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Iran: A Showdown at Friday Prayers?

Friday’s weekly Friday prayer service at Tehran University will do a lot more than honor the onset of the Muslim sabbath. The country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, plans to lead the service himself — and he has publicly requested the attendance of all the main players in the political drama that has roiled Iran since last Friday’s disputed election. Reports on Thursday suggested that opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi encouraged his supporters to attend the event, but overnight word circulated that he and reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi had urged their followers to stay away, although the authenticity of those claims could not be verified.

In Iran, Rival Regime Factions Play a High-Stakes Game of Chicken

As the sun set on the fourth day of turmoil over Iran’s disputed election result, the political conflict looked less like a “Tehran spring” challenge to the Islamic regime than a high-stakes game of chicken among its rival factions.

Latest News About Iran Elections

Move Along, There’s Nothing to See Here, June 16, 9:12 p.m. IRT The Financial Times reports that “Iran on Tuesday banned journalists working for foreign media from leaving their offices to cover protests in the capital.” Wire services also announced that due to the ban on their photographers covering the demonstrations, they were forced to relay only images from official Iranian sources.

Iran’s Lesson: Even in a Tainted Election, Voting Still Matters

Four years ago, during a similarly sultry Tehran summer, I had an argument with Shirin Ebadi about whether Iranians should vote in their country’s presidential elections.

Zakaria: Iran election could make history

Voters turned out in heavy numbers Friday in Iran’s election. Some lined up before polls opened, and others waited more than three hours under the hot sun to cast their ballots. (CNN) — Voters turned out in heavy numbers Friday in Iran’s election

Analysis: Has North Korea reached a ‘tipping point’?

When North Korea conducted a nuclear test in 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promised tough consequences for North Korea’s actions but said the door was still open for negotiations. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said pretty much the same thing last month when North Korea lobbed a long-range rocket, prompting fears that it could hit Japan or even Hawaii. The broken record was replayed this week when President Obama called for “stronger international pressure” after North Korea turned pyrotechnics into an extreme sport, with an apparent nuclear test followed by a series of missile launches

Suu Kyi to face charges, supporters say

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is to be taken to a prison courtroom in Myanmar Thursday, after an American was arrested for allegedly sneaking into the home where she is under house arrest, a spokesman for her political party said.

Why North Korea is So Crazy

North Korea’s rocket launch of April 5, the U.N. Security Council vote to condemn the launch and strengthen sanctions, and the North’s decision of April 14 to pull out of the six-party talks have thrown a monkey wrench into prospects for a negotiated resolution of Pyongyang’s nuclear-weapon and missile programs. On the surface it appears that North Korea is again embarked on a threatening course; it has vowed to continue work on its contested weapons programs

Khmer Rouge prison chief stands trial in Cambodia

A former member of Cambodia’s genocidal Khmer Rouge regime became the first from the ultra-Maoist movement to stand trial before a U.N.-backed tribunal Tuesday. Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, faces charges that include crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Convention during the regime’s 1975-79 rule. He is standing trial just outside the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, which is made up of Cambodian and international judges.