Iran
Talks between Iran and six world powers went into a second day on Tuesday morning, as negotiators sought a compromise that would head off the danger of military confrontation over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. – New York Times
A tense first day of talks between Iran and six world powers broke no new ground on Monday evening, offering little hope that the negotiations would defuse the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. – New York Times
Iran on Monday offered up a blistering critique of a proposal by six world powers to rein in its nuclear program, marking the latest setback in efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict. – Los Angeles Times
The U.S. decision last week to leave China off a list of seven additional countries exempt from looming U.S. sanctions on Iran has led to questions about how the U.S. and China will resolve issue before the end-of-June deadline. The Obama administration has said talks are still ongoing with China. – WSJ’s China Real Time Report
The House Armed Services Committee has scheduled a hearing this week on potential military options in Iran, at the same time a third round of nuclear talks with Iran are concluding. – DEFCON Hill
Time is running out for a diplomatic solution to Western concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli President Shimon Peres said Monday in an interview with CNN. – CNN’s Security Clearance
Russia said it expected a “reasonable outcome” on Tuesday from talks between world powers and Iran on Tehran’s nuclear program, after a first day of “intense and tough” talks failed to make headway towards ending a decade-long dispute. – Reuters
Analysis: In less than two weeks, Iran’s biggest oil buyers will lose access to the London-based insurance market that protects 95 percent of the world’s tanker shipments against oil spills or catastrophic collisions. – Reuters
Syria
President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in their first meeting as leaders, each called for an end to the escalating violence in Syria, but offered little evidence the rival powers had forged a workable plan. – Wall Street Journal
A tiny, frayed Russian military base on Syria’s Mediterranean coast has jumped into international focus amid international concern over how far Russia might go to bolster the government of President Bashar al-Assad. – New York Times
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Monday that he thinks Russian support for Syrian President Bashar Assad is partly a longing for the “old Russian empire” and Russian concern that the Arab Spring could spread beyond the Arab world. – DEFCON Hill
View and read the Senator’s remarks – American Enterprise Institute
The head of the United Nations observer mission in Syria, General Robert Mood, is set to brief the UN Security Council. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Western intelligence agents in Syria are passing vital intelligence gathered by U.S. and British agencies to rebel forces in the country, according to a report in a British newspaper. – DEFCON Hill
The U.K. marine insurer the Standard Club has stopped coverage for Russian operator Femco’s cargo ship, MV Alaed, amid allegations it is carrying weapons to Syria. – CNN’s Security Clearance
Syrian opposition activists piled on pressure for tougher international action against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, after UN peace observers suspended their mission and world powers prepared for crucial talks this week – Financial Times
European Union nations as of Sunday were prohibited from exporting to Syria select products that could be used in the production of chemical or biological warfare agents – Global Security Newswire
Syrian forces renewed shelling of the central city of Homs on Monday, one day after the head of the U.N. observers mission demanded that warring parties allow the evacuation of women, children, the elderly and the sick, activists said. – Associated Press
Intense artillery fire was reported in Douma, a town 15 km (9 miles) outside the Syrian capital Damascus that for weeks has been under the partial control of rebels who have joined the 15-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. – Reuters
Lebanon’s private sector imports of diesel jumped in April and May, data obtained by Reuters shows, and industry analysts say Lebanese factions are smuggling the fuel into Syria where supplies are desperately tight due to Western sanctions. – Reuters
Analysis: The future of a U.N. monitoring mission in Syria hangs in the balance after the observers halted work following several attacks on their convoys – but many Syrians lost faith weeks ago in their ability to help stem the bloodshed. – Reuters
Egypt
Having won the presidential vote, Egypt’s main Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, squared off on Monday against the nation’s military rulers, who showed few signs of ceding ultimate authority to the longtime outlaw group. – New York Times
The move by Egypt’s generals to reduce the nation’s first competitively elected president to a figurehead appears to be a decisive blow to the vision that a popular democracy would smoothly replace the longtime autocratic leadership of Hosni Mubarak. – Los Angeles Times
The State Department on Monday sharpened its criticism of Egypt’s ruling military council after the it had granted itself broad new powers as Egyptians voted in their first free presidential election since the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak last year. – Washington Times
The Pentagon on Monday reacted sternly to the Egyptian military’s apparent power grab in that country, saying it was “deeply concerned” with the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ seizure of legislative power and urging military leaders to respect civilian control. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
