-- Iranian opposition activists now confirm 69 deaths in the two months of unrest, more than triple the government's initial estimate of 20 dead. More from the AP here. And the BBC reports that the government now says it detained some 4,000 people in the post-election crackdown. A government spokesman told a news conference in Tehran that all but 300 were freed within days.

-- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad griped last week about not getting congratulations on his inauguration from the United States and other Western enemies ("Well, no one in Iran is waiting for your messages," Ahmadinejad sniffed in his inaugural speech.). But today he did get a note of encouragement from another old foe: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the authoritarian Arab leader who's no stranger to disputed elections. Iranian media reported news of the supposedly handwritten note to Ahmadinejad from Mubarak. Like the United States, Egypt does not have full diplomatic relations with Iran. Iran's beef with Egypt includes Sadat's peace treaty with Israel and the government's granting of political asylum to the deposed shah in 1979. Egypt has its own bone to pick with Iran -- namely, the government's praise of Sadat's assassin as a martyr and Mubarak's disparaging comments about Shiite Muslims.

-- It's been hard finding gavel-to-gavel coverage of the mass trial that's under way in Iran. Defendants include prominent reformists, opposition activists, journalists, embassy workers and a French academic -- and all are accused of some form of sedition. Access to the courtroom is restricted and full transcripts, to my knowledge, have not been made available. But over at Tehran Bureau, a relatively new Boston-based site with aggregated and original content, has the most extensive coverage. Here's a blow-by-blow account from Tehran Bureau's Muhammad Sahimi. The piece is called "The Show Goes on." 

-- Iranian legislators are demanding a say in the makeup of Ahmadinejad's new Cabinet, politicians are still reeling over the president's reshuffling of the intelligence ministry, and there looks to be quite a battle ahead before a full administration is named.

-- Iran is still making noise about Western interference in its state affairs. Specifically, they don't like all the condemnation of the "show trial" and alleged covert operations to topple the clerical establishment. As the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told a weekly news conference Monday: "Why don't they leave us and our people alone?"