As Iran's embattled President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Russia June 16, Iranian state radio reported that seven people were killed in clashes overnight, escalating tensions after days of unprecedented demonstrations that have forced a formal review of elections results. The reports said the deaths came after "thugs" attacked a military post. (NYT, BBC News, June 17) Our correspondent in Tehran says: "At the end of non-violent rally which is called illegal by officials (in spite of lots of attempts to get permission from competent authorities), Basij started to shoot at people from northwestern corner of Azadi square."

North Sudan has been accused of providing arms that were used to attack barges carrying UN food aid. A governing party leader in South Sudan told the BBC arms were being distributed in the south to spread dissent between rival ethnic groups. Pagan Amum, secretary general of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, told the BBC's Focus on Africa program Khartoum wanted to destabilize the region before a referendum on southern independence due in 2011.

A power-sharing deal between Mauritania's military junta and opposition is being delayed by disagreement over the composition of an interim government. Under the deal, signed June 5 after lengthy talks involving international mediators in Senegal, the transitional Government of National Unity was to ave taken effect on the 13th—with the civilian president toppled in last August's military coup as its head. But Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi must first formally resign as president, and he wants to do so in the office he was driven from by Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

Nigeria's Ogoni people are divided over Shell Oil's agreement to pay $15.5 million as an out-of-court settlement rather than face a trial over accusations that it was complicit in rights abuses in the Niger Delta in the 1990s. The families of nine people executed in 1995—including famed writer writer Ken Saro-Wiwa—accused Shell of collaborating with the military regime of Gen. Sani Abacha to silence the activists for protesting against the oil company's environmental practices.

At least one person was killed and several wounded in Tehran's Azadi Square when armed men opened fire on a rally by tens of thousands protesting Iran's election results June 15. The rally was held in defiance of a ban imposed by the Interior Ministry. The shooting occurred in front of a local base of the Basij, Iran's volunteer paramilitary force, which had been set ablaze. Police fired tear gas as protesters set several police motorbikes on fire. (AlJazeera, June 15)

Iran is bracing for a third day of protests after defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi called for the election results to be annulled. On June 14, tens of thousands rallied in Tehran to celebrate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory—as riot police and anti-Ahmadinejad protesters again clashed in several parts of the city. Police used baton and motorbike charges as well as tear gas. Streets were littered with broken glass and fires set by protesters, while more riot police patrolled Mousavi strongholds. Mousavi supporters cried "death to the dictator" into the evening. Scores have been reported arrested. "I urge you, Iranian nation, to continue your nationwide protests in a peaceful and legal way," Mousavi told his supporters, while calling on Iran's Guardian Council to annul the election. (BBC, June 15)

A helicopter was used for the first time June 13 to help local police hunt poppy plantations in suburban Beijing. The chooper was deployed around mountainous areas in Yanqing district, sending video images of the ground back to the headquarters. "If there is any poppy plantation in these areas, they will be easily discerned by police in the headquarters," said Zhao Wenzhong, a senior officer with the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Four Uighurs from Guantánamo Bay have been released in Bermuda where they hailed their new freedom—but the United Kingdom reproached its overseas territory, saying it should have been consulted on the move. US authorities ignored demands by China for custody of the men, who had served seven years at Guantánamo, flying them June 11 to Bermuda, which accepted them in a guest-worker program. "Growing up under communism, we always dreamed of living in peace and working in free society like this one," Abdul Nasser, speaking on behalf of the four, said in a statement released by their lawyers. Speaking to the people of Bermuda, the statement added: "Today you have let freedom ring."