Morning Coffee - 8 February 2009

Welcome to Morning Coffee, brought to you by Lindsay Beyerstein with additional links from the UN Dispatch team. Every morning we survey foreign affairs and foreign policy news so you don't have to. We begin with the "Starting Five" items of the day -- these may not always appear on A-1, but they *are* the kinds of stories that will be buzzing in foreign capitals, the UN and wherever foreign policy minds roam.
Starting Five
PRO-RUSSIAN CANDIDATE CLAIMS VICTORY IN UKRAINE, INCUMBENT FIGHTS ON - Pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych, rather presumptuously, declared victory in Sunday's run-off election in Ukraine after exit polls gave him a narrow lead over incumbent Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Election officials said that Yanukovych 51.3% to Tymoshenko 43.3% with 27.4% of the vote counted. Tymoshenko says the race isn't over yet. She vows to fight for every ballot. Link
IRAN SAYS IT WILL MAKE PURER URANIUM IF DEAL STALLS OUT - Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadineja signaled to his top nuclear official to make purer uranium for a planned Tehran nuclear reactor. Iran and West have agreed in principle to allow Iran to produce nuclear energy, provided the uranium is supplied by other countries, to ensure that Iran doesn't use the uranium to make weapons. But talks are lagging and Iran is seeking leverage to get them started again. Link
COSTA RICA ELECTS FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT IN LANDSLIDE - Costa Rica elected its first female president on Sunday by a landslide. Laura Chinchilla of the National Liberation Party swept to power by a nearly 2:1 margin. Chinchilla will replace President Oscar Arias, who defeated her in a close election four years ago. Arias, a Nobel laureate, will be remembered for taking the (notably unsuccessful) initiative to resolve the coup in Honduras. Link
REALITY TV RAT RACE - The American reality TV Show "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here" has been fined $3000 Australian dollars for animal cruelty after a contestant killed and ate a jungle rat. Italian celebrity cheft Gino D'Acampo killed the rat and shared it with U.S. actor Stuart Manning. This isn't D'Acampo's first brush with the law. He was sentenced to two years in prison in the late nineties for burglarizing the home of singer Paul Young. Link
OKAY, SO IT'S NOT SUNTORY TIME - Two Japanese mega-brewers, Kirin and Suntory, broke off merger talks. The two firms had hoped to form one of the world's largest food and beverage firms, but they failed to reach an agreement over merger ratios and governance. Kirin stock dropped 5% on news of the nixed union. Link
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