THE SUPREME LEADER, AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI - Iran's Supreme Leader is the country's most powerful figure. He appoints the head of the judiciary, six of the 12 members of the powerful Guardian Council, the commanders of all the armed forces, Friday prayer leaders and the head of radio and TV. He also confirms the president's election. Khamenei was a key figure in the Islamic revolution in Iran and a close confidant of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic. He was later president of Iran from 1981 to 1989 before becoming Supreme Leader for life.

PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD - Iran's president since 2005, was actively involved in the Islamic revolution and was a founding member of the student union that took over the US embassy in Tehran in 1979. But he denies being one of the hostage-takers. He became the first non-cleric to be elected president since 1981 when he won a run-off vote against former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in elections in June 2005. He is a hard-liner both at home - where he does not favour the development or reform of political institutions - and abroad, where he has maintained an anti-Western attitude and combative stance on Tehran's nuclear programme.

MIR HOSSEIN MOUSAVI - The 68-year-old former prime minister stayed out of politics for some years but returned to stand as a moderate. He was born in East Azerbaijan Province and moved to Tehran to study architecture at university. One of his closest associates and backers in this election was Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former President of Iran who now heads two of the regime's most powerful bodies: the Expediency Council (which adjudicates disputes over legislation) and the Assembly of Experts (which appoints, and can theoretically replace, the Supreme Leader).

THE REFORMISTS - The Iranian reform movement is a political movement led by a group of political parties and organizations in Iran who supported MOHAMMAD KHATAMI'S plans to introduce more freedom and democracy. In 1997, Khatami was elected president on a platform of greater freedom of expression, as well as measures to tackle unemployment and boost privatisation. However, much of his initial liberalisations were stymied by resistance from the country's conservative institutions.

THE REVOLUTIONARY GUARD AND THE ARMY - The armed forces comprise the Revolutionary Guard and the regular forces. The two bodies are under a joint general command. Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) was set up shortly after the revolution to defend the country's Islamic system, and to provide a counterweight to the regular armed forces. It has since become a major military, political and economic force in Iran, with close ties to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a former member.

THE MILITIAS - The Revolutionary Guard also controls the Basij Resistance Force, an Islamic volunteer militia of about 90,000 men and woman with an additional capacity to mobilise nearly 1m.

THE CLERICS - Clerics dominate Iranian society - only clerics can be elected to the Assembly of Experts, which appoints the Supreme Leader, monitors his performance and can in theory remove him if he is deemed incapable of fulfilling his duties. The Assembly is currently headed by Ayatollah Ali Rafsanjani, who is described as pragmatic and conservative. Former President Mohammad Khatami accused the clerics of obstructing his reforms and warned against the dangers of religious "despotism". Clerics also dominate the judiciary, which is based on Sharia (Islamic) law.

In recent years, conservative hardliners have used the judicial system to undermine reforms by imprisoning reformist personalities and journalists and closing down reformist papers.

Mr Walsh, who has said he will work unpaid in July, has urged employees to help the airline which lost £401 million last year. Keith Williams, the airline's chief financial officer, will also be working unpaid for the month. Line managers are approaching staff directly to ask what sacrifices they are prepared to make.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph during the aviation industry summit in Kuala Lumpur last week, Mr Walsh painted a grim picture of the current economic climate. "The trading environment is the toughest it has ever been, I don't think there is any evidence that it is improving," he said. "This is probably the most difficult period in the history or our industry." Mr Walsh, who will do without £61,000 as a result of his gesture, has written to the airline's 30,000 employees based in Britain asking them to volunteer for either unpaid leave or even to work for nothing for up to a month.

"I am looking for every single part of the company to take part in some way in this cash-effective way of helping the company's survival plan. It really counts," Mr Walsh has told staff. Other airlines, including Cathay Pacific, have also launched similar emergency rescue plans, where they have been backed by staff.

A graduate of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, a Reform seminary, the 45-year-old convert to Judaism was ordained at the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati on June 6. In August, she will be installed as the new spiritual leader of Congregation Bayt Shalom in Greenville, South Carolina. "I am humbled and I am in awe," Stanton said of her achievement.

It was a milestone - both for Stanton and for the American-Jewish community - that was decades in the making. "It's been a long, difficult journey," she said. "If someone had told me I'd be a spiritual leader 15 years ago, I would have laughed." Indeed, her ordination comes during a particular juncture in American history, just months after the first African-American president took office.

"It is of incredible importance to note that her ordination coincides with the election of Barack Obama," the president of Hebrew Union College, Rabbi David Ellenson, told The New York Times. "It offers a ray of hope that the world can become a better place."

