United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has decided to sit out a meeting of 120 developing nations in Iran at the end of the month that has infuriated U.S. lawmakers, the Mehr news agency reported Monday.

Iran is set to take the helm of the Cold War-era Non-Aligned Movement during the Aug. 30-31 summit in Isfahan. The decision to host the summit in Iran at a time when the United States is leading efforts to isolate Iran and get it to abandon its alleged nuclear weapons program riled the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and prompted a senior Democrat on the Senate panel to personally urge Ban not to attend.

“Iran has not complied with its obligations to the International Atomic Energy Agency, is an active state sponsor of terrorism and continues to support the murderous regime of Bashar al-Assad,” Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations panel on Near Eastern affairs, wrote Friday. “I am concerned that your presence in Tehran could serve to legitimize the actions of this regime at a critical time in the region and urge you to reconsider attending this conference.”

Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Iranian Majlis — or parliament — said Ban's decision will reduce U.N. influence in the world, according to Mehr.

The full text of Casey’s letter is below:  

Obama said the likelihood of a “soft landing” for Syrian President Bashar Assad seemed pretty remote.

Al Qaeda's quiet campaign to gain a foothold in war-torn Syria finally went public on Monday, when a jihadi terror cell with ties to the group publicly claimed responsibility for a slew of bombings and attacks in the country. 

New Zealand on Monday said it will accelerate its timeline for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan but denied that the decision had anything to do with recent casualties.

John Key, New Zealand’s prime minister, said his country would be withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan earlier than planned. Rather than leaving by October 2013, New Zealand’s troops could be headed home as early as April, he said.

Key said the decision was not made in response to combat deaths, and stressed that New Zealand would reach an agreement on the timing of the withdrawal with the U.S.-led coalition.

Ten U.S. soldiers have been killed in the last two weeks by people dressed as Afghan soldiers or police.

Your morning global affairs speed-read

The last few remaining United Nations monitors were seen pulling out of Syria Monday morning after their mandate ended Sunday night amid U.N. squabbling, Reuters reports.

Somalia has delayed its presidential vote that had been expected for Monday, the day the mandate for the U.N. mission there ended. [Associated Press]

The wife of disgraced former Chinese official Bo Xilai received a suspended death sentence Monday for the alleged murder of a British businessman, paving the way for China's Communist Party to announce its plans for dealing with Bo himself in the country's worst political scandal in decades. [Wall Street Journal]

Burma abolished direct censorship of the media on Monday, the most dramatic move yet toward allowing freedom of expression in the former military dictatorship. [Associated Press]

"The United States must renounce its witch hunt against WikiLeaks," said Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Officials could not validate reports Assad's No. 2 defected, but said the reports were further signs of the regime's instability. 

Obama spokesman says U.S. is "disappointed" in Russian band's guilty verdict and cites serious concerns about musicians' treatment.