Editorial: The military council may have calculated that the United States would look the other way while it usurped the first democratic election for president in Egypt’s history. After all, that’s been the administration’s pattern so far. On Monday, the State Department said that the military must honor its commitments to allow a transfer of power to civilian control and that its decisions “will have an impact on the nature of our engagement.” We hope the message is being stated more bluntly in private. If the generals suffocate Egyptian democracy in the cradle, U.S. military aid must cease. – Washington Post
Sara Khorshid writes: If the Obama administration genuinely supports the Egyptian people in their pursuit of freedom, then it should realize that democracy will take root only through the revolutionary path that started on the streets in January 2011 — not through the dubious ways of the Mubarak-appointed military council. – New York Times
Gulf States
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who was governor of Riyadh for nearly 50 years until his recent promotion to Saudi Arabia’s defense minister, was officially named crown prince on Monday, making him the heir apparent to the 88-year-old King Abdullah. – New York Times
The death of the heir to the Saudi throne underlines the growing frailty of the ruling generation of the royal family and highlights the contradiction that a major U.S. ally in the Middle East is an autocratic monarchy with a medieval-style constitution. – Washington Times
Kuwait’s ruler suspended parliament for one month on Monday as a row escalated between the cabinet and lawmakers, threatening to draw in senior ministers and stalling economic planning in the major oil producer. – Reuters
Iraq
President Barack Obama’s choice to serve as U.S. ambassador to Iraq withdrew his nomination following the disclosure of romantic emails the diplomat exchanged with a Wall Street Journal reporter, officials said Monday. – Wall Street Journal
Efforts to relocate about 3,000 Iranian exiles in Iraq to the grounds of a former U.S. military base there appear to have stalled, Obama administration officials said Monday, raising concerns about the potential for renewed clashes between the dissidents and Iraqi security forces. – Washington Post
The State Department on Monday put Iran’s Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) on notice that the Iranian opposition group needs to cooperate with efforts to close the group’s main paramilitary base in Iraq if it wants the United States to lift its designation as a terrorist organization. – DEFCON Hill
A suicide bomber killed at least 15 people mourning at a Shi’ite funeral in the northern Iraqi city of Baquba on Monday in the latest sectarian attack this month. – Reuters
North Africa
Sudan’s police used tear gas and batons to break up protests in Khartoum on Monday, witnesses said, after President Omar Hassan al-Bashir unveiled tough austerity measures to plug a budget deficit. – Reuters
A group of armed gunmen stormed the Tunisian consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi on Monday to protest against an art exhibition in Tunisia which they said insulted Islam, a security guard who works inside the building said. – Reuters
Israel
On his debut trip to Washington as an Israeli vice prime minister, career military man Shaul Mofaz says he will appeal this week for American support in ending the greatest threat to his country. It is not Iran’s nuclear program, Mofaz says: What keeps him awake at night is Israel’s drawn-out conflict with the Palestinians and the prospect that it could cause the demise of the Jewish state if Arabs eventually outnumber Jews in Israel. – Washington Post
A West Bank mosque was burned and vandalized early on Tuesday, with graffiti warning in Hebrew of a “war” over the impending evacuation of the Jewish settlement of Ulpana. – New York Times
Israeli President Shimon Peres writes: The Middle East is suffering from malaise. But we can envisage and bring about a robust and thriving region by obliterating scarcity, generating opportunities and guaranteeing equality for all. The road to recovery begins — and ends — with freedom. – Los Angeles Times
Turkey
Eighteen people were killed on Tuesday in fighting between Turkish soldiers and Kurdish militants at three military outposts in southeast Turkey, officials and security sources said, in the deadliest clashes in recent months. – Reuters
South Asia
A Pakistani Taliban commander has banned polio vaccinations in North Waziristan, in the tribal belt, days before 161,000 children were to be inoculated. He linked the ban to American drone strikes and fears that the C.I.A. could use the polio campaign as cover for espionage, much as it did with Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who helped track Osama bin Laden. – New York Times
Taliban insurgents wearing police uniforms attacked a checkpoint in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing three police officers, local officials said. – New York Times
Panetta’s sharp words should be taken as a grim warning to all Americans. What provoked the warning, according to U.S. and Pakistani insiders, is a growing fear that the Pakistan spy agency and a large clan of Islamic extremists are working more closely together than at any time in the past to create a post-American haven for the Taliban in Afghanistan. – Washington Examiner
U.S. officials say that an American service member was killed and several others were injured when individuals dressed in Afghan police uniforms turned their guns on them in southern Afghanistan Monday. – Associated Press
China
In an interview Monday, Mr. Chen, 40, a blind, self-taught lawyer, displayed anger at the Beijing government for failing so far to investigate the local officials who persecuted him and beat his relatives. He and his wife, Yuan Weixing, said they remained desperately worried about the harsh treatment of those they left behind in Shandong Province. – New York Times