Whenever anyone calls his resourcefulness in difficult situations into question, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likes to recount an episode from his younger days. He was in his early twenties and was serving in the Israeli Defense Force's elite special forces unit Sayeret Matkal, which had been chosen to gather intelligence behind enemy lines and had a tough-as-nails reputation.

Netanyahu was leading a group of soldiers up a mountain when they suddenly found their path blocked by a giant boulder. With the side of the mountain to the left and a precipice to the right, the group's only real option was to turn around and abort the mission. But, as Netanyahu likes to relate, he knew just what to do. Using shrubs that were growing out of the cliff, he made his way hand-over-hand around the obstacle, dangling over the abyss, and reached the path on the other side of the boulder.

Forty years later, Netanyahu is being called upon to use his imagination once again. This time, the challenges involve defusing the conflicts in the Middle East and the question of how Israel's relationship with its protective power, the United States, will develop under President Barack Obama. The president has asked him, in no uncertain terms, to accept the possibility of the establishment of a Palestinian state, as his predecessors did.

Reporting from Washington - The Obama administration this week will propose the most significant new regulation of the financial industry since the Great Depression, including a new watchdog agency to look out for consumers' interests.

Under the plan, expected to be released Wednesday, THE GOVERNMENT WOULD HAVE NEW POWERS TO SEIZE KEY COMPANIES - such as insurance giant American International Group Inc - whose failure jeopardizes the financial system. Currently, the government's authority to seize companies is mostly limited to banks. But critics say the easing of the financial crisis that gripped the country last year appears to have reduced the momentum for some of the most far-reaching proposals, such as merging several banking regulatory agencies.

They're also concerned that the proposed agency whose mission would be to protect consumers against financial misconduct wouldn't have the authority to do so for a wide-enough range of products. "We had a system that proved too unstable, too fragile... Those are things we have to change," Treasury Secretary Timothy F Geithner said Monday at an economic forum in New York.

The final plan due to be released on Wednesday - which originally aimed to streamline and consolidate banking and securities regulation in one or two agencies - NOW IS EXPECTED TO SIDESTEP MOST JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES AND SIMPLY IMPOSE ACROSS THE BOARD STANDARDS TO BE APPLIED BY ALL FINANCIAL REGULATORS, according to administration and industry sources. The most likely candidate for elimination is the Office of Thrift Supervision, whose failure to detect and forestall problems at Countrywide, IndyMac, Washington Mutual and other freewheeling mortgage lenders is thought to have contributed to the financial crisis.

The decision to concentrate sweeping new powers at the already overstretched Fed is not without controversy. Senator Christopher J Dodd, chairman of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, which must approve any regulatory overhaul, has raised objections to that approach, and so has Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila C Bair.

Ms Bair advocates an alternative where a council of top bank regulators would make decisions on whether to step in, regulate or close major corporations like the American International Group whose failure posed a risk to the whole economy and financial system. The Fed stepped in to save AIG last year without having such powers, but the result was a costly and muddled bailout that no one wants to repeat.

Medvedev has made the proposal before. It reflects both the Kremlin's push for greater international clout and a concern shared by other countries that soaring US budget deficits could spur inflation and weaken the dollar. Airing it at a summit meeting underlined the challenge to US clout.

Medvedev spoke at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes China and four Central Asian nations. Later Tuesday he hosts a summit of the BRIC group of leading emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Amid efforts by Washington and Moscow to improve strained ties, the summit will be watched for signs of stronger support from Russia and its neighbors for American-led operations in Afghanistan. That will be a signal of the depth of Russia's determination to mend fences with the United States at a time of warming relations between the two countries.

ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House. The network plans a primetime special - 'Prescription for America' - originating from the East Room, excluding opposing voices on the debate.

"ABCNEWS prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers - of all political persuasions - even when others have taken a more partisan approach and even in the face of criticism from extremes on both ends of the political spectrum. ABCNEWS is looking for the most thoughtful and diverse voices on this issue."

"ABCNEWS alone will select those who will be in the audience asking questions of the president. LIKE ANY PROGRAMS WE BROADCAST, ABC NEWS WILL HAVE COMPLETE EDITORIAL CONTROL. To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience."

The order issued Tuesday limits journalists for foreign media to work only from their offices, conducting telephone interviews and monitoring official sources such as state television. It comes as foreign reporters in Iran to cover the elections began leaving the country. Iranian officials say they will not extend their visas.

Iran's Islamic leadership is prepared to conduct a limited recount of disputed presidential elections, a spokesman said Tuesday, drawing the ruling clerics deeper into a showdown that began with street clashes and quickly moved to the highest levels of power.

