Morning Brief, Tuesday, July 24

Middle East

DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images

Libya released five Bulgarian nurses who had been convicted of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV and imprisoned for eight years.

Iran's economic ties with Europe may be unraveling, but its eastern trading partners are picking up the slack. 

U.S. military commanders are planning for U.S. forces to be in Iraq through at least 2009. 

Asia

Tensions are high across the Taiwan Strait following Taipei's failed bid to join the United Nations. Taiwan's next president should avoid controversy over issues like de jure independence, says a leading presidential candidate. 

Japan will permit IAEA inspectors to look at a nuke plant that was damaged in the recent earthquake.

Chinese scientists claim they've cloned a rabbit using a new technique.

Pakistani security forces report that a top Taliban leader killed himself during a raid in Baluchistan province. And in Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan forces say they've killed dozens of Taliban fighters.

Europe

Britain's floods "have no precedent in modern British history," according to the Independent.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice secured a promise from Kosovo's leaders not to declare independence unilaterally. 

Poland is sounding conciliatory notes about the European Union treaty.

Elsewhere

Humans have altered the Earth's precipitation patterns, Canadian researchers report in Nature.

U.S. drug companies are pocketing big tax breaks but are not creating new jobs, the New York Times reports. 

The U.S. dollar is sliding further downward, and even OPEC countries are hurting as a result.

Today's Agenda

• Erykah Badu and Herbie Hancock perform at the San Sebastian Jazz Festival in Spain.
• The United Nations Security Council meets in New York to discuss Ethiopia and Eritrea.
• The U.S. federal wage goes up to $5.85 per hour.
• King Abdullah II of Jordan meets with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington.

Yesterday on Passport

• What We're Reading
• Will Condi go the way of Colin?
• Italy's quixotic crusade against teen Internet dependency