Morning Brief, Wednesday, August 1

Middle East 

HASSAN AMMAR/AFP/Getty Images

In a victory for U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister pledged that his country will do more to support the Iraqi government. 

After a tough three months, only 74 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq during July. That number may go up as more reports come in, but the total should still be the lowest death toll since November 2006. Gen. Ray Odierno says it's too early to tell if there's a trend, but Vice President Dick Cheney is ready to declare the surge a success.

U.S. Senators grilled the nominee for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff regarding the Iraq war.

Asia

A massive outbreak of dengue fever is plaguing Cambodia and other parts of southeast Asia. The good news for Cambodia: Someone has finally been held accountable for the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge. 

Japan's minister of agriculture fell on his sword following an accounting scandal and a related electoral disaster for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. 

This just in: China is full of fake Harry Potter books.

Europe

Belarus allegedly didn't pay its bills, so Gazprom is cutting off the country's gas supplies (again).

Struggling with a shaky coalition, Poland's president is calling for early elections. 

Eastern European countries are filing suit over EU emissions quotas that they say will damage their economies. 

Spain's Canary Islands are on fire. 

Elsewhere 

It's official: Rupert Murdoch will soon be the proud owner of Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal, to the boos of the WSJ newsroom. Find out what the world's most controversial media tycoon's strategy might be in this recent Seven Questions with Fortune's top Murdoch-watcher.

The U.N. Security Council voted to authorize the deployment of 26,000 peacekeeping troops to Darfur. 

The U.S. Congress moved to change its ethics rules, but the New York Times offers reasons to be skeptical of the overhaul.

Today's Agenda

• Two Russian ships are expected to plant a Russian flag at the North Pole today in order to claim the territory on behalf of their mother country.
• It's the 80th anniversary of China's People's Liberation Army. Today's message from the Communist Party: Hu Jintao is definitely the commander in chief.

Yesterday on Passport

• Tehran loses its bankers
• World's hottest chili pepper makes AP reporter cry
• What We're Reading