The announcement comes after Iran's state radio reported earlier Tuesday that seven people were killed during clashes in the Iranian capital the previous day - the first official confirmation of deaths linked to the wave of protests and street battles following last week's disputed election. Hundreds of thousands of Mousavi's backers poured through Tehran on Monday in a massive show of unity - that ended in bloodshed when seven people were killed in a confrontation with pro-regime militiamen.

The article reported that the couple claimed £6m in staff and salary allowances and would have received a further £1.7m if they had claimed the maximum to which they were entitled in subsistence and travel allowances. The Kinnocks did not dispute the figures when showed them by the paper. Open Europe also found that during their time in Brussels, both Kinnocks claimed a housing allowance on top of their incomes, even though they lived in the same home, and that this alone would have netted the couple almost £600,000 over 10 years.

The Mail on Sunday reported on Open Europe's findings that Glenys Kinnock can expect £67,835 a year from two pensions as an MEP and Neil Kinnock's pension as a former Commissioner is worth more than £80,000 a year. Tom McPhail, Head of Pensions Research at financial consultants Hargreaves Lansdown, calculated that these pensions would cost an ordinary taxpayer £4.4million to buy in cash.

McPhail was quoted as saying "Wow. NOT BAD FOR A FAILED PARTY LEADER AND HIS WIFE. But people will find this scale of indulgence on the part of politicians nauseating, especially at a time when British workers are having their pensions cut." Open Europe's Mats Persson was quoted by the Sunday Times saying, "The Kinnocks are Brussels' very own Lord and Lady Expenses. ONE HAS TO QUESTION WHETHER LADY KINNOCK IS A SUITABLE MINISTER FOR EUROPE. How can she distinguish between the interests of Britain and the interests of the institutions that she and her family have relied upon for their income for so long?"

He added that "NOTHING WILL HAPPEN" IF ISRAEL "DEPENDS ON THE EUROPEANS" TO STOP IRAN'S GENOCIDAL THREATS AGAINST THE JEWISH STATE. The Freedom Party campaigned on a platform for shifting more decision-making power away from Brussels, the headquarters of the European Parliament, and back to members of the 27 EU countries. The vote was on European representation within the EU Parliament in Brussels and showed that "people are not so interested in Europe. THE NETHERLANDS IS NOT AGAINST EUROPE," HE SAID, BUT "WE DON'T WANT A EUROPEAN SUPER STATE."

Asked about the EU's posture toward Israel and forcing the Islamic Republic of Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program, Wilders said the European Parliament has "always been biased against Israel." He said he regrets "that they (EU) have a foreign minister" and argued that the "European Parliament should not be involved in foreign politics."

Wilders said Israel was the "only light of democracy in the Middle East" and that Islamic war was "against us all." The Jewish state was "more like the canary in the coal mine," he said, and stressed that an "ideological conflict" was unfolding in the region. "It is not a territorial conflict. Please forget about this crazy concept." The Islamists "see Israel as a big settlement" and if Israel "gives Territory A," said Wilders, then the other side will ask for Territory B, "such as Haifa."

Commenting on the Iranian election and Teheran's nuclear enrichment program, Wilders said it "does not matter who wins. The rhetoric at the end of the day is the same."

"PEOPLE ARE TERRIFIED AND ARE LEAVING THEIR HOMES," says Jabar Mustafa, a medical administrator, who works in a hospital in the southern province of Dhi Qar. "We knew these snakes before, but now they are coming in huge numbers. They are attacking buffalo and cattle as well as people." Doctors in the area say six people have been killed and 13 poisoned.

The plague of snakes is the latest result of an unprecedented fall in the level of the water in the Euphrates and the Tigris, the two great rivers which for thousands of years have made life possible in the sun-baked plains of Mesopotamia, the very name of which means "between the rivers" in Greek. The rivers that made Iraq's dry soil so fertile are drying up because the supply of water, which once flowed south into Iraq from Turkey, Syria and Iran, IS NOW HELD BACK BY DAMS AND USED FOR IRRIGATION. ON THE EUPHRATES ALONE, TURKEY HAS FIVE LARGE DAMS UPRIVER FROM IRAQ, AND SYRIA HAS TWO.

