Middle East/North Africa

Your morning global affairs speed-read

Republicans begin hammering President Obama's foreign-policy record on the second full day of their convention in Tampa, Fla. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are expected to deliver speeches slamming the looming defense cuts and the administration's stance with regard to Syria and Iran, as polls show Obama continues to get high marks on national security. [Wall Street Journal]

Speaking terms: Japan and North Korea hold their first face-to-face talks in four years amid signs that new leader Kim Jong-Un wants to open up his country to the world. Normalizing relations and the abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and '80s are expected to dominate the conversation. [AFP]

Help wanted: Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti meets with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin as part of his effort to nudge his European partners to let the European Central Bank buy more bonds from Italy and Spain to help keep their borrowing costs at sustainable levels. [The New York Times]

Rep. Mike Rogers said the Israelis believe they could “talk the United States into cooperating” once the election is over.

A key leader of the Syrian opposition criticized the United States Tuesday for failing to endorse calls for rebel groups to form a transitional government.

Abdelbaset Sieda, head of the Syrian National Council, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the United States and its international allies should take decisive action against Syrian President Bashar Assad rather than blaming the opposition over its divisions.

"Yes there are differences within the Syrian opposition and this is normal in any country, but as long as we are agreed on a common vision, these differences can be overcome," Sieda told the AP, adding that the Syrian National Council was making “serious” preparations to form a government should Assad's regime fall.

Your morning global affairs speed-read

France on Monday became the first country to call for Syria's rebels to create a shadow government that would gain world recognition, putting increased pressure on the Obama administration to take a more forceful stand. [The Washington Post]

The call comes as President Bashar Assad's ally Iran is reportedly sending troops to Syria to battle rebels and maintain its influence in the region, underlining U.S. concerns that the 18-month uprising could spawn a regional conflict. [The Wall Street Journal]

Tour canceled: Iran said on Tuesday it has no plans to show its nuclear sites to diplomats visiting Tehran for this week's Non-Aligned Movement summit, contradicting an earlier offer by a deputy foreign minister, Reuters reports.

The State Department on Monday resumed full consular services for U.S. citizens in Libya but reiterated year-old advice to avoid “all but essential” travel to the violence-racked North African country.

Until now, consular services inside the country were available only to emergency services, with routine visa applications processed abroad. Monday's travel warning confirms that the country remains in chaos almost a year after the death of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

“The incidence of violent crime, especially carjacking and robbery, has become a serious problem,” Monday's travel warning states. “In addition, political violence in the form of assassinations and vehicle bombs has increased in both Benghazi and Tripoli.”

Your morning global affairs speed-read

Iran began hosting the weeklong 120-member Non-Aligned Movement summit over the weekend as it tries to break its international isolation. During the opening of the conference on Sunday, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi called on the Cold War-era grouping to oppose U.S.-backed sanctions against the country's alleged nuclear weapons program. [The Wall Street Journal]

The summit comes as the Obama administration is insisting that a peaceful resolution to the crisis can still be found even as the U.N. atomic watchdog failed to reach a compromise with Iran on Friday. The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to say that Iran is continuing to expand its nuclear-fuel production and moving more of its infrastructure underground in its quarterly report, to be released this week. [The New York Times]

New plan for Syria: In his first major foreign-policy initiative, Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, has proposed creating a “committee of four,” to include Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, to quell the violence in Syria. [The New York Times]

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) wants the Obama administration to explain how it will address Iranian attempts to evade sanctions with help from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Ros-Lehtinen asked the administration to say whether it would condition U.S. security cooperation with Iraq and Afghanistan on their willingness to counter Iranian attempts to get around economic sanctions.

“Given the U.S. investment of blood and treasure in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is vital that the Iraqi and Afghan governments cooperate with the U.S. and other responsible nations to address the Iranian threat,” Ros-Lehtinen wrote. “Failure to cooperate should be met with a reconsideration of bilateral security arrangements.”

Jewish Democrats are criticizing the Republican convention's plan to honor Rep. Ron Paul.

Your morning global affairs speed-read

Iran has installed hundreds of new centrifuges in recent months and might be speeding up production of nuclear fuel, according to a new report from the International Atomic Energy Agency that could become an issue in the U.S. presidential race. Republican candidate Mitt Romney says President Obama has failed to curtail Iran's alleged nuclear-weapons ambitions. [The New York Times]

The report comes as the IAEA, the U.N.'s atomic watchdog, is meeting with Iranian officials at Iran's embassy in Vienna for the first time since June to press for access to Iranian sites, scientists and documents. [AFP]

No pity: The prime minister of Greece, Antonis Samaras, can expect to be rejected when he goes hat in hand to Germany and France today and Saturday to ask for flexibility with the country's austerity plan. [The Guardian]

The Republican senator told Russian officials they should partner with the United States to deal with Syria's chemical weapons stockpile.