CL Iceland's referendum today closed the door on EU membership talks. Again. It is the country's most consistent political achievement: refusing, repeatedly, to decide. Reykjavik joins the club of nations that would rather keep asking the question than risk an answer. Independence is easiest to defend when nobody ever makes you use it.-- CL

MB Kathmandu says the flood response is fully mobilized while the missing toll climbs past three thousand. Niamey's junta says the mutiny is contained while troops surround the capital. Washington calls the Venezuela deal the greatest oil agreement of all time, the superlative you reach for when the details are still being worked out.-- MB