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Uber has delayed a previously-scheduled discussion with its employees about the workplace culture report it commissioned after allegations of sexual harassment and gender discrimination, Axios has learned from multiple sources.

The investigation had been led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and submitted last Wednesday to a subcommittee of Uber's board of directors. Many employees had been told to expect details during the company's weekly all-hands meeting on Tuesday (i.e., tomorrow), but word just came down that such information would not yet be forthcoming.

What happened? Uber PR declined to discuss the change in plans, but it's possible that the timing was affected by CEO Travis Kalanick's recent family tragedy.

Why it matters: Uber's aggressive reputation took a particularly ugly turn in February, when former site reliability engineer Susan Fowler published a detailed account of sexual harassment, discrimination, and Uber's refusal to address her complaints. Holder's report is expected to address these claims, plus broader issues of workplace inclusion and diversity. It also will be viewed in many quarters as a stand-in for Silicon Valley tech companies, as a whole.

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ISIS surrenders another key town in Iraq - Axios

Larry Summers, the Harvard professor, former Treasury secretary, and National Economic Council director, has a piece in Mondays Washington Post that that makes a very big claim: The steady progress of human civilization could now stop and go into reverse.

In the last three-quarters of a century, the world has steadily become a safer, healthier, richer place, he writes.

But President Donald Trump may be a tipping point. In particular, his actions in the past two weeks failing, as Summers writes, to convincingly reaffirm traditional U.S. security commitments to NATO and abandoning participation in the Paris global climate agreement may inflict such severe economic consequences as to alter the course of human progress.

Pulling out of Paris is also such a failure of moral leadership, he writes, that it is probably our most consequential error since the Iraq War.

As I wrote last week, Trumps decision on Paris was cruel in the message it sends about how America values the environment, and how little it now cares about the risks climate change poses to the planet. Though the doomsayers like Summers could turn out to be wrong, many, many experts believe it is likely to prove incredibly damaging to Americas strategic position in the world, our militarys operations, and our standing in international negotiations.

The damage could unfold for years to come not just for US diplomacy but also for US companies that want to do business overseas. Our business partners in Europe, for instance, may decide to penalize US companies with tariffs for the scientific backwardness of our leader.

And national security experts today say they are worried about how the decision creates a strategic penalty that will damage US national security in a number of ways.

This strategic penalty will come in terms of strained cooperation with our partners and allies who are dismayed and insulted by the move, as well as in terms of our strategic strength vis--vis our competitors and adversaries in the world, said Francesco Femia, co-president of the Center for Climate and Security, a security think tank. These competitors and adversaries will likely seize on this decision to expand their influence at our expense, whether that's in the Asia-Pacific, the Arctic, the Middle East and North Africa, or anywhere else the US is engaged. It's a blow to our leadership, and that will take time and great effort to recover from.

These are not things that Trump is apparently worried about but they may very well affect people close to him, like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in the near future. And more broadly, this move on Paris will be a stain on his presidency and could prevent his ability to do business and expand the Trump brand for years to come.

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Exiting Paris probably our most consequential error since the Iraq War, economist says - Vox

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region Kurdish President Masoud Barzani discussed the future of Iraq in a meeting with the leader of a newly-founded Sunni party that seeks greater autonomy for Sunni areas.

Osama al-Nujaifi, Iraqs vice-president and the head of the United for Iraq or Mutahidun party, discussed with Barzani Iraqs political landscape post-ISIS, next years general elections, and the danger of the disappearance of the consensus and partnership, a statement from the Kurdish presidency read on Monday.

Political consensus, as opposed to majority-government, has been the basis of the formation of the Iraqi central government since the US-invasion of the country in 2003. The arrangement has meant sharing key governmental positions among the country's components.

The Shiite National Alliance, a coalition of Shiite parties, currently holds the prime ministry and key ministerial positions including the Interior and Foreign Ministries. Sunni factions hold the parliament speaker position and the important Defense Ministry. Kurds have the presidency, but other key positions allocated to Kurds remain vacant, including the Finance Ministry after its minister Hoshyar Zebari was voted out by the Iraqi parliament last year.

A new initiative, supported by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, head of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis Dawa party, seeks to form a majority government. Kurds have strongly opposed this, seeing it as against the principles of the new Iraqi state.

The KDP has already announced that they may boycott Iraqs elections next year, an unprecedented move by a major Kurdish party not seen since the fall of the Baath regime 14 years ago.

Before the general elections take place, the Kurdistan Region plans to hold a referendum on independence. The vote is expected to be held in the fall and will include disputed areas claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil, almost all of which are located in Sunni areas, including Kirkuk and Nineveh.

The speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Salim al-Jabouri, a Sunni politician, said last month that they are standing in full force against any project that seeks to turn Iraq into small states, saying those who want to do so should seek life elsewhere.

