The Short List - May 31, 2011

• The House will have a vote on just the debt ceiling later this evening.  The vote is largely political theater as Republicans will bring it for a vote only to vote against it the day before a meeting with President Obama.


• Heavy fighting has broken out in Yemen as government forces are clashing with one of the country's most powerful tribal leaders.  What could have been a bloodless revolution teeters on the verge of a civil war.


• German Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared that all nuclear power plants in Germany will cease operations within 11 years.  The move is seen as continued political fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear incident.  Germany currently gets 25% of its energy from nuclear power plants.