International Herald Tribune finds a bustling Hong Kong as the 10th anniversary of its handover to mainland China approaches.

Thailand's ousted prime minister wants to buy Manchester City, an English soccer club. 

Elsewhere

Trade talks between the United States, European Union, Brazil, and India in Potsdam, Germany, fell apart yesterday. It's the same old issue: Western agricultural subsidies.

Oil demand is rising much faster than expected, the Wall Street Journal reports, just as the U.S. Senate passes an energy bill that raises fuel efficiency requirements on cars.

The office of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is a black hole for information. Is his office part of the executive branch or not? In contrast, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is making reams of documents available that detail some of the agency's worst historical abuses.

Today's Agenda

• Vietnam's president, Nguyen Minh Triet, meets with U.S. President George W. Bush in the White House.

Yesterday on Passport

• An update on Haleh Esfandiari
• Europe agrees to disagree
• China trains "professional noses" to sniff out pollution