Iraq is one and will not be divided and anyone who seeks life outside this country should start looking for another country, Jabouri said in a conference in Baghdad held for Iraqi Turkmens and attended by other politicians including Ammar al-Hakim, head of the ruling Shiite National Alliance.

We will be absolutely against any idea of dividing or disintegrating the country under any name or excuse by this party or that, hiding behind and using the constitution to justify their ambitions and turning Iraq into small states at the mercy of regional wolves, Jabouri declared, not mentioning any one party.

In addition to Kurdistan Region independence aspirations, some Sunni politicians from Mosul have called for a regional government in Nineveh similar to that of the Kurdistan Region.

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Barzani and Sunni leader discuss post-ISIS Iraq politics - Rudaw

Stars and Stripes

Soldier whose stolen-valor scam began in Iraq will end in prison Stars and Stripes WASHINGTON After lying about a rocket in Iraq, post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury; after bilking 16 agencies out of more than $600,000; and after copping to two counts of fraud last year, former National Guard soldier Darryl Lee ...

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Soldier whose stolen-valor scam began in Iraq will end in prison - Stars and Stripes

OTTAWA The commander of the Canadian Forces mission in Iraq and Syria says he expects the government to extend the operation past its scheduled expiry date at the end of the month.

Brig.-Gen. Dan MacIsaac told The Canadian Press that he'slookingforward to seeing a renewed commitment of more than 800 military personnel in the international anti-terror coalition as part of Wednesday's long-awaited defence policy review.

Details of that and other future foreign military deployments are expected to be unveiled when Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of the defence staff, release the government's new blueprint for national defence.

The table for that defence review will be set in a major foreign policy speech Tuesday by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.That speechwill affirm "multilateralism and rules-based international systems, human rights, gender equality, the fight against climate change, and economic benefits being shared by all," the government said in a statement.

Freeland's speech will be the Liberal government's attempt to define its military, development, diplomatic and trade priorities, and how Canada plans to navigate a world order thrown into disarray by disruptive events such as the election of Donald Trump and the rise of anti-trade forces, sources say.

The speech is meant to serve as the "umbrella" for Wednesday's defence review and the release of the international development review later this month, said a source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity becauseit was still a work in progress.

Wednesday's defence review is expected to lay out the military's priorities for future overseas deployments, and outline government's 20-year plan for spending billions of dollars on military hardware to upgrade warships and fighter jets, among other things.

Sajjan has said the review will also dovetail with the government's broader innovation agenda and will explain how the military will partner with the defence industry to create jobs by developing of cutting-edge equipment.

For soldiers such as MacIsaac, who is overseeing Canada's contribution to the international anti-terror fight, it will bring more clarity to ongoing military operations.

"We're looking forward to the government releasing the defence policy review, likely in the next couple of days," MacIsaac said in a lengthy telephone interview Monday from his headquarters in Kuwait.

"I foresee government providing defence further direction, and the government of Canada is committed to contributing to defeating Daesh in Iraq and Syria," he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

"We're definitely here past the 30th of June."

The government has not formally announced an extension of the mission, which is Canada's contribution to the international coalition of more than 60 countries that is trying to degrade ISIL.

MacIsaac said the coalition is continually degrading ISIL's command and control, weapons making and financing operations across Iraq and Syria, and has reclaimed a swath of land the size of Nova Scotia.

"They've had to move many a headquarters and many a leader, and we are tracking those changes," he explained.

Though he didn't specifically reference the recent attacks in London, Manchester and elsewhere, MacIsaac said ISIL is losing the ability todirect attacks across the globe.

"There are many Daesh-influenced attacks but I'm not aware of any Daesh-directed attacks," he said. "So it's interesting to watch them now try to claim when someone does something criminal They're on their hind foot."

Asked if he had a message for war-weary Canadians, MacIsaac replied:

"Canada is fortunate. We live in a safe place. But we have a duty to take collective action with our friends to advance the liberty of others and security at home.

"If you think you have values, you've got to work to show it."

Freeland's speech will address how Canada plans to project the "hard power" of its military and use its "soft-power" diplomacy, sources say.

She will describe how and why Canada was able to play a role in shaping the multilateral order that was built after the Second World War because the country suffered heavy losses fighting the two world wars, sources say.

Now, with the world's multilateral order under threat and theglobe in a period of constant change, those sources say Freeland will say the countrymust nowwork to shape the shifting global forces to the Canada's advantage.

Much of that disruption is due to Trump's "America First" foreign policy throwing cold water on NATO and the G7, while dumping the Paris agreement on fighting climate change.

The source said the speech may not mention Trump directly, but it will re-enforce Canada's strong economic ties with the U.S., and how Canada's foreign policy diverges notably on climate with its southern neighbour.

Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press

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Canadian general expects extension of anti-ISIL mission in Iraq and Syria - rdnewsnow.com