 RFE/RL Headlines 3/17/2010 A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Features  Flight Of Iran's Critical Voices Shows Joke Isn't Funny Anymore As many Iranian journalists and bloggers have been arrested in a government crackdown on dissent that began after the presidential election, dozens more have been driven into self-imposed exile abroad. One is Alireza Rezaei, a well-known blogger whose humorous take on even the worst aspects of the postelection protests gained him a wide following. More  Turkey Threatens To Expel Armenian Immigrants Amid Genocide Row Armenian officials have criticized a threat by Turkey's prime minister to expel thousands of Armenian immigrants from his country. Recep Tayyip Erdogan's comments are the latest in an ongoing row over the World War I-era mass killing of Armenians nearly a century ago. More  Merkel: Eurozone Expulsion Needed The European Union's most economically powerful member, Germany, has raised the issue of expelling from the common euro currency any country that consistently ignores the EU's rules for good fiscal management. More  Thousands Air Grievances At Kyrgyz Rallies Thousands of Kyrgyz opposition supporters have rallied in the capital and elsewhere to air wide-ranging grievances against the government. More  Thai Protesters Hurl Blood At PM's Home Protesters have emptied bottles of their blood at the home of Thailand's prime minister on the fourth day of mass rallies to demand Abhisit Vejajjiva resign. More  Opposition To Take Anti-Putin Protest To The Streets Supporters of an online petition calling for the removal of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin plan to stage an unsanctioned rally this evening in Moscow under the slogan "Putin Must Go." More  Allawi, Maliki Neck And Neck In Iraq Vote With nearly 80 percent of the votes counted from Iraq's March 7 parliamentary elections, the main winners appear to be Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and challenger Iyad Allawi. More  Kazakh Oil Leaders Meet Striking Workers Regional government officials and Kazmunaygaz oil and gas company managers are holding talks today with striking oil workers in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen. More  Iranian Politician Says Reformist Party's Ban 'Totally Illegal' Former Iranian parliament deputy Fatemeh Haghighatjou has harshly criticized the decision by Iran's judiciary to ban activities by the major reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front. More  Jailed Azerbaijani Opposition Journalist Pardoned An Azerbaijani opposition journalist jailed on what supporters say were politically motivated charges has been pardoned. More  Russian Patriarch Honors Armenia 'Genocide' Victims Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill has honored the victims of what Armenians consider the first genocide of the 20th century. More  Minsk Authorities Cast Wide Net In Raids Police in Minsk searched the offices and apartments of journalists, activists, and politicians and allegedly struck a staffer at one NGO during the course of the raids on March 16. More  Police Search Kyrgyz Opposition Leader's Car Omurbek Tekebaev, head of the Ata-Meken (Fatherland) party, told RFE/RL he was leaving the opposition-organized People's Congress in Bishkek when his car was stopped by police officers. More  Kyrgyz Rights Activist Goes Missing A well-known Kyrgyz rights activist has gone missing en route to an opposition-sponsored rally in the capital, Bishkek. More  Islamic Party Loses Spiritual Leader The spiritual leader of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan has died at the age 59 after a long illness. More  Chechen Ex-President Gets Prison Job Former Chechen President Alu Alkhanov has been temporarily placed in charge of Russia's beleaguered penitentiary system, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  The Biggest Western Pop Stars Behind The Iron Curtain The Swedish pop quartet ABBA, hugely popular during the 1970s and 1980s, has just been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the height of its fame, ABBA found what may have been its most enthusiastic audience behind the Iron Curtain. More Russians are slightly up in arms about this French commercial. More  Ruling Party Blues Did the Kremlin get the results it wanted in last weekend's regional elections? Or did internal divisions undermine United Russia's prospects? More  A Year On, Blogger's Death In Detention Remains Unexplained Tomorrow marks one year since the death in Tehran's Evin prison of Iranian blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi. Many questions remain. More  Defiant Iranians Celebrate Festival Of Fire Despite Ban Iranians last night openly challenged Supreme leader Ali Khamenei by taking to the streets for the traditional Festival of Fire, which Khamenei had said has no religious basis and should not be celebrated. More  Circassian Activist's Killing Rekindles Demands For Separate Republic The killing on March 14 in Cherkessk of young Circassian activist Aslan Zhukov has highlighted once again latent tensions between the Karachai majority and the Cherkess minority in the Russian republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia. More  Going Nowhere Fast -- Crimean Tatars In The EU If Mustafa Dzhemilev, the leader of Ukraine's Crimean Tatars, was shocked or otherwise unpleasantly surprised to find himself in Brussels addressing less than two dozen people in a dusty room capable of accommodating some 150, he did not show it. More |
