 RFE/RL Headlines 05.06.2009 A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  Iran Signs Major Gas Deal With China; Is Europe Next? Iran may be selling huge amounts of natural gas to China and even Europe in the not-too-distant future. Even as Iran signed a multibillion-dollar deal with China to develop part of a massive gas field in the Persian Gulf, a U.S. official said that under the right conditions, Iran could contribute gas to a planned pipeline linking Iran's northern (and maybe western) neighbors to the heart of Europe. More  Will Crisis, Scandals Topple British Prime Minister? Since Prime Minister Gordon Brown came to office two years ago, he has been widely viewed as Britain's best hope for saving the country from the global economic crisis. But the deepening recession and scandals concerning freely spending legislators now could topple him. More  Middle East Tops Agenda At Obama-Merkel Talks During their initial meeting in the eastern German city of Dresden, both leaders also discussed the global economic crisis and Washington's plans to close its military prison at Guantanamo Bay. More Skinheads Convicted In Two Russian Cities A court in the Russian city of Orenburg has sentenced two skinheads to jail terms of five and six years, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More An Azerbaijani presidential administration official has said that the recent demolition of three mosques was carried out because the buildings were meant for commercial purposes, and that their use for religious activity violated the law, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports. More  Ukrainian Parliament Sacks Defense Minister With an overwhelming majority of 363 votes, Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has dismissed Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports. More  Six Killed In Russia's Ingushetia An official was assassinated in Russia's volatile southern Republic of Ingushetia, while five people were killed in a shoot-out, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Daghestan's Interior Minister Gunned Down Lieutenant General Adilgirey Magomedtagirov had survived at least two other attempts on his life in the past three years. More  Azerbaijan Accuses Iran Of Interfering In Its Affairs Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov says Iran's latest statements about a planned visit to Baku by Israeli President Shimon Peres are regrettable and should not have come from Iran's military forces. More  Ukraine's President Attacks Rumored Grand Coalition Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko has said he will not allow Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych to change the constitution, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports. More  History Is Made To Be Rewritten Russia's Defense Ministry offered a novel reinterpretation of history on June 4, announcing in a paper published on its website that World War II was caused by none other than -- the Poles! More  No Soft Soap From Iran After Barack Obama’s speech reaching out to the Muslim world, many in the Middle East have responded by challenging him to match words with action. But few have been as succinctly dismissive of Obama’s promises as Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, the head of Iran’s Guardians Council. More  Afghans Beat The Habit Afghanistan's Health Ministry announces new restrictions that prohibit smoking in offices, hospitals, airports, and other public areas. More  Lviv, A Town Of Many Mayors The western Ukrainian city of Lviv has found itself with two mayors after a Kyiv court decision returned a previously sacked mayor to office, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports. More  Yerevan Election Compounds Political Polarization In Armenia Perhaps inevitably, the May 31 Yerevan municipal-council elections have resulted in an even greater degree of political polarization than before. In a scenario that recalls last year's disputed presidential poll, the most prominent opposition faction contesting the ballot, former President Levon Ter-Petrossian's Armenian National Congress (HAK), condemned the election as "the dirtiest in Armenia's history." More  A Discussion With The Presidential Candidates Bachenshia appears to take Ahmadinejad's rivals to task over their revolutionary bona fides. More  A Poor Mother And Son The gbpic blog shares a vignette of life in the streets of the capital. More  Latvia Fights Devaluation Talk As Economic Crisis Bites Deeper Storm clouds are once again gathering over Eastern Europe, with Latvia in the grip of a deepening financial crisis. For months it has been mired in the worst recession among EU members. And now there's renewed speculation that the country might have to devalue its currency. If it does, analysts warn there could be implications for other countries in the region. More  From Morocco To Indonesia, Muslim Media React The speech U.S. President Barack Obama gave to the Muslim world in Cairo on June 4 made headlines from Morocco to Indonesia. RFE/RL takes a look at what the Muslim press had to say. More  Does The End Of The Korean War Cease-Fire Matter? On May 27, North Korea announced that it no longer considers itself bound by the cease-fire agreement that ended hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War. RFE/RL Russian Service correspondent Vladimir Tolts recently spoke with Andrei Lankov, associate professor of Korean history at Kookmin University in Seoul, about the North Korean announcement and the history of the cease-fire agreement. More  Parliament Vote A Test Of Member States' Faith In Union More than 375 million European Union citizens are eligible to vote in the current elections for the European Parliament. But with polls predicting that just four in 10 voters will invoke the privilege, balloting is likely to be another reminder of the EU's struggle to inspire its subjects. More  Egg-Spattered Path To Euro Elections As political parties in the Czech Republic vie for spots in the European legislature ahead of the June 5 and 6 elections, domestic political tensions are dominating the campaign. More  Tipping The Balance Since President Mahmud Ahmadinejad came to power, the militarization of politics in Iran has gained momentum. The Revolutionary Guard, which answers directly to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, continues to interfere in many aspects of political life. What role will it play in the upcoming presidential vote? More  Everybody’s Still Talking About It Moderate candidate Mir Hossein Musavi took on conservative contender Mohsen Rezai in a debate on June 4, but it seems that everyone in Iran is still talking about the previous debate -- the one between the incumbent, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, and his main challenger, Musavi. More |
