Iraq and North Korea are facing off. The Iraqi government has blocked a North Korean plane from passing through its airspace, because it suspects there are weapons onboard. It’s hard to say what the most worrisome part of this is, until you find out that the plane was heading to Syria. (Reuters)

Unrest in the Middle East continues, and has spread to Pakistan. Meanwhile, Japan is upset that China is doing all the growing, and a clash on the Israel-Sinai border has left injury on both sides. (Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC)

In slightly less terrifying news, the first Massachusetts Senate debate turned nasty as Scott Brown accused Elizabeth Warren of pretending to be Native American, and Warren set a world record for number of times using the phrase “nice guy” sarcastically. (HuffPost)

And finally, on a lighter note, London is either genuinely or passive-aggressively cheery that Italy’s Fashion Week has been closely mirroring its own. (NY Times)

Top hats via Wikimedia Commons