 RFE/RL Headlines 24.06.2009 A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| From Our Bureaus  Moldovan President Accuses Romania Of 'Revisionism' Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has told journalists that his country would not lift visa requirements for citizens of Romania, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports. More Two large maternity hospitals in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan will soon display Russian Orthodox icons of the Virgin Mary, RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service reports. More  Armenia Continues Release Of Opposition Four more opposition members, including former Deputy Prosecutor-General Gagik Jahangirian, have been released from prison under a general amnesty declared by the Armenian authorities, RFE/RL’s Armenian Service reports. More  Jailed Belarusian Activist Faces New Charge Jailed Belarusian activist Mikalay Autukhovich, who has been on hunger strike for 70 days, now faces an additional charge, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports. More A 59-year-old woman in the village of Akbulak in Kazakhstan's west has been diagnosed with anthrax, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More  Kremlin Approved U.S.-Kyrgyz Agreement On Manas A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry has said the recent agreement between the United States and Kyrgyzstan on the use of the Manas air base is a domestic issue for Kyrgyzstan, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More  Official In Russia's Far East Charged With Abuse Of Office A deputy governor of the Primorsky Krai region in Russia’s Far East has been charged with abuse of office, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More The press secretary of Kyrgyzstan's Jalal-Abad regional administration says five armed individuals killed by Kyrgyz national security troops were members of the banned extremist group the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). More The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is signing millions of dollars of reconstruction contracts with Iraqi businesses owned by women, RFE/RL’s Radio Free Iraq reports, citing the Iraqi official working with the U.S. military to implement the plan. More Former Russian State Duma Deputy Mikhail Glushchenko has been charged with organizing the murders of three Russian citizens in Cyprus in 2004 and with extortion, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More 'Death To The Dictator' This video reportedly shows clashes in the Baharestan district of Tehran. Protesters are heard chanting "Death To The Dictator." More With newspapers closed, and severe media restrictions in place, some photos doing the rounds are mocking the Iranian authorities' insistence that the protests are unimportant. More More E-mails and voicemails sent to RFE/RL's Radio Farda on June 23. More I Promise To Be Good Over The Summer Vacation... Students at Turkmen universities are obliged to write a written promise that they will be "good kids" over the summer vacation, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reports. More  Serena Williams Feels Russian Sometimes I think I’m from Russia, too. I feel like, you know, OK, all these new-ovas. More  Ingushetia's Ex-President Volunteers For Temporary Comeback Ekho Moskvy radio on June 24 quoted former Ingushetian President Ruslan Aushev as affirming his readiness to take over the republic's top post temporarily, until incumbent Yunus-Bek Yevkurov recovers from the injuries he sustained when a suicide-bomber rammed his car early on June 22. More  Russian Standardized Exams Fail Public Test Russian schoolchildren all over the country have just completed the first Unified State Exam, or EGE, a new end-of-school series of standardized tests that academics and students say is damaging the country's academic standards. More  Uzbekistan's Karimov Marks 20 Years Of Iron-Fisted Rule This week marks the 20th anniversary of Islam Karimov's selection as first secretary of the Communist Party of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. He has remained in power ever since, transitioning to become the president of independent Uzbekistan in 1991. Karimov's notoriously repressive regime has left its mark not only on his country but on Central Asia overall. More  Afghan Presidential Campaign Under Way, Underwhelmingly The campaign for Afghanistan's August 20 presidential election is gathering momentum in Kabul. Election posters for incumbent President Hamid Karzai and his 40 challengers compete for space and attention on the city’s walls and lamp posts. But some in Kabul are calling for a delay in the election as concern mounts about what is happening -- or not happening -- in the country's south and east. More  Iranian TV Airs 'Confessions' Iranian state television has begun to broadcast "confessions" by some of the hundreds of people arrested in the protests that have rocked Tehran. The confessions follow a similar storyline: the protesters were provoked to act by VOA or the BBC. More  Obama Seeks To Silence Critics The White House approach has prompted some critics, mostly Republicans, to accuse Barack Obama of staying on the sidelines and not being tough enough. But at a press conference this week, the U.S. president significantly hardened his administration's position toward Iran, condemning the violence and telling the protesters they are "on the right side of history." More  Commentary: A Legal Dead End Although much has been written about the legitimacy of the election itself, the integral dispute over "legality" remains largely unaddressed. Yet the law permeates every aspect of the current crisis, including the legitimacy of Khamenei's postelection decisions, the lawfulness of the opposition protests and the resulting violent response, and, crucially, whether the authorities' calls to dispute the result through "legal channels" are merely a publicity ploy. More |
