MONDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The next step after the 1991 Start Treaty: “The United States and Russia, seeking to move forward on one of the most significant arms control treaties since the end of the cold war, announced Monday that they had reached a preliminary agreement on cutting each country’s stockpiles of strategic nuclear weapons by as much as one-third.”
* Afghanistan: “In the largest one-day death toll in months for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, seven American service members were killed today.”
* Violence in the streets of Urumqi: “The Chinese state news agency reported Monday that 156 people were killed and more than 800 injured when rioters clashed with the police in a regional capital in western China after days of rising tensions between members of the Uighur ethnic group and Han Chinese.”
* Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya tried to return to his country yesterday. It didn’t go well.
* Iran’s Mir Hossein Mousavi made his first public appearance in a while today.
* GM’s plan to “sell its best assets to a new, government-backed company” was approved late yesterday by a federal judge.
* North Korea may not have food for its people, but it does have seven missiles it cam shoot into the Sea of Japan on the 4th of July.
* Vietnam war architect and former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara died today at age 93.
* Marion Berry, arrested again.
* Did Vice President Biden suggest tacit approval of a hypothetical Israeli attack on Iran? It’s become “something of a Rorschach test.”
* Health care companies are spending $1.4 million per day on lobbying.
* Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN yesterday that he’s advised the president to move “in a measured way” in changing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” It’s not at all clear what “measured” means in that context, but it’s probably not good.
* Tragically, life for gay Iraqis in their own country has gotten worse since the fall of Saddam.
* In response to the paper’s “salon” controversy, the Washington Post is launching an internal review. (And in related news, the problem within the industry may extend beyond the Post.)
* House Minority Leader John Boehner (R) told Fox News yesterday that stimulus package hasn’t produced any contracts in his home state of Ohio. As is too often the case, Boehner has no idea what he’s talking about.
* I don’t care if she’s the president’s daughter; major news networks should not do reports on Malia Obama’s clothes.
* Remember when Sarah Palin said how “bothered” she gets when people “whine” about media coverage? Good times.
* And finally, good advice from Paul Krugman: “You should always remember: 1. Don’t believe anything Heritage says. 2. If you find what Heritage is saying plausible, remember rule 1.”
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
