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Good morning! Here's what you need to know: 1. The New York Times reports: "Syrian military forces were reported to have killed 38 people in the northern province of Idlib on Saturday and Sunday, demonstrators and rights activists said, as security forces appeared to redeploy from other towns to join the latest front in the harsh crackdown on a three-month-old popular uprising against the government of President Bashar al-Assad." 2. The President of Yemen was flown to Saudi Arabia to receive medical care for injuries he suffered during an attack on the presidential palace. Protesters and rival tribesmen celebrated his departure. Yemen (the country) continues to implode. 3. The war in Libya grinds on. John Burns of The New York Times reports that "senior British and American officials (say there is) no way of knowing how long it might take for the rebellion against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi — already in its fourth month, and the third month of NATO air strikes — to drive him from power." 4. Ilyas Kashmiri was killed Friday in a US drone strike in South Waziristan, Pakistan. Kashmiri, 47, was chief of the dreaded 313 Brigade of Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HJUI) militant group that has been described by US counter terrorism officials as an operational wing of al Qaeda. 5. Killer sprouts! Local German officials said yesterday that domestic sprouts may have been the cause of the deadly E. coli outbreak that has unnerved fresh produce markets across Europe. Public health experts were skeptical of this claim. 6. Social Democrats routed the Socialists in Portugal's parliamentary elections. The vote gives the center-right Social Democrats a mandate for its proposed austerity programs which the country must implement in exchange for a massive EU-IMF bail-out. 7. The Wall Street Journal reports: "Support is building among senior European finance officials for a plan to press Greece's private-sector creditors into accepting a debt exchange that would result in delayed repayment to them, people familiar with the matter say." 8. US political leaders in both parties say they want a deal on raising the debt ceiling that also constrains future spending. And they want it done before the July 4th holiday. They just can't agree on specifics. 9. President Obama's approval ratings (and disapproval ratings) have improved markedly in the last six months. Ron Brownstein reviews the data in some detail. 10. Peggy Noonan argues that President Obama inherited a bad situation and "made it worse." She suspects that this might be "the sentence" of his presidency: "he made it worse." 11. Paul Krugman says that replacing Medicare with "voucher-care" is a disaster for Americans. Paul Samuelson argues that not ending Medicare "as we know it" will be a disaster for Americans. 12. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum today will announce his candidacy for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Mr. Santorum is campaigning almost exclusively as a "cultural conservative." 13. Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger died Friday. He was 80 years old. He served his country with great distinction for 40 years. He was also funny. Asked at a Senate confirmation hearing if he had ever in public or private pinched a woman’s behind, Mr. Eagleburger replied: “Can I divide that into two questions?” For the latest in politics, visit Politics. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. |
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