 RFE/RL Headlines 6/2/2010 A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty RFE/RL is looking for guest bloggers, preferably writing from and about our broadcast region. If you're interested, drop us a line at webteam@rferl.org. |
| Features  Aid Convoy Backed Up New Turkish Policy Of 'Bashing' Israel, Analysts Say Turkey supported an ill-fated aid flotilla bound for Gaza knowing that it would lead to confrontation with Israel and because it wanted to win sympathy in the Islamic world, Israeli analysts believe. More  Russia Remembers Voznesensky, A 'Child Of The 60s' Russian poet Andrei Voznesensky is remembered as one of the boldest and most admired authors of the Soviet-era, who despite a notorious clash with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev never bowed to the Kremlin. More  Green Supporters Want West To Help Iranians Access Internet, Uncensored Information Iranian human rights activists and supporters of the opposition Green Movement have in recent months increased their calls on the United States and other countries to help Iranians access an unfiltered Internet. More Iran Selling Euros For Dollars, Gold Iran's state-owned television station Press TV reported today that the central bank in Tehran is selling 45 billion euros from its reserves in order to invest the money in U.S. dollars and gold ingots. More  EU Reassures Balkans On Entry At a meeting today in Sarajevo with officials from the western Balkan states, the European Union reaffirmed its commitment to the region, while underscoring the need for each of them to continue along the path of reform. More  Insurgent Violence Mars Afghan 'Peace Jirga' A three-day peace council has opened in the Afghan capital, Kabul, to debate President Hamid Karzai's plan to reintegrate insurgent foot soldiers and reach out to their leaders for a political settlement. But multiple attacks within minutes of the peace jirga's start have highlighted the challenges ahead. More  Putin's Assurances To The Contrary, Protesters Are Beaten And Detained When Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin voiced rare support for public protests two days ahead of planned May 31 demonstrations, there was hope that they would be met by an equally rare peaceful response by the authorities. But today, one activist remains hospitalized after police detained nearly 200 protesters during violent crackdowns on rallies across the country. More Soviet Shooting Victims Remembered Residents of Novocherkassk in Rostov Oblast are today marking the 48th anniversary of a deadly crackdown on peaceful demonstrators. More  Tajik National Detained In Kazakhstan A rights organization says a Tajik citizen wanted by the Uzbek authorities for terrorism has been detained in southern Kazakhstan, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More  Jailed Azerbaijani Journalist Announces Hunger Strike A jailed Azerbaijani journalist says he will go on hunger strike to demand authorities comply with a ruling by the European Court for Human Rights to release him from jail. More Uzbekistan began withdrawing armored vehicles from an Uzbek exclave on Kyrgyz territory today. More  Armenian Media Groups Demand Journalist's Release Armenia's leading media associations have demanded the immediate release of a young reporter arrested while covering an opposition protest in Yerevan. More  Senior Ukraine Official Sacked For Bribe The Ukrainian government says it has dismissed Deputy Environment Minister Bohdan Presner for accepting a bribe. More Tatarstan lawmakers have proposed formally commemorating on May 16 each year the adoption of Islam in what is now the Russian Federation. More Seven residents of the city of Naryn in northern Kyrgyzstan have launched a hunger strike to demand that all associates of ousted former President Kurmanbek Bakiev be dismissed from official posts in the region. More  Odds Low For Sucess Of Legal Challenge To UN Diplomatic Immunity On June 1, two UN employees involved in a sexual harassment suit against former senior UN officials filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the diplomatic immunity granted to UN officials. More  The Noble 'Servant' Of Peshawar Khurshid Khan, an eminent 60-year-old lawyer and deputy attorney general of Pakistan, has adopted an extraordinary measure to "heal the wounds" of the terror-stricken minority Sikh community in that country. More  Putin Intervenes In Standoff Between South Ossetian Leaders Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met late on May 31 in Moscow with Eduard Kokoity and Vadim Brovtsev, president and prime minister, respectively, of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia. More  KBR Supreme Court Again Calls For Abolition Of Balkar NGO The Kabardino-Balkaria Republic (KBR) Supreme Court ruled on May 31 that the unofficial Council of Elders of the Balkar People (SSBN) is an extremist organization and should be abolished. More  Tatar Police Colonel Named Karachayevo-Cherkessia Interior Minister Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on May 31 named Zhaudet Akhmetkhanov to head the Karachayevo-Cherkessia Republic (KChR) Interior Ministry. Akhmetkhanov, who is 42, has spent his entire career in the police force and has held leading positions in the criminal police in Kazan and the Criminal Investigation Department of Tatarstan's Interior Ministry. More  The EU's Declaration of Impotence What is worrying is the degree to which Brussels' bureaucratic horizons seem to shape (and limit) its conception of foreign-policy making. That the removal of special representatives could badly wrong-foot partner governments in unstable regions never seemed to enter the heads of Ashton or her team. More  Unusually Quiet Elections Mark End Of Revolutionary Cycle In Georgia Georgia's May 30 municipal elections marked the end of a political cycle that began in the fall of 2007, when the country's opposition collectively decided that it needed to mobilize popular discontent to unseat President Mikheil Saakashvili. More  Vying For Influence In The Balkans Turkey's and Russia's diplomatic and financial deployment in the Balkans have provoked a prompt response from the EU, which hopes to remain the main authority in the region. And Brussels indeed has a lot of catching up to do, largely because over the past four years it has lost much of its credibility. More |
