A senior United Nations official is calling on the United States to suspend biofuels production to combat the effects of the country-wide drought, potentially giving momentum to those on Capitol Hill fighting for the same result.

The drought has inflicted enough damage on U.S. corn supplies to threaten international food supplies, U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Director General José Graziano da Silva wrote in the Financial Times (subscription required).

"An immediate, temporary suspension of that mandate would give some respite to the market and allow more of the crop to be channeled towards food and feed uses," he wrote in the column published late Thursday.

The U.N. official's column arrives as the U.S. government slashes estimates of corn production this year. The Agriculture Department, in a forecast Friday, predicted that national production will be 10.8 billion bushels in 2012, a 13 percent drop from 2011 and the lowest output since 2006, according to news reports.

With 40 percent of U.S. corn acreage dedicated to biofuels, da Silva said too little is left to survive some of the price shocks the drought has inflicted on the crop.

Senior U.S. and Pakistani military leaders are reportedly formulating a new joint border security strategy to help curb deadly attacks by Pakistani-based terror groups on American and coalition forces inside Afghanistan. 

The Pentagon will begin flying unmanned surveillance missions over the Diaoyutai Islands, off the coastlines of Japan, China and Taiwan.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday urged Nigeria to create a multi-agency counterterrorism cell and offered U.S. expertise and equipment to help the country battle Islamist militants, The Associated Press reports.

Africa's most populous county and largest oil producer has seen its security deteriorate over the past two years as al Qaeda-linked Boko Haram militants have killed more than 1,400 people in northern and central Nigeria. Clinton met with President Goodluck Jonathan and proposed the creation of an 'intelligence fusion cell' that would combine information from the military, spy services, police and other federal, state and local agencies, according to the AP. The cell would also serve as a contact for foreign intelligence services.

Because of security concerns, Clinton was only scheduled to stay in the country for five hours, the AP reported, and won't stay overnight after the hotel used by visiting foreign dignitaries received terrorist threats.

Some lawmakers — including House Homeland Security panel members Pete King (R-N.Y.) and Pat Meehan (R-Pa.) — are pressing the State Department to label Boko Haram a terrorist organization. The Obama administration has so far refused, however, in part because the group is domestic-focused, despite its links to al Qaeda.

Top U.S. intelligence officials are siding with assertions made by Israeli counterparts that Iran is closer than ever to achieving a nuclear weapon, according to recent media reports out of Jerusalem. 

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will lead the presidential delegation to the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, the White House announced on Thursday.

The delegation will also include former Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan and former baseball player Curtis Pride, both members of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. Reggie Love, the president’s former personal aide and “body man,” is also part of the delegation, along with Deputy National Security Adviser Benjamin Rhodes and U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Louis B. Susman.
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Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) is leading a congressional delegation in a five-country tour of Europe this week to assess the European debt crisis.

Conrad's group was in Spain on Wednesday, to meet with the Bank of Spain and various businesspeople, and was scheduled to travel to Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal before leaving Europe on Friday. Each of those countries has struggled with sovereign debt, which has led to a rolling crisis every year for the past several years as these countries struggle to restructure their debt.

Your morning global affairs speed-read

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan, today as Africa's largest oil producer faces an Islamist insurgency. Boko Haram, which is believed to have killed more than 1,400 people in northern and central Nigeria since 2010, is expected to be a major focus of their meeting. [ANP/AFP]

Some lawmakers — including House Homeland Security panel members Pete King (R-N.Y.) and Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) — are pressing the State Department to label Boko Haram a terrorist organization. The Obama administration has so far refused, however, in part because the group is domestic-focused, despite its links to al Qaeda.

Cleanup time: The United States today begins cleaning up the Agent Orange defoliant it dumped 12 million gallons of over Vietnam during the decade-long war there. The federal government is providing $41 million to clean up the chemical, which has been linked to cancer and birth defects. [Reuters]

Trade ya: The U.S. Treasury Department releases trade balance figures for goods and services for the month of June this morning. The nation's trade deficit narrowed in May to $48.7 billion, down 3.8 percent from April, as near-record exports and lower energy prices helped shrink the gap.

He told Manmohan Singh the incident was particularly tragic because it took place in a house of worship.