Morning Brief: Suicide blast in Kabul

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A suicide bomber killed at least 41 people, including the defense attache, and injured more than 140 when he crashed a car full of explosives into the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghan officials hinted that Pakistan's shadowy intelligence service was involved in the bombing.

G8 Summit

Rising prices are high on the agenda at this year's Group of Eight summit.

Activists say the G8 has failed to keep its promises on African aid.

U.S. President George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, aren't letting missile defense get in the way of good relations. Bush called Medvedev "a smart guy."

China and India are the keys to tackling climate change, Bush says.

Europe

Italian transportation workers have launched a nationwide strike.

France's term at the helm of the EU will be all about "crisis management," Germany's finance minister tells the FT.

Austria's government is on the verge of collapse.

Americas

Fidel Castro, in his Sunday column, urges FARC leaders to release all hostages.

A number of U.S. states are making it harder for children of illegal immigrants to attend college.

Asia

India's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party is pushing for a no-confidence vote against the government of PM Manmohan Singh.

China has reneged on its promise of greater media freedoms, Human Rights Watch reports.

Monks are going missing as a renewed crackdown begins in Tibet.

Middle East and Africa

So far this year, Iraq has seen more than 20 suicide bombings by women.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader rejected talks with Robert Mugabe, who won a sixth presidential term after an orgy of violence and intimidation.

The European Union is struggling to respond to the political turmoil in Turkey.

Decision '08

This week, U.S. presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain both plan to tackle economic issues.

Opposition researchers plan to use the audio version of Dreams from My Father, Obama's 1995 memoir, against him.

Meet Obama's Facebook guru.

Today's Agenda

The annual Group of Eight summit gets underway in Hokkaido, Japan. The Council on Foreign Relations has a handy primer on the climate change aspect of the summit.