World News!

China

• In commentary that was quickly removed from the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Guan Tao advised that China should guard against "economic and political risks in excessive holdings of US dollar assets".  "The United States has taken an expansionary fiscal and monetary policy to stimulate economic growth, and the United States may find it hard to resist the policy temptation of weakening the dollar abroad and pushing up inflation at home."
• In the wake of the worst drought along the Yangtze River in 50 years, floods have killed 14 people in Guizhou province and forced the evacuation of 45,000 more.

Iran

• Inspired by China's extraordinary internet controls, and driven by the realization of how instrumental the internet was in the recent "Arab Spring" uprisings, Iran is creating a "Halal Internet" which will be extensively censored and monitored.

Japan

• The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has announced that more than twice as much radiation as originally reported probably escaped the Fukushima nuclear plants - 770,000 terabecquerels[1], instead of the original estimate of 370,000 terabecquerels.  This is still only about 15% of the total released at Chernobyl, but it is also far worse than originally reported.

Libya

• NATO airstrikes on Tripoli are reported to have hit the Popular Guard and Revolutionary Guard compounds.  NATO's position is that the attacks on structures a few hundred miles from the fighting between loyalist and rebel forces are justified under the UN resolution allowing the use of force to protect civilians, as they are targeting command and control installations, which "degrade[s] his ability to attack the population of Libya."

Mexico

• The Mexican army has seized and destroyed four "narco-tanks" - trucks covered with inch-thick steel plates - after a firefight in Camargo.  The trucks were believed to have been used by the Gulf drug cartel in their current war with the Zetas drug cartel over control of smuggling routes into the US.

Syria

• The Syrian government is sending an armor column supported by ground troops to "suppress armed terror gangs" in Jisr al-Shughour, responding to a weekend in which 120 "security personnel" were killed in the town.  The cause of the deaths is officially unknown, with the Syrian government laying the blame on "armed terror gangs" and the residents blaming a mutiny among security troops sent to suppress civilian protests.

United States

• Arizona continues to burn, with 0.32% (365 square miles) now on fire.  Smoke from the fires is visible in New Mexico, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado.
• Dominique Strauss-Khan has officially pled not guilty to charges of attempted rape and sexual assault.  The next court date is set for July 18.

[1]  "Terawhatsnow?"  Terabecquerels.  According to Wikipedia, a becquerel (Bq) is "the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second".  So a terabecquerel (TBq) is 1,000,000,000,000 nuclei decaying per second.  There.  Don't you feel better knowing that?