Today's news briefing: A bid for Opel, a blockade in Somalia, and the president of Macedonia sits down with the Monitor
Here are the main stories we'll be posting throughout the day:
In world news ...
• Jane Arraf in Baghdad reports on a survey of the Iraqi Army is finding almost one-quarter currently fails to meet its own minimum qualifications for soldiers.
• The bidding for Opel, the German automaker, begins. And Jeffrey White in Berlin finds that Fiat is driving hard.
• In his first interview with a Western newspaper, the new president of Macedonia sits down with the Monitor. The discussion with reporter Christopher Deliso includes US foreign policy in the Balkans, tied in with Joe Biden’s visit to the region, which wraps up Thursday.
• It took the imminent fall of Mogadishu to militant Islamists for Somalia’s neighbors to get involved. Scott Baldauf asks if their Wednesday request for a UN blockade is likely to be fulfilled. And how quickly would it be in place? Would it really stop foreign fighters? How many foreign fighters are there, anyway?
• Dan Murphy puts together a question-and-answer style briefing on US drones used in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• Reporter Besar Likmeta catches up with a former detainee released from Guantanamo and now living in Albania.
In US news ...
• The declining dollar, now at a low point for this year, is an indicator of deep concern about the fiscal health of the country. Mark Trumbull looks at the risk of a protracted fall.
• Mark Clayton looks at the legislation that cleared a House committee last night and is headed for a floor vote. It would represent America's first legislative reponse to climate change.
• Dan Wood in Los Angeles finds that in this Great Recession, as in the Great Depression, Hollywood is doing surprisingly well.
• Housing’s “shadow market”– the large inventory of homes that are empty, or rented, without a “for sale” sign out front yet – is likely to slow down the sector’s recovery. Out in Surprise, Ariz., Patrik Jonsson reports that banks are deploying complex new strategies, called “quick sales,” to recoup their investments on foreclosed properties. He looks at how these work and what their risks are.
The Monitor editorial today walks through some of the counterpoints to the most prominent arguments for legalizing marijuana.
