 RFE/RL Headlines 1/25/2010 8:28:36 PM A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  Iran's Karrubi 'Recognizes Ahmadinejad' Opposition leader Mehdi Karrubi has recognized Mahmud Ahmadinejad as Iran's head of government, even though he still maintains that June's presidential vote was rigged to ensure the hard-liner's reelection. More  Handling Of 'YouTube Cop' Case Raises Questions About Russian Police Reform Hearings began today in the case of Aleksei Dymovsky, the so-called "YouTube whistle-blower" cop, who was charged with fraud and abuse of office following his public claims of corruption within the police ranks in Novorossiisk. What are the implications of the Dymovsky case on Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's program of police reforms in Russia? More  Liu Gets Help From An Unexpected Quarter The prominent Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, jailed for 11 years in December for subversion, has received support from an unusual quarter -- namely, from within the Chinese Communist Party. A group of four prominent party stalwarts has called for his conviction to be reviewed. More  Iraq Executes 'Chemical Ali' Iraq has executed Ali Hassan al-Majid, the henchman of Saddam Hussein widely known as "Chemical Ali," for crimes against humanity, a government spokesman said. More  EU Debates Haiti, Afghanistan, Bosnia EU foreign ministers met in Brussels today to discuss Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen, the situation in Haiti, and the bloc's future engagement with Bosnia-Herzegovina. More  Talks With Taliban Loom Over Summit The presidents of Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are meeting in Istanbul today to discuss how they can work together better to resolve conflict with Taliban militants. Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai held a bilateral meeting with his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, before three-way talks with Abdullah Gul of Turkey. More  U.S. Vice President Calls For Fair Iraqi Election U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is using a visit to Baghdad today to press Iraqi officials to end a pre-election dispute that is threatening to tarnish the country’s March 7 parliamentary vote. More  Berezovsky: Ukraine Vote 'Key' For West Fugitive Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky says the world's key political event is currently taking place in Ukraine, not Iran, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  U.S. Praise For Armenia Ruling On Turkey The United States says it welcomes a controversial ruling by Armenia's Constitutional Court that Turkey has criticized as running counter to Turkish-Armenian protocols aimed at rapprochement, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More At least 10 homeless people have frozen to death in the Belarusian capital since January 1, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports. More  Isakov's Mother On Kyrgyz Hunger Strike Anipa Mamatisaeva, the 85-year-old mother of jailed former Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov, joined a hunger strike today to demand the release of her son, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More  Uzbeks Release Kyrgyz Border Guard A Kyrgyz border guard who was wounded and captured by Uzbek border guards last week has been released and taken to a hospital in Kyrgyzstan, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More The 'U.S. Caused The Haiti Earthquake' Meme Sometimes earthquakes just happen. But sometimes, if you believe the conspiracy theorists out there, they are made to happen -- usually by secret U.S. military weapons. More A few to add to the pantheon of dodgy Beatles covers from the former Soviet Union. More  Happy Birthday, Neda If Neda Agha Soltan were alive, she would have turned 27 today. She was shot and killed about seven months ago during a peaceful protest in Tehran against the reelection of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Vigils and other events are planned in cities around the world to honor her memory and protest against the bloody crackdown against peaceful protesters in Iran. More  Putin Crashes Medvedev's Party Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave a fiery speech at Russia's State Council meeting on Friday. But the most remarkable thing about Putin's appearance was that it wasn't supposed to happen at all. More  Confusion Surrounds Former Armenian President's Visit To Iran Former Armenian President Robert Kocharian travelled to Iran last week for a two-day visit that has been variously described as "private" and "unofficial," or, alternatively, undertaken as the result of a "state invitation" extended by the Iranian leadership. More  North Ossetian Prison Imam Accused Of Links With Insurgency Djimmi Tanduyev, whom Muslim inmates of a North Ossetian jail selected a year ago as their imam, has been placed in solitary confinement for three months after being found in possession of materials urging Muslims to join the jihad and pictures of Chechen resistance commanders Shamil Basayev and Doku Umarov. More  Did Georgian Leadership Try To Influence Ukraine Election? Several prominent Georgian oppositionists have expressed concern at the political implications of two telephone conversations posted online which could be construed as evidence that the Georgian leadership sought to influence the January 17 Ukrainian presidential election to secure a victory for Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. More  NATO Chief Discusses Afghan Mission In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that he expected concrete results from this week's London conference on Afghanistan. Rasmussen also said that the NATO mission in Afghanistan was not an "occupation force." More  Debit Cards Costly For Uzbeks Authorities' electronic experiment with other people's cash has some Uzbeks seeing red. More  Can New Medvedev Vision Bring Stability To North Caucasus? Russia observers have spent a great deal of time trying to explain the rationale behind President Medvedev's appointment of Aleksandr Khloponin to oversee the new North Caucasus Federal District. But questions still remain. More |