The diversion of water from the rivers has already destroyed a large swathe of Iraqi agriculture and the result of Iraq being starved of water may be one of the world's greatest natural disasters, akin to the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest. ALREADY THE ADVANCE OF THE DESERT HAS LED TO FREQUENT DUST STORMS IN BAGHDAD WHICH CLOSE THE AIRPORT. Yet this dramatic climatic change has attracted little attention outside Iraq, overshadowed by the violence following the US-led invasion in 2003 and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

Large parts of Iraq that were once productive farmland have already turned into arid desert. The Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture says that between 40 and 50 per cent of what was agricultural land in the 1970s is now being hit by desertification. Drought, war, UN sanctions, lack of investment and the cutting down of trees for firewood have all exacerbated the crisis, but at its heart is the lack of water for irrigation in the Tigris and Euphrates.

THE OUTCOME OF THE AGRICULTURAL DISASTER IN IRAQ IS EVIDENT IN THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLE SHOPS IN BAGHDAD. Jassim Mohammed Bahadeel, a grocer in the Karada district, says that once much of what he sold came from farms around the Iraqi capital. "But today, the apples I sell come from America, France and Chile; tomatoes and potatoes from Syria and Jordan; oranges from Egypt and Turkey. Only the dates come from Iraq because they do not need a lot of water."

Figures from gold brokers suggest that small investors are buying up physical gold, such as bars and coins, as well as so-called "paper gold", such as shares in gold companies and gold funds in far greater quantities than a year ago. Gold Money is a company that allows investors to buy gold bars or stakes in the bars, which it then stores in vaults on clients' behalf. A year ago it held $352 million worth of customers' gold in its vaults. This has nearly doubled to $694 million by the end of May.

These figures echo official data, which suggests demand for gold has increased substantially over the last 12 months, with some fears there could even be a shortage around the world. This is despite the global recession, which has pushed down the demand for jewellery, especially in India, the biggest gold jewellery market in the world. According to the World Gold Council, RETAIL INVESTORS AROUND THE WORLD BOUGHT 131 TONNES OF GOLD IN THE FIRST THREE MONTHS OF THIS YEAR, AN INCREASE OF 33 PER CENT.

THE MAIN ATTRACTION FOR INVESTORS IS THAT GOLD IS SEEN AS THE ULTIMATE HEDGE AGAINST INFLATION. While the pound or dollar may lose their value, depending on the fortunes of the economy, gold historically goes up in value when inflation gathers pace. That is because everyone from market traders to high-powered investors would prefer to be paid in gold when cash starts to lose its worth. MANY FEAR THAT INFLATION WILL SHOOT UPWARDS LATER THIS YEAR OR NEXT as a result of the extra money that has been pumped into the economy, following the quantitative easing programme undertaken by the Bank of England.

The success of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was never predicated on his authority as a religious scholar. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF SHIITE CLERICS WHO ARE SUPERIOR TO HIM IN THE PECKING ORDER. Charisma is also not a characteristic frequently associated with Iran's religious leader. Rather, Khamenei's power stems largely from his skills as a strategist. Since his election as the almost untouchable leader of the Islamic republic in 1989, Khamenei has proven remarkably adept at courting his political opponents, thereby avoiding open conflict. Few pursued consensus as arduously as Khamenei.

In recent years, however, as this consensus has become more virtual than real, the position of Iran's leader has been eroded. Indeed, the current street battles are symptomatic of that erosion. Tears in the country's religious establishment have become ever more visible in Iran's recent past, the gap between the country's rich and poor has widened, and the chasm between the Western-oriented youth and the religious fanatics has deepened. INDEED, THE CURRENT CRISIS COULD VERY WELL SPELL THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR THE KHAMENEI SYSTEM.

The demonstrations in Tehran and elsewhere are not just in protest against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was declared the official winner of Friday presidential elections despite opposition concerns that the election was fixed. RATHER, THE PROTEST IS ALSO AGAINST KHAMENEI HIMSELF, a leader who has lost all connection to large swaths of younger Iranians. He seems not to have noticed the yearning for more openness, more freedom - and for jobs with a future.

The main agenda item at the meetings in Yekaterinburg will be HOW TO DEAL WITH THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS. Putting the two top-level meetings next to each other highlights the dominance of the economic crisis for both groups. THE TWO MEETINGS ARE FURTHER SIGNS OF A GLOBAL POWER SHIFT.

Trade between China and the other five full members has grown from $12bn (£7.3bn) in 2001 to $68bn in 2007. There have been moves to build a single energy market and a common transportation corridor within the SCO. The energy-thirsty China will benefit from all this, but China has also provided training and other services in return.

Leaders from the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so-called Bric countries, will hold their first ever summit in Russia on Tuesday. The term Bric was coined in the same year the SCO was set up. THE LAST EIGHT YEARS HAVE SEEN A SHIFT OF POWER BOTH POLITICALLY AND ECONOMICALLY, WITH CHINA AS THE BIGGEST WINNER.