Morning Brief: Terror in Jakarta

Middle East

• Cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani criticized the Iranian leadership during Friday prayers, saying the results of last month's election are still in doubt. Police used tear gas to disperse protesters after the prayers.
• Rioting by ultra-Orthodox Jews raged for a fourth day in Jerusalem.
• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appointed a new head for the country's nuclear program. Any change in policy is considered unlikely. 

Asia

• Pakistan's supreme court overturned the nine-year-old hijacking charges against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
• Mosques in Xinjiang reopened for Friday prayers under heavy security after being closed during last week's Uighur riots. 
• Efforts at a party meeting to unseat Japanese Taro Aso have failed. The PM will likely keep his job until next month's election 

Americas

• Mexico sent 5,500 additional troops into the drug violence-plagued Mihoacan state to restore order.
• Honduras's ousted president and the current interim government have reached a number of compromises in their negotiations. 
• Colombia extradited a FARC "jailer" for prosecution in the United States.

Europe

• Iceland's parliament voted to try to join the European Union.
• Russia's first deputy prime minister says the country is hoping to join the World Trade Organization next year.
• Supporters gather in Moscow to protest the murder of human rights activist Natalia Estimirova and call for a government investigation. 

Africa

• North and South Sudan agreed to avoid violence before next week's Hague ruling on a border dispute. 
• The two French hostages taken from their hotel in Mogadishu last week have reportedly been turned over to the al-Shabab militia. 
• Sudan accused Chad of launching air raids into Darfur.