Morning Brief: White House lashes out at McClellan

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President Bush is reportedly "disappointed" with Scott McClellan new book, and others at the White House are puzzled at the former press secretary's apparent change of heart. McClellan told the Today Show this morning, "My hope is that by writing this book and sharing openly and honestly what I lived and what I learned during my time at the White House that in some small way it might help us move beyond the destructive partisan warfare of the last 15 years." Good luck with that.

Decision '08

Barack Obama believes he'll wrap up the Democratic nomination by next week. He may be right: On Saturday, the Democratic Party will decide how to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations.

John McCain is reiterating his call for Obama to visit Iraq.

East Asia

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Burma's junta says its people don't need "chocolate bars donated by foreign countries."

Are migrating Japanese stars destroying baseball back home?

South Asia

Rumors that Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf is stepping down appear to be false.

Ethnic protesters have besieged New Delhi over college and government job quotas.

Nepal formally abolished its monarchy and gave the king 15 days to leave the palace.

Middle East and Africa

The GAO has examined U.S. food aid to sub-Saharan Africa and found it wanting.

Are there more Syrian nuclear sites? The Bush administration wants to know.

Scandal-hounded Israeli PM Ehud Olmert says he ain't going nowhere.

Europe

More than 100 countries gathering in Dublin agreed to ban cluster bombs, but the United States, China, Russia, India, Israel, and Pakistan did not sign on.

France will propose an immigration crackdown when it assumes the EU presidency in July. On the other hand, France plans to admit more immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe.

Unemployment is on the rise in Germany.

Global Economy

A new report attemps to quantify the cost of environmental damage for the world's poor.

The OECD and the U.N. FAO believe food prices will stay high for the next ten years.

Natural gas is rising in price faster than oil, but production is not stepping up.

Today's Agenda

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.

President Bush meets with Mormon Church officials in Utah.

New York hosts the first World Science Festival.

Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki is in Stockholm to ask for complete debt relief.

Yesterday on Passport

• Guardian columnist tries to arrest John Bolton
• What the Brits were doing on Memorial Day
• This Week in China