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May 1 More demonstrations in Istanbul. The election of Abdullah Gul as Turkey's new president is annulled by Turkey's Constitutional Court. In parliament, members of the secular political parties had boycotted the vote for president, and Gul failed to win majority support in parliament.

May 4 In predominately Shi'a Azerbaijan, two journalists are sentenced for writing that European societies were more successful because they were more inclined toward peace and tolerance than are Islamic societies. Samir Sadagatoglu was given four years and Rafik Tagi three years in prison.

May 7 In China many women are marrying early than 20 and men earlier than 22, violating the constitution, producing unwanted population growth. Also, China's one-child policy is threatened by families wanting a son and not reporting the first birth of girls.

May 8 More than half of Iraq's parliament, its Council of Representatives - 144 members - are reported to have signed a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal from their country.

May 13 In the city of Izmir, more than a million Turks crowd together in the streets, and boats join in off shore, to demonstrate support for their country's secularism.

May 17 The highly regarded British think tank, Chatham House, describes the Iraqi government as largely powerless and irrelevant. It says that "military force in the forms of surges cannot deliver the critical political accommodation."

May 21 The BBC reports that Haifa Wehbe's new song Kiss my Wawa (little wound) is doing well. Wehbe is a Lebanese Shi'a. She grew up listening to jazz and rhythm and blues. She was outraged by recent assassinations in Lebanon and she blames Israel for the war in 2006.

May 28 The first high level diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran in 27 years takes place at the home of Prime Minister Maliki in Baghdad's Green Zone. The two sides express interest in a secure and stable Iraq. The Iranians describe the U.S. military in Iraq as an occupation and its effort to train and equip Iraq's security forces as inadequate. They propose a mechanism for coordinating efforts toward Iraqi security.

May 29 In Bolivia, common indigenous people speak of institutions that were closed to them now having open doors, because, they say, of President Morales, whom they describe as "one of us." Some among Bolivia's upper or middle classes are complaining that Morales is drifting toward totalitarianism and is in tune with the anti-American of his friend, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

May 31 U.S. military deaths in Iraq for May number 123, up from 104 in April and the highest monthly total since November 2004. Sorry about not having the figures for Iraqi deaths.

Jun 3 In Egypt, 52 have been arrested for hanging up posters with Islamic messages, which is unconstitutional in Egypt. The messages supported Islamist (Islamic Brotherhood) candidates in the June 11 elections.

Jun 5 European light-bulb makers announce a plan to phase out the standard light bulb in eight years, similar to plans considered in Australia, Canada and California.

Jun 6 President Museveni of Uganda, long considered a good friend by leaders in the West, complains that "Western counties have denied us access to their markets - deliberately." Uganda's major export is coffee. Another matter: Uganda has one of the world's higher population growth rates, at 3.6 percent estimated for 2007.

Jun 7 In the city of Zhengzhou in central China, at least 1,000 students go on a four hour rampage that includes burning cars. They are angry about an inspector of some sort hitting a fellow student, female, in the face while she is working at an unlicensed street stall. Authorities are reprimanding the inspectors. Riots have been frequent in China in 2007. The riots are little threat to the central government.

Jun 8 Hawaii's voyaging canoe, the Hokule'a, sails into Japan's Yokohama Harbor and is greeted by a grand celebration.

Jun 12 Anarchy continues in the Gaza Strip. Unemployment is at Great Depression levels. Gangsters operate freely. There is some starvation. The impulse to violence has gotten the people of Gaza nowhere, but it continues. Two rivals for power, Fatah and Hamas, are killing each other again. Two days of fighting have left 34 dead.

Jun 13 In Egypt it is official, candidates of the ruling party have won 69 of 71 contested seats on the Shura Council - the upper house of Egypt's parliament. Voting day included police blocking people from voting and the arrest of 400 members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood won no seat and claims it has been cheated. The Shura Council has 264 members and the ruling party's Hosni Mubarak appoints 88 of the them.

Jun 17 In the Gaza Strip, Hamas insurgents win the gun battles in the streets. What little power President Abbas's Fatah organizers had in the Gaza Strip has been wiped out.

Jun 18 Muslims demonstrate in the streets against Queen Elizebeth having knighted Salman Rushdie. Regarding the knighthood, Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister Mohammad Ejaz ul-Haq is reported to have said that "If someone commits suicide bombing to protect the honor of the Prophet Mohammad, his act is justified."

Jun 18 In Ghana people are celebrating a big oil discovery that is expected to add much to the country's economic success.

Jun 20 People in Ghana are talking about the new oil discovery allowing the building of schools, hospitals and roads - benefits, they say, for all the people.

Jun 21 In Gaza a bank employee, who happens to be a U.S. citizen, tells the BBC that families have been "taking revenge" on each other. He is not a Hamas supporter but says that with Hamas ruling the streets everyone is safer. "People" he says, "have been told to hand in their weapons."

Jun 23 In Saudi Arabia, Ahmed al-Bulaiwi, a retired border patrol guard in his early 50s, has died in custody. He was arrested on June 1 for the offense of being alone with a woman who was not his relative.

Jun 27 About Iraq policy, the debate between the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) continues from January. Before the House Armed Services Committee. Dr. Anthony Cordesman for CSIS describes the Iraqi government as disfunctional and that hopes placed in it by the Bush administration to produce a favorable outcome for the war are misguided. Dr. Frederick Kagan of AEI, credited with having created the "surge" strategy, argues that the unexpected might happen in Iraq and therefore we cannot conclude that the surge strategy is not working. Also he claims that there is "every reason to be optimistic" about the outcome of the surge strategy.

Jun 28 Egypt's Health Ministry announces the abolition of female circumcision.

Jun 29 Mandatory Christian education classes in elementary schools in Norway are ruled in violation of Article 2 of the European human rights convention. So rules the European Court of Human Rights (at Strasbourg).