 RFE/RL Headlines 3/23/2010 8:48:01 PM A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Features  With Mafia Arrests, Spain Turns Suspicious Eye On Post-Soviet Immigrants Recent arrests in Western Europe have underscored the extent to which people from the former Soviet Union are seen as dominating much of Europe's criminal underworld. More  Azerbaijan, Georgia 'Show The Way' To Fight TB In Prisons Ahead of World Tuberculosis Day, the International Committee of the Red Cross is praising Azerbaijan and Georgia for their success in helping bring tuberculosis under control inside prisons, and urging other affected countries to follow their example in tackling the problem. More  Kyrgyz Find Little To Celebrate On 'Tulip' Anniversary Five years after street protests in Kyrgyzstan led to the ouster of longtime leader Askar Akaev, ordinary people and politicians alike are now unhappy with the outcome of the Tulip Revolution, saying it merely replaced one corrupt strongman with another. More  Russian Police Whistle-Blower Convicted A Russian court has convicted a police officer of slander for his Internet denunciation of abuse and corruption within the police department. More  Armenia Issue Stalls Gas Talks Talks between Turkey and Azerbaijan over securing the Nabucco gas pipeline have stalled due to disagreements over Turkey's attempts to normalize relations with Armenia. More  Google Search Relocation Angers Chinese Google's decision to close its search site in mainland China because of censorship has brought a sharp response from Beijing, which says the U.S. company has reneged on a written promise that it would abide by Chinese norms on what is considered suitable material to appear on the Internet. More  Karzai Visits China 'With Gas Plans' Afghan President Hamid Karzai is traveling to Beijing today with a government delegation that includes the ministers of foreign affairs, defense, mines, and investment. More Seven towns and villages on Russia's Far Eastern Sakhalin Island have had their power supply cut off by heavy snowstorms. More  Yushchenko Defends Bandera Decision Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he is concerned by talk of overturning his decrees awarding World War II-era nationalist leaders Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych the Hero of Ukraine Order. More  Opposition Activists Clash With Police In Kyrgyzstan Police in Kyrgyzstan arrested about 20 opposition activists today as they tried to break through a police cordon at a government conference, police and opposition leaders said. More  Armenians Differ Over CPT Criticism Senior pro-government Armenian lawmakers have offered differing assessments of the latest Council of Europe report criticizing an official probe into 2008 postelection violence. More  Russian Cops Sentenced In Torture Case Five policemen have been sentenced in the western Russian city of Penza for assaulting a man and then writing a false police report. More  Armenia Sees Mounting Economic Growth Armenia's economic recovery accelerated in February, with Gross Domestic Product increasing 3.1 percent year-on-year for the first two months of this year. More  Tajiks, Uzbeks In Freight Squabble The Tajik Foreign Ministry has summoned the Uzbek ambassador to hand over a protest note about blocked rail freight. More  Iran Detainees' Families 'Kept Away' The mother of a jailed Iranian activist says families were banned from celebrating the Persian New Year outside the notorious Tehran prison where their relatives are being held. More The former rector of a university in Russia's Kirov Oblast has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Security Service (FSB), RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Court Postpones Karelian Unrest Verdict The Supreme Court in the Russian republic of Karelia says it has postponed issuing a verdict until March 29 on the deadly unrest in 2006 in the city of Kondopoga, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Russia Mulls Amnesty For Some Criminals The ruling United Russia party has proposed a bill to grant amnesty to hundreds of thousands of criminals in honor of the 65th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory in World War II, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Kosovo Recognition Question Looms Large For European Diplomats The Serbian government's precondition that Kosovo take part in international gatherings only under the designation of the UN civilian authority in Kosovo, UNMIK, got a major boost recently because of disunity within the EU on Kosovo. More  The Rundown - March 23 A comprehensive review of news and opinion on RFE/RL's broadcast region. More  October 11 vs. March 14 So now we have two distinct models for fixing elections in Russia. The flagrant falsification of October 11 and the fake pluralism of March 14. So which one will be used in next year's State Duma vote? More  Georgian Opposition Seeks International Support For 'Ending Dictatorship' Six Georgian opposition parties met in Tbilisi to discuss coordinating a new program of measures to bring about peaceful regime change, drafting an appeal to the international community to focus on ending what they termed the "dictatorship" of President Mikheil Saakashvili and on restoring Georgia's territorial integrity. More  The Revolution In Kyrgyzstan Lives On Many Kyrgyz citizens feel betrayed by the government of President Kurmanbek Bakiev. Does this mean that there was no “revolution” in 2005? If we are returning to semi-authoritarianism, can we say that any revolution took place at all? More  Belarusians Detained For Protesting Death Penalty Four Belarusian activists protesting recent executions were detained today near President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's office in Minsk. More |
