IRAN: Iranian media reported Tuesday that the nation's powerful Guardian
Council will not annul the results of the nation's disputed
presidential election, saying there were no major polling
irregularities.
The council's spokesman (Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei) said late
Monday that most complaints centered around irregularities before the
election, and not during or after the vote that resulted in a landslide
victory for incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iran's parliament announced Tuesday that Mr. Ahmadinejad will be sworn-in between July 26 and August 19.
PAKISTAN: Police in Pakistan say a militant leader opposed to Pakistani Taliban
chief Baitullah Mehsud was shot dead Tuesday in northwest Pakistan.
Police say militant commander Qari Zainuddin was in his office in the
town of Dera Ismail Khan when a gunman opened fire on him and wounded
one of his aides. Police rushed Zainuddin to the hospital, where he was
pronounced dead on arrival.
Zainuddin recently had announced that he would support a planned military operation against Mehsud.
Officials say one of Zainuddin's guards barged into the complex and
shot him after morning prayers.
US - KYRGYZSTAN: A Kyrgyz official says the United States and Kyrgyzstan have reached a
deal for the continued use of a Kyrgyz airport to transport U.S.
military supplies to Afghanistan.
The official said Tuesday an agreement to make the Manas airbase the
"center for transit of goods to Afghanistan" was reached on Monday. The
source said Kyrgyzstan's parliament would start reviewing the new deal
as early as Tuesday.
In February, the Kyrgyz government said it was giving the United States
six months to vacate the base, after Russia pledged to give Kyrgyzstan
about $2 billion in loans and aid.
US - RUSSIA ARMS TALKS: U.S. and Russian arms negotiators are beginning talks in Geneva Tuesday on a new treaty to replace the expiring START treaty.
The landmark 1991 deal significantly cut U.S. and Soviet arsenals of strategic nuclear weapons.
President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev,
agreed earlier this year to open talks on a new treaty to replace START
when it expires on December 5.
President Medvedev has said Russia is willing to make even deeper cuts
in its nuclear arms, but only if the United States addresses Russia's
concerns over U.S. plans for a missile defense system in central Europe.
US - DC TRAIN CRASH: Authorities in Washington, D.C. say at least nine people have died from Monday's crash of a subway train into another train.
The late afternoon crash took place near an above ground train station
in northeast Washington. City and transit officials say a train
rear-ended another train that had stopped on the tracks. The impact was
so hard the lead car of the moving train was sliced open, vaulted into
the air and landed on top of the rear car of the other train.
The female operator of the moving train is among the dead. Three bodies
were found by rescue workers several hours after the crash.
US - CHINA - DEFENSE: U.S. and Chinese defense officials met Tuesday in Beijing for their first high-level bilateral military talks in 18 months.
No imediate details were available about the two-day talks. Beijing
called off the U.S.-China Defense Consultative Talks more than a year
ago in anger over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
U.S. officials say Washington is looking for stronger cooperation from
China in tackling regional conflicts. Washington is expected to focus
on North Korea and international efforts to persuade the reclusive
state back to talks on ending its nuclear weapons program.
CHINA - INTERNET: Chinese state media are reporting that China will not back away from a new controversial rule requiring all new personal computers sold in the country come equipped with special Internet filtering software. China says the software is needed to protect children from pornographic and violent images. Critics in China say the program could be used to spy on Internet users. They have also voiced concerns it could expose computers to security threats and be used to block other sites China feels are politically offensive. International concern is also growing over the government's plans to tighten Internet controls.
NOKOR: Japanese coast guard officials say North Korea has banned ships from
sailing off its east coast for 16 days starting this Thursday.
Coast guard officials say the North Korean government sent them an
e-mail warning that it will hold military drills off its eastern port
of Wonsan between Thursday and July 10.
The e-mail did not say what consequences ships would face if they
violated the ban. The dates fall within a time frame mentioned last
week by Japanese
media for a possible launch of a long-range missile toward Hawaii. The
message comes at a time of heightened tension between Pyongyang and the
international community.
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