 RFE/RL Headlines 3/15/2010 8:47:23 PM A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  Saakashvili's Erratic Response To Invasion Hoax Raises Suspicions The fallout over a fake news report of a Russian invasion that caused widespread panic in Georgia continues, with President Mikheil Saakashvili facing criticism from all quarters. More  'Dot Com' Internet Domain Name Turns 25 Today marks the 25th birthday of the "dot com" domain name -- the address that for many people defines the Internet. More  Kazakh Officials Detained After Flood Kazakh police have detained several regional officials in connection with a probe into floods last week that killed 34 people near the financial capital Almaty, the Interior Ministry said today. More  BBC Outage Amid Kyrgyz 'Clampdown' The BBC's local-language service in Kyrgyzstan experienced an unexplained interruption today, sparking concerns the U.K.-funded broadcaster might share the fate of other media outlets suffering setbacks there. More  U.S. Group Slams Baku Over Blogger Case The U.S. Helsinki Commission has criticized a Baku court's rejection of appeals by two Azerbaijani bloggers against their prison sentences. More  Veteran Tatar Intellectual Laid To Rest Tatarstan's political, scientific, and cultural elite gathered today in Kazan to honor veteran public figure Mansur Khasanov. More  Missing Kyrgyz Activist In Tajik Detention A Kyrgyz human rights activist who disappeared in Dushanbe last month is being held in a detention center for homeless people, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  Diplomat: Family Ties Behind Sacking Georgia's ambassador to the Netherlands says she was dismissed because she is a relative of opposition leader Irakli Alasania, RFE/RL's Georgian Service reports. More Eleven skinheads in St. Petersburg have been found guilty of hate crimes, including murder. More  Kyrgyz Rally In Support Of Media Freedom Some 250 people -- prominent opposition politicians, lawmakers, and rights activists among them -- gathered today outside the offices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Bishkek to ask for help to protect freedom of speech in the country, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More  Albanian FM: Kosovo's Future Is In EU Albanian Foreign Minister Ilir Meta says that although Belgrade and Tirana have different views on Kosovo's status, he believes they agree that the region's future is in the European Union. More  Iran Diplomat Explains Resignation A former Iranian diplomat says he resigned after 25 years working for the Foreign Ministry because he could no longer work with the government of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. More Silk Road Romance A glamorous blue-blood will marry her Russian oligarch fiance later this year, capping a fairy-tale romance. More  The Week Ahead: March 15-21 The Week Ahead is a detailed listing of key events of the coming week affecting RFE/RL's broadcast region. More  The Rundown - March 15 A comprehensive review of news and opinion on RFE/RL's broadcast region. More  Victory In Defeat If the regional elections in Russia had been normal elections, the results would be easy to interpret. The ruling United Russia party lost about 20 percentage points of support more or less across the board, despite the kinds of gross election violations that have become the norm. Many analysts, including the astute Aleksandr Kynev, interpreted the outcome as “catastrophic” for the ruling party and a sign of a “fundamental” shift in the public mood. More  Iranian-American Scholar Kian Tajbakhsh Reportedly Released On Bail Iranian opposition websites are reporting that prominent Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh has been released from jail on $500,000 bail. More Iranian blogs and websites are reporting that this picture -- reportedly taken during President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s trip last week to Hormozgan Province -- was removed by the ISNA news agency shortly after being posted. More  Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Discloses Details Of 'Madrid Principles' Speaking at a press conference in Baku, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has disclosed details of the most recent draft of the so-called Madrid Principles for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. More  International News Group Condemns Detention Of Iranian Journalists The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has condemned the continuing imprisonment of Iranian journalist Emad Baghi and what it calls the "repressive measures employed by the state to silence critical publications." More The South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO) has condemned what it calls an attack against a journalist from "Euroblic," the Bosnian-Herzegovinian edition of the "Blic" daily in Belgrade. More |
