Global Insights: Manas Decision Raises Regional Fears of U.S. Exit From Eurasia. Four points about Madonna’s interest in Islam. Which Grandparent Are You Most Related to?

World Politics Review - Global Insights: Manas Decision Raises Regional Fears of U.S. Exit From Eurasia - Last Friday, the Pentagon announced that, by next July, all U.S. troops will leave Manas airbase in Kyrgyzstan. The base has served as the most important transit center for U.S. and coalition troops entering and leaving Afghanistan by air, but that role will soon be replaced by a base in Romania.

Slate - Cuba's Economic Reform Continues, Plans to Ditch Two-Tiered Currency - Reports out of Cuba on Tuesday show that the country is continuing its economic liberalization by jettisoning its two-tiered currency system, in favor of a single Cuban peso.

Which Grandparent Are You Most Related to? - Your family tree says you inherited 25 percent of your ancestry from each. Genetics says you didn’t.

Religious News Service - Four points about Madonna’s interest in Islam - So, Madonna has the whole social media buzzing with her tantalizing comment about studying the Qur’an.

The Washington Times - Jihadist bus bombing raises tensions for Russia ahead of Olympics - A suicide bombing by an Islamic militant in southern Russia this week has raised the specter of terrorist attacks during the Winter Olympics in February in Sochi, a Black Sea resort about 400 miles south of the bomb attack.

The National - Geneva peace talks on Syria in doubt - The Syrian opposition has been hampered by infighting and has said it will boycott the Geneva conference unless the president, Bashar Al Assad, agrees to step down.

US demands its troops be immune from Afghan law and tried in America as bilateral security pact falters - Afghanistan and the United States have not yet agreed on several issues in a bilateral security pact, an Afghan spokesman said, raising the prospect that Washington could pull out all its troops next year if the differences could not be ironed out.

The New York Times - Russia Putting a Strong Arm on Neighbors - It was not enough for Dmitri O. Rogozin, a deputy prime minister of Russia, to warn darkly that it would be “a grave mistake” for Moldova to seek closer ties with Europe.