IRAN
Iran unveils missile silos as it begins war games
William J Broad, New York Times- June 27, 2011
Iran unveiled underground silos on Monday that would make its missiles less vulnerable to attack, marking the country’s latest show of force in the long standoff with the West over its nuclear program.
Iranian Lawmakers to question Ahmadinejad about ‘irregularities
Vivian Salama, Bloomberg- June 27, 2011
A proposal to question Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in parliament about some “irregularities” by his administration has been signed by 100 lawmakers and submitted to country’s main legislative body, state-run Mehr News agency reported.
Israel approves economic sanctions against Iran
CNN Wire Staff- June 26, 2011
The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday decided to expand economic sanctions against Iran, aligning its policies with the United States and Europe on trade with the Islamic republic.
NORTH KOREA
North Korea slashes food rations: aid worker
AFP- June 28, 2011
North Korea has drastically cut public food handouts as it heads towards a new hunger crisis with people again eating grass to survive, one of the most experienced aid workers in the isolated nation said.
AFGHANISTAN
The road home from Kabul
John Kerry, Foreign Policy- June 24, 2011
Drawing down troops from Afghanistan is the right move. Now it’s time to focus on the real threat in the neighborhood: the one coming from Pakistan.
Refugee group finds 250,000-plus Afghans displaced
Deb Riechmann, Associated Press- June 27, 2011
More than 250,000 Afghans have fled their villages during the past two years of fighting, Refugees International says, in a report critical of U.S. Special Forces and other international and Afghan military operations for exacerbating the displacement of civilians.
UNITED STATES
Wildfire shurts Los Alamos lab, forces evacuations
Susan Montoya Bryan,Associated Press-June 27, 2011
Thousands of residents calmly fled Monday from the mesa-top town that’s home to the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory, ahead of an approaching wildfire that sent up towering plumes of smoke, rained down ash and sparked a spot fire on lab property where scientists 50 years ago conducted underground tests of radioactive explosives.
Lessons from the Gates war room
Greg Jaffe,Washington Post-June 27, 2011
His legacy as defense secretary will probably be defined not by grand ideas but by his pragmatic stewardship of two wars and by how the longtime Washington insider wielded power.
LIBYA
Timing is questioned in seeking House vote on Libya
Charlie Savage and David E. Sanger, New York Times- June 27, 2011
The Chinese vice foreign minister warned the United States on Wednesday to stay out of the increasingly tense territorial disputes and maritime conflicts in the South China Sea, which has some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and is believed to be rich in oil and natural gas reserves.