Today, the 40-year-old self-taught lawyer and his family are still adjusting to the change — from being confined to the bare-walled room where they were watched by authorities in rural Shangdong province to a new three-bedroom apartment in bustling Lower Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, supported by tutors, law professors, PR managers, interpreters and security personnel. – Washington Post
Donald Tsang is preparing to leave office after seven years as Hong Kong’s leader mired in scandal and record-low approval ratings, tainting a legacy that until just a few months ago would remember him for his market acumen and decades of loyal government service. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Talk of China’s most recent milk scandal has been quashed on the country’s Internet, highlighting the key role that food safety plays in maintaining social stability in the world’s most populous country. – WSJ’s China Real Time Report
Breaking months of uncomfortable silence, the Chinese Communist Party admitted Monday through a local leader what was patently obvious: that the lurid scandal raging around ousted Politburo member Bo Xilai had caused major damage to China. – LA Times’ World Now
Michael Auslin writes: For a while it seemed as if China would never look back. But it’s clear now that the easy part is over and that the next 20 years will be harder for the Communist Party to manage. The country’s looming problems have never looked as sharp in the past two decades, which spells not only an economic deterioration, but also a possible collapse for the Party. – Wall Street Journal Asia (subscription required)
Southeast Asia
Chinese fishing boats near the disputed Scarborough Shoal off the Philippine coast were heading back to port on Monday after Philippine vessels withdrew from the same area in an easing of tensions in the South China Sea, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. – New York Times
The authorities in the Philippines are hoping that a prominent Jordanian journalist and his crew, who disappeared on a southern island plagued by kidnapping, will re-emerge safely after he has completed his reporting. – New York Times
Myanmar will embark on a “second wave of reforms” that will include tentative privatization and a law on the minimum wage, President Thein Sein said on Tuesday, indicating no let-up in the country’s rapid economic overhaul. – Reuters
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Monday Myanmar must clarify citizenship laws underlying ethnic tensions in the country, but declared she was unsure whether Muslim Rohingyas at the center of clashes could be regarded as nationals. – Reuters
Trans-Pacific Partnership
The United States and eight other countries on Monday welcomed Mexico into talks aimed at reaching an Asia Pacific free trade agreement, but continued to mull over Canada and Japan’s seven-month-old bids to join the negotiations. – Reuters
Russia
Prices for oil, its main export, are sliding, and Russia is already gearing up for economic troubles, laying plans for spending cuts and a weaker ruble if the global situation worsens further, according to First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Support for linking a human rights measure to an upcoming Russia trade bill got an important boost Monday when a key Jewish rights group announced it is backing the bill. – The Hill’s On the Money
The Russian opposition has announced a long summer break from large protest actions following its “March of Millions” rally in Moscow, with the next mass protest scheduled for October. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Russia is setting aside up to $40bn for this year and next to shore up the economy in case the crisis in the eurozone escalates and spreads, and is dusting off a plan that would allow the government to recapitalise the country’s banking system. – Financial Times
Europe
The presidents of the United States, Russia and France issued a joint statement on Monday calling for a peaceful settlement to the more than 20-year war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. – New York Times
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has announced that Belarus will hold parliamentary elections on September 23. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
South America
Mauricio Santoyo led an elite antiterrorism squad in Colombia’s National Police force and then became chief of presidential security when Álvaro Uribe took office as the country’s tough-on-crime president. Once there, he worked closely with United States officials to beef up Mr. Uribe’s safety arrangements. – New York Times
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez ruled out on Monday holding a pre-election debate with opponent Henrique Capriles, saying he would be “ashamed” to measure himself against such a “non-entity.” – Reuters
West Africa
[L]ike some lingering odd dream, Abdoulaye Wade, the former Senegalese president, is still front and center in the national political scene. Mr. Wade continues to dominate newspaper headlines day after day, threatening, rebuking, defending himself and his entourage. In March, the world hailed Senegal for managing a rare African electoral transition, but, as it turns out, the page is not so easily turned. – New York Times
At least 52 people were killed in religious rioting sparked by three suicide bombings against churches in northern Nigeria, where the dead were piled up on Monday in mortuaries and cemeteries in the city of Kaduna. – Reuters
East Africa
The U.N. Security Council expressed concern on Monday at delays by Sudan and South Sudan in implementing a resolution that threatened sanctions if the former civil war foes failed to halt fighting and resume talks on a string of disputes. – Reuters
United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay accused on Monday gold-rich Eritrea, which holds a strategic stretch of the Red Sea coast, of carrying out torture and summary executions – Reuters
Analysis: [W]hile the capture of the southern port and militant stronghold of Kismayu in coming weeks could weaken the al Qaeda-linked rebels, it is unlikely to deliver the knock-out blow hoped for by Mogadishu and its allies. – Reuters
