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FP Passport Morning Brief
Monday, April 29, 2013
Italy swears in unity government, 2 police shot outside PM's office
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*Top news: *Two months of political gridlock in Italy came to an end [1]
Sunday with the swearing in of a grand coalition government headed by Prime
Minister Enrico Letta, a member of the center-left Democratic Party. Letta's
coalition brings together his Democratic Party with Silvio Berlusconi's
People of Liberty party, forming a unity government with backing from both
sides of the aisles and a mandate to implement reforms to Italy's sclerotic
economy.

But Monday's ceremony was marred [2] by the shooting of two police officers
standing guard outside the prime ministers office. The man responsible for
the shooting, which also injured a pregnant passerby, was an unemployed
bricklayer from Calabria driven to desperation who said that he had intended
to target politicians, but when he was unable to reach them decided to shoot
the police instead. The shooting, which took place as the government was
being sworn in, served as a poignant reminder of the ills this new government
faces: rampant unemployment that threatens to turn into a social crisis.

"He is a man full of problems, who lost his job, who lost everything," Rome
Prosecutor Pierfilippo Laviani told reporters. "He was desperate."

Italian markets responded [3] positively to the swearing in of the new
government. The Italian stockmarket inched up 1.4 percent while Italian bonds
traded under 4 percent for the first time since 2010.

*Bangladesh: *A fire broke out Sunday at a collapsed garment factory in
Bangladesh where rescue workers are conducting a frantic search for
survivors. The fire broke out as people at the site sought to extract a woman
pinned in the rubble, but the fire apparently killed her. So far, the death
toll has reached 377 [4], but that number may increase as workers continue to
pull bodies from the rubble. The owner of the building, Sohel Rana, was
arrested near the Indian border.

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Middle East

* The Syrian prime minister narrowly escaped [5] an assassination attempt
when a bomb went off near his convoy.
* Five car bombs across various Shiite areas of Iraq killed [6] 26 and
wounded dozens.
* The Iraqi government revoked [7] the liscence of Al Jazeera and nine other
television stations, alleging they are inciting sectarian conflict.

Asia

* According to the New York Times [8], the CIA has attempted to buy
influence with Afghan President Hamid Karzai by dropping off bags filled
with cash totalling tens of millions of dollars.
* The last 50 South Koreans still remaining at the jointly operated
industrial park at Kaesong are expected to leave [9] today.
* A suicide bombing in Pakistan killed [10] the son and nephew of an Afghan
official involved in peace negotiations with the Taliban, in addition to
killing four others and wounding 30.

Europe

* The Greek parliament approved [11] a plan to lay off 15,000 civil servants
by the end of next year as part of reforms required by its creditors.
* Voters in Iceland ousted [12] a center-left coalition and restored to
power the center-right grouping that held power in the run-up to the
country's financial crisis.
* A large explosion, believed by police to have been caused by a natural gas
leak, injured [13] up to 40 people in downtown Prague.

Africa

* During a visit to Mali, the French defense minister said [14] his country
will keep up to 1,000 troops there after the arrival of U.N. peacekeepers.
* A report by a U.S.-based NGO alleges that Joseph Kony received [15]
support and protection from the Sudanese government.
* According to a Nigerian government report, Boko Haram was paid [16] a
ransom of $3 million to release from captivity a French family of seven.

Americas

* The Venezuelan government arrested [17] an American documentary filmmaker
and accused him of fomenting unrest in the aftermath of the country's
contested presidential election.
* Venezuela's election commission said [18] that an audit of the country's
recent presidential election will begin May 6 but denied opposition
demands for a full recount.
* Some 400 people in Mexico's Veracruz state protested [19] against attacks
on the press and demanded justice in the case of the killing of Regina
Martinez, an investigative journalist.

/-By Elias Groll
/

FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images

The Latest from *FP*
* The Power Issue [20]
* Minister No - By Susan B. Glasser [21]
* What China and Russia Don't Get About Soft Power - By Joseph S. Nye [22]
* 'The Law of Politics' According to Sergei Lavrov [23]
* Engineering Terror - An FP Photo Essay [24]

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[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/world/europe/italy-forms-new-coalition-government-to-end-months-of-political-stalemate.html
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/world/europe/2-officers-shot-as-italys-government-sworn-in.html?ref=europe
[3] http://news.yahoo.com/italian-markets-rise-prospects-govt-094538661.html
[4] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/world/asia/after-building-collapse-tears-and-rage-as-hope-fades-in-bangladesh.html?ref=asia
[5] http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-premier-escapes-bomb-attack-damascus-103022986.html
[6] http://news.yahoo.com/5-car-bombs-kill-26-shiite-areas-across-091440443.html
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/world/middleeast/iraq-suspends-al-jazeera-and-other-tv-channels.html?ref=middleeast
[8] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/world/asia/cia-delivers-cash-to-afghan-leaders-office.html?ref=asia
[9] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22334251
[10] http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-suicide-bomber-targeting-police-kills-6-111054623.html
[11] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/world/europe/parliament-passes-plan-for-layoffs-in-greece.html?ref=europe
[12] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/world/europe/iceland-voters-oust-government.html?ref=europe
[13] http://news.yahoo.com/powerful-blast-injures-40-prague-093110174.html
[14] http://news.yahoo.com/french-defense-minister-visits-northern-mali-141953514.html
[15] http://news.yahoo.com/group-sudan-army-supporting-fugitive-warlord-kony-110043174.html
[16] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22320077
[17] http://news.yahoo.com/american-charged-ex-general-held-venezuela-030249423.html
[18] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22333705
[19] http://news.yahoo.com/mexican-journalists-march-against-attacks-press-182058190.html
[20] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/the_power_issue
[21] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/29/minister_no
[22] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/29/what_china_and_russia_don_t_get_about_soft_power
[23] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/29/the_law_of_politics_according_to_sergei_lavrov_russia
[24] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/29/engineering_terror_hezbollah_attacks_imad_mughniyeh
[25] http://www.foreignpolicy.com
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[27] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/contact_us
[28] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/about_us
[29] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/29/in_defense_of_leading_from_behind
[30] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/29/into_africa
[31] http://ideas.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/04/29/gun_runner_no_1
[32] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/29/you_cant_go_home_again
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