A round-up of the issue of the week as reported in the media. Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari, boxed in at home, decided it was time to go visitng his dear friends in China once more this past week.

• July 10, 2010

Latvia’s Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis (New Era) on Thursday had a meeting with the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk; at the meeting, Dombrovskis informed about Latvia's move to the euro and the planned adoption of the European single currency in Latvia on January 1, 2014, as Dombrovskis' press secretary Liga Krapane told LETA.

• July 10, 2010

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived on Saturday in the Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea for informal Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit,

• July 10, 2010

The leader who bashed America and embraced Stalin is now backing a major thaw in Russian foreign policy.

• July 8, 2010

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali-Akbar Salehi said Wednesday that the Bushehr nuclear power plant is to become operational in the Iranian month of Shahrivar (August 23 to September 22), the official IRNA news agency reported.

• July 8, 2010

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari is in China this week, making good his promise to visit the “all weather ally” every three months. During his previous trips, his hosts have sent him off to the provinces to see for himself the booming growth there, but this trip may turn out be a lot more productive.

• July 8, 2010

Estonia's consumer price inflation rose to 3.5% in June from 3% in May, Statistics Estonia said Wednesday. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.4% following 0.2% increase in May.

• July 8, 2010

Bulgaria aims to limit the cost of the Belene nuclear plant being built by Russia’s ZAO Atomstroyexport to 7 billion euros (.8 billion), Prime Minister Boiko Borissov said.

• July 8, 2010