 RFE/RL Headlines 25.06.2009 A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  Iraq Bombing Meant To Rattle Authorities As U.S. Pulls Out A major bomb blast in Baghdad has killed at least 69 people and injured more than a hundred others. The bombing is the most serious in a series of explosions to hit Iraq in the run-up to the withdrawal next week of U.S. troops from Iraqi cities. The attacks on Shi'ite targets appear aimed at provoking new sectarian strife with the minority Sunni community. More  Ahmadinejad Tells Obama Not To Interfere In Iran Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has called on Barack Obama not to interfere in Iran's internal affairs after the U.S. president said he was "appalled and outraged" by postelection violence in the Islamic state. More  Senior Turkmen Visit Highlights U.S. Dilemma Turkmenistan is, for all practical purposes, a closed country, and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov rules it with an authoritative hand. But the Obama administration has noted the importance of being pragmatic at a time when his country is struggling in a deep recession and has limited sources of energy. More  Government Intensifies Crackdown Iran is in the midst of one of the toughest security crackdowns in the history of the Islamic republic. Police have arrested dozens of former high-ranking officials and academics, in addition to the hundreds of protesters detained during rallies. More  Kyrgyz Parliament Ratifies U.S. Base Agreement Kyrgyzstan's parliament has unanimously approved a deal with the United States to keep open the only U.S. air base in Central Asia. More  Politkovskaya Acquittals Overturned Russia's Supreme Court has overturned the acquittals of three defendants in the shooting of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, ordering a retrial. It's a case that many regard as a key test of authorities' commitment to the rule of law. More  Roadside Bomb Kills At Least Seven In Iraq A roadside bomb has killed five Iraqi policemen and two civilians in the once turbulent but recently secure western city of Fallujah, police said, a day after at least 72 people died in a market bombing in Baghdad. More  Armenian President Praises Georgian Counterpart Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has bestowed the Medal of Honor, Armenia's highest award for foreign dignitaries, upon Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More  Iraqi Party Seeks Turkoman-Majority Province An official with a party representing Iraq's ethnic Turkic minority has said the predominantly Turkoman district of Talafar in northwestern Iraq should be detached from Nineveh province and declared a province in its own right, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq reports. More  Kyrgyzstan Says Slain Militants Were Uzbek Nationals A Kyrgyz parliament deputy has said that five armed individuals killed by Kyrgyz national security forces near Jalal-Abad on June 23 were citizens of neighboring Uzbekistan, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More  Salafi Cleric Detained In Tajikistan Police in Dushanbe have detained the alleged leader of the banned Salafi movement, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  Detained Kazakhs Citizens Allowed To Return Home Twenty-seven Kazakh citizens accused of illegally crossing into Uzbekistan in February will be allowed to return home, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More  Fugitive Armenian Oppositionist To Surrender Nikol Pashinian, the outspoken newspaper editor who played a leading role in postelection protests in Yerevan last year, has said that he will surrender to law enforcement authorities after spending nearly 16 months on the run, RFE/RL’s Armenian Service reports. More  Russian Court Convicts Berezovsky Again Fugitive former Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky has been convicted of embezzlement, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Kazakh Leader A No-Show At NATO Forum In Astana Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev did not attend the third forum of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) in Astana, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More  Opposition Group To Rally In Yerevan The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) will hold a rally in Yerevan on July 2, despite a three-month moratorium on protests that was recently announced by the party’s leader, former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, RFE/RL’s Armenian Service reports. More Kazakhstan's parliament has adopted controversial amendments to the Law on Information and Communications Networks, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More 'They Came To His Place At About 2 Or 3 In The Morning' Voicemails sent to Radio Farda on June 25 More E-mails and voicemails sent to Radio Farda on June 24. More  What Are The U.S. Options On Iran? On June 24, the Brookings Institution held an interesting event, "Which Path to Persia? Options for a New American Strategy Toward Iran." More  Kadyrov Vows To Wipe Out Islamic Militants In an interview with the TV station Vesti-24 on June 23, one day after the assassination attempt on Ingushetian President Yunusbek Yevkurov, Ramzan Kadyrov vowed -- again -- to intensify the combined efforts of Chechen and Ingushetian Interior Ministry forces to wipe out "terrorists." More  Is The White Legion Back In Business? The White Legion, and a second such group, the Forest Brothers, continued their low-level attacks on both Russian peacekeepers and Abkhaz civilians until early 2004, when the new leadership of President Mikheil Saakashvili moved to demobilize and disarm them. More  Chechen Leader Seeks To Strong-Arm Ingush Leadership Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov traveled unannounced on June 24 to Magas, where he announced that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has tasked him with coordinating all counterterror activities in both Chechnya and Ingushetia following the assassination attempt on Ingushetian President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov two days earlier. More  Imprisoned In Iran At least 450 people have been arrested for disputing Iran’s presidential election results. Many put the count in the thousands. To those arrested 10 years ago, in Iran’s last great wave of student demos, what the new detainees face next is clear. Ali Fathi was one of those students arrested in 1999. This is his story. More  Inside The Mind Of Belarus's Cocksure President In a recent interview with Russian media, Belarus's Alyaksandr Lukashenka displayed the pugnacious, didactic stance that has fascinated Belarus-watchers throughout his 15-year presidency. So what's going on in his mind? For help in drafting a psychological portrait of "Europe's last dictator," RFE/RL's Belarus Service spoke to two political analysts: Uladzimir Padhol in Minsk and Leonid Radzikhovsky in Moscow. More  Woman Fights To Preserve Georgian-Abkhaz Heritage Georgia's separatist region of Abkhazia has asserted its right to statehood, but a key aspect of its heritage is missing: language. Few Abkhaz have mastered their own language, preferring to use Russian instead. One exception is Lela Avidzba. Half-Abkhaz and half-Georgian, she's working to promote the use of the Abkhaz language, even as she seeks to bridge the divide between her two nations. More |
