 RFE/RL Headlines 2/23/2010 7:08:19 PM A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  Iran Accuses West After Jundallah Capture Iran says it has arrested the leader of a Sunni rebel group in what officials are calling a "great defeat" for Tehran's Western foes. More  Turkish Entry Wins Best Film At Berlin Festival Turkish film “Bal” (Honey) was the surprise winner of the Golden Bear -- the top prize at the 60th Berlin Film Festival -- and Roman Polanski was crowned best director for his political thriller “The Ghost Writer." More  Hearing Begins In Suit Against Tajik Papers A Tajik court has begun hearing a lawsuit against three independent publications, in a case international rights activists say is part of a crackdown on press freedom ahead of upcoming elections. More A memorial service for a South Korean student was held on February 22 in the central Russian city of Barnaul. More  Former Kyrgyz Minister To Appeal Former Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov, who was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to eight years in prison last month, will appeal his case to the Constitutional Court. More  Jailed Iranian Academic In 'Critical Condition' The first chancellor of Tehran University after the 1979 Islamic Revolution remains in jail despite what his wife says is his deteriorating health. More  Tajik Pop Star Jailed For Helping Fiance Tajik pop singer Farzona Khurshed was sentenced today to two years in prison for helping her fiance escape from a courthouse last month. More  Armenia Official: Economic Crisis 'Over' Trade and Economic Development Minister Nerses Yeritsian on February 22 portrayed the latest macroeconomic data as a clear indication that the economic crisis in the country has ended. He cited official statistics that show the economy growing last month for the first time in more than a year. More  Moldova President Slurs Jewish Deputy Moldovan acting President Mihai Ghimpu, who is also the parliament speaker, is being criticized for insulting a Jewish opposition deputy, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports. More  Kazakhs Allow Trucks Into Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz businessmen had been complaining that dozens of trucks bound for Kyrgyzstan were stopped without explanation by Kazakh customs officials at the Konusbaev checkpoint on the Kazakh-Kyrgyz border and at the Hargos checkpoint on the Kazakh-Chinese border. More  S.Ossetians Ordered To Register Weapons Police in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia have set a deadline of March 1 for people to register illegal weapons or risk prosecution, RFE/RL's Georgian Service reports. More  Reporter For Iran Hard-Line Paper Attacked Official Iranian news agencies report that Payam Fazlinejad, a journalist with the influential hard-line newspaper "Kayhan," is in the hospital following an attack by unknown assailants. The details about the attack and his condition remain sketchy. More “Women In Shroud,” a documentary coproduced by RFE/RL's Radio Farda broadcaster Mohammad Reza Kazemi, was awarded by the Cinema For Peace initiative that promotes humanity through film. More  Iranian Lawyer Rejects Official's Portrayal Of Human Rights A prominent Iranian lawyer has rejected the optimistic portrayal of Iran's human rights situation offered to the United Nations earlier this week, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. More  Greek Cypriots Not Happy With UN Representative There's growing dissatisfaction among Greek Cypriots with the performance of Alexander Downer, the UN secretary-general's special adviser on Cyprus. More  I Want Buildings In The Shape Of My Initials... Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev is known for his grandiose construction projects, but even he might have found a new way to memorialize the dynasty. More  Daghestan's New President Sworn In Magomedsalam Magomedov was formally inaugurated on February 20 as president of Daghestan, four years to the day after his father Magomedali relinquished that post. More  Is South Ossetia On The Verge Of An Internal Conflict? The Coordinating Council of Social and Political Organizations of South Ossetia has released a statement warning that tensions within the unrecognized republic are increasing and could lead to an armed conflict. The Russian agency Regnum posted the statement on February 20. More  Russian-Kyrgyz Relations Encounter A Chill Relations between longtime allies Russia and Kyrgyzstan seemed as close as ever when Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev announced that the U.S.-run, Manas air base outside Bishkek would be closed. But a year later, the two are in open disagreement. More  Karzai's Takeover Of Afghan Election Watchdog Raises Concerns A decree issued by Afghan President Hamid Karzai has raised concerns among Western diplomats that Karzai may be trying to prevent fraud rulings against his political allies in upcoming parliamentary elections. More  Generals' Arrest Accelerates Turkey's Political Showdown The showdown between the Islamist-rooted ruling party and Turkey's old secularist order has dramatically escalated with the detention of over 50 current and former military commanders. More  EU Ministers Warn Belarus, Condemn Passport Theft In Dubai Killing EU foreign ministers have issued another warning to Belarus over its treatment of ethnic Poles. At their scheduled monthly gathering, they also welcomed the election of Viktor Yanukovych as Ukraine's next president. And the EU's high representative for foreign policy, Catherine Ashton, was scrambled to defuse a potentially highly damaging row with Israel. More  Tajik Islamic Party Puts Face-Lift To A Test Following considerable effort to transform its image, Tajikistan's Islamic Renaissance Party enters the gate for upcoming elections determined to change the status quo. More  Linguists Scramble To Save The World's Languages When Doctor Gregory Anderson and Doctor K. David Harrison set off in 2003 to a few remote villages in Russia's eastern Tomsk Oblast, they took only the bare essentials: toothbrushes, socks, soap, plus their microphones, video cameras, audio recorders, and linguistics textbooks. More  As Georgia Grieves, A Pledge That Luging 'Must Go On' Thousands of Georgians paid their last respects today to luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, who died during a training run in Vancouver just hours before the start of the games. But some in his hometown of Bakuriani now worry the horrifying accident will end the long luge tradition in this mountain resort, famous for raising generations of world-class winter athletes. More  Lack Of Language Day Protest Doesn't Mean All Is Fine In Iran Every year on this day, thousands of Azeris staged demonstrations in the cities of Iranian Azerbaijan to call for language rights. But this year, nothing happened. More  A Dervish’s Dream For Iran Several years ago the friendliness, sincerity, and the pure faith of the Gonabadi dervishes attracted me and, with the grace of God, I became a dervish. More  Don’t Expect Miracles From Russia’s ‘Authoritarian Modernization’ The innovation economy and the creation of creative reservations for scientists are completely beside the point More  Islam Does Not Imprison Women Many of those who have not read the Koran regard the word of God as conveyed to the Prophet Muhammad as sanctioning such practices as the mandatory wearing of the chador by women. This is emphatically not the case. More |
