 RFE/RL Headlines 17.06.2009 A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  Iran Opposition Protests, Mourns Tens of thousands have gathered for more protests and to honor victims of the postelection unrest. Reformist candidate Musavi has meanwhile called for a day of mourning in mosques and in the streets. More  Zardari Visits EU, NATO Headquarters Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has visited both European Union and NATO headquarters in Brussels to urge greater economic openness and more support to combat a fierce insurgency. More  Ukraine Minister Resigns Over Euro-2012 Preparations Ukraine's transport minister resigned on June 17, the fourth minister to leave the cabinet this year, after accusing Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko of blocking funds for the Euro-2012 football championship. More  Kyrgyz Orphans Awaiting Decision To Join U.S. Parents Sixty-five children with special needs are waiting in Kyrgyz orphanages for a court order that would allow them to be adopted by U.S. couples, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More The Russian Defense Ministry has announced that there were 27 noncombat deaths of Russian soldiers in May, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Georgian Parliament Speaker Apologizes To Beaten Journalists Georgian Parliament Speaker David Bakradze has publicly apologized to journalists who were beaten by police on June 15, RFE/RL's Georgian Service reports. More  Official Downplays U.S. Role Over Turkmen Gas Embassy spokesman Andrew Paul told RFE/RL's Turkmen Service that none of the planned export routes for natural gas will deliver the resource to the United States. More The deputy head of TajikTransGaz, Shavkat Shoimov, told RFE/RL that Uzbek authorities cut supplies after the Tajik gas distributor failed to pay a reported $17 million debt by June 15. More  Lone Woman Approved For Kyrgyz Presidential Bid Toktaiym Umetalieva, the 49-year-old chairwoman of the Association of Nongovernmental and Nonprofit Organizations, was the country's first-ever female candidate for president when she ran against eventual winner Kurmanbek Bakiev in 2005. More Reporters Without Borders Chronicles Press Harassment The media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders has set up a hot line for journalists in danger, as well as a running account of arrests and other official Iranian efforts to hamper journalists covering the unrest. More The new Iran Vote Converter is now available on eBay. More  Press Group Condemns Iran Effort To Gag Media More  Famous Iranian Singer Objects To State TV Playing His Song Mohammad Reza Shajarian, a popular classical singer, has objected to Iranian state television playing his songs without his agreement. More Comments From Radio Farda's Facebook page today More Dailykos thinks it has the answer. More Voicemails to Radio Farda on June 17. More Sympathizers were claiming participation of 50,000 at this opposition demonstration in front of the Iranian state TV and radio offices in Tehran today. No way to confirm the figure. More More More  Iranian Footballers Don Green For World Cup Qualifier AFP says that "midfield star Ali Karimi, once dubbed Asia's Maradona, Masoud Shohjai of Spain's Osasuna, and Mehdi Mahdavi Kia of Eintracht Frankfurt are among those wearing the green wrist bands." More A Facebook entry from June 16. More An unsigned e-mail sent to Radio Farda late on June 16. More  Support For Iranian Opposition On Facebook Support for Iran's opposition has gone global, with sympathy protests scheduled in at least 14 countries this week. More Video of protesters and police interacting, purportedly from June 16. More  U.S. Senator Lieberman Exhorts Iranians To 'Persist' As Iranians continue to protest the handling of their country's June 12 presidential election, reaction to the vote continues to pour in from around the world. U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (Independent, Connecticut) tells RFE/RL correspondent Heather Maher in Washington that Iranians shouldn't back down in their demonstrations. Eventually, he says, they will be rewarded with freedom. More  Cyberwarriors Stay Ahead Of Censors Iranian demonstrators who allege vote-count fraud in the reelection of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad are using Internet media to stay ahead of government censors. And some young Iranians are taking the battle further, launching their own cyberattacks against government websites. More  In Iran, It’s Modernists Against Traditionalists As reformists protest what they say is a rigged second-term for hard-liner President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, they are not just expressing dissatisfaction with the election’s outcome. They are exposing deep divides within Iran’s political establishment over the shape of the Islamic republic’s future. The central question is whether Iran should become a more modern, industrial society that is also more open to the world, or whether it should remain as it is now: conservative, closed, and with a stagna More  Is EU Doing Too Little To Help Eastern Neighbors? It has been just over a month since the European Union attempted to draw six post-Soviet neighbors -- Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia -- closer to its orbit with its Eastern Partnership program. But a new report by the European Council on Foreign Relations blasts the EU for what it calls its "complacent" and "long-term" strategy in the region, and warns that without fast action to engage the eastern neighbors, Europe could risk another "August surprise" with Russia -- More  As Campaigning Begins, Insecurity Prompts Concerns As campaigning for the upcoming presidential election officially kicks off in Afghanistan, insecurity in remote areas of the country remains a key concern. Improving the security situation was a prime reason for postponing the vote until August 20, but large swaths of the Afghan countryside have yet to be tamed. More  The End Of Iran's 'Moral Government' The 2009 election, featuring a controversial incumbent and -- for the first time ever -- televised debates, became the most democratic elections ever held in the country. Whether the elections were fraudulent is immaterial: the fact remains that they did not correspond to the desire of the majority of the urban voters for a meaningful change. More  Russia's Long ‘Continuation War’ With Georgia Russia knows that securing outright international recognition for Abkhazia and South Ossetia will remain mission impossible in the foreseeable future. It is content to bide its time, muddying waters at the United Nations and other international bodies. More  Death Accelerated Transformation Of Chechen Resistance The death three years ago today of Chechen Republic Ichkeria (ChRI) President and resistance commander Abdul-Khalim Sadullayev was a milestone in the evolution of what emerged in 1994 as an almost exclusively Chechen fight for independence into a pan-Caucasian, multinational Islamic resistance movement. More  Abkhazia Seeks Continued Cooperation With UN Following Russia's June 15 veto of a UN Security Council draft resolution that would have extended temporarily the mandate of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh told a June 16 meeting of the republic's Security Council that Abkhazia will try to establish "alternative contacts" with the UN. More |
