Tue 2 Feb 2010
In the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia twelve opposition parties, mainly with leftist or centrist ideologies, have formed a block yesterday (1 February) that aims to topple the government led by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his centre-right VMRO-DPMNE party. It is expected that the head of the main opposition Social Democrats party, Branko Crvenkovski, will have a central voice in the block. Currently, however, there is no official front man.
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Mon 1 Feb 2010
This weekend (Saturday 30 January) between 7,000 and 12,000 people held a rally in the Russian exclave Kaliningrad. The demonstration initially targeted local tax hikes but ended in calls for more democracy and for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to resign.
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Thu 28 Jan 2010
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Ukraine's Parliament yesterday (27 January) dismissed the Interior Minister, Yuri Lutsenko, a close ally of Presidential candidate and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
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Wed 27 Jan 2010
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled yesterday (26 January) that Turkey violated the regulation on freedom of speech, when it suspended five newspapers and sentenced a magazine editor to prison over an article criticizing prison brutality. The court awarded a total of more than 37,000 Euros to the 20 journalists who filed two cases against Turkey.
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Mon 25 Jan 2010
A Russian police officer who gained widespread fame for posting a video on YouTube alleging police corruption, was arrested on 22 January for fraud and abuse of power.
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Mon 25 Jan 2010
The main Bosnian Serb party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) was defeated yesterday (24 January) by a coalition of three opposition parties in early mayoral elections for the southeastern town of Bileca Bosnia's Serb dominated part Repubika Srpska. The Bosnian electoral commission announced this after nearly all votes had been counted.
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Fri 22 Jan 2010
Armenia's Foreign Minister, Edward Nalbandian, warned today that historic efforts to establish ties with Turkey may break down, blaming Ankara for obstructing the process. "If Turkey is not ready to ratify the protocols, if it continues to speak in ultimatums, to set preconditions and to obstruct the process, then I do not exclude that negotiations will break down," Mr Nalbandian said at a press conference.
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Thu 21 Jan 2010
Macedonia's Journalist’s Association, ZNM, condemned today President Georgi Ivanov’s recent attack on local journalists, accusing him of attempting to ''discipline'' journalists. Ivanov two days ago (19 January) accused journalists of spreading speculations regarding the on-going name dispute with Greece, that Athens could use to its advantage.
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Wed 20 Jan 2010
Yesterday (January 19th) Moscow sought to tighten its grip of the volatile North Caucasus by grouping the most violent provinces together in a new federal district and appointing an outsider to oversee it.
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Mon 18 Jan 2010
Presidential elections held in Ukraine on 17 January showed a not surprising result. With all of the votes counted, Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovich gained 35.32% in the first round voting, while his main rival and Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko won 25.05%, as reported by the Ukrainian Central Election Commission (CEC). The two will face each other in the second round on 7 February, as both did not gain 50% of the vote.
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Fri 15 Jan 2010
Following a law signed by Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenko on January 4th, an Operative-Analytical Centre (OAC) under the President was established on January 14th. The centre will have the right to conduct investigative activity in Belarus including the control of internet-correspondence of Belarus citizens and monitor the movements of Belarus internet-users on the web (i.e. which sites they visit).
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Thu 14 Jan 2010
In a speech on 14 January in Vienna to the Permanent Council of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Kazakhstan's Secretary of State and Foreign Minister, Kanat Saudabayev, lined out the priorities of Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship for 2010.
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Thu 14 Jan 2010
On Sunday 17 January, Ukrainians will go to the polls for the first Presidential elections since the Orange Revolution in 2004 brought pro-Western forces to power. Tension are rising between the candidates ahead of the poll, with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko accusing her main rival, Party of Regions (PoR) leader Viktor Yanukovych, of preparing huge fraud.
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Mon 11 Jan 2010
The opposition Social Democrat, Ivo Josipovic, claimed a landslide victory in Croatia's Presidential election held yesterday. After nearly all votes were counted, Croatia's electoral commission stated that Josipovic won 60.3 per cent of the vote in the second round run-off, compared to 39.7 per cent secured by the populist mayor of Zagreb Miland Bandic who competed as an independent candidate. Correspondents say the result was expected, but the margin of victory even larger than polls had predicted.
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Thu 7 Jan 2010
On 11 December Turkey’s Constitutional Court banned the only pro-Kurdish party in Parliament -the Democratic Society Party (DTP)- after it found the party guilty of links with militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The Court’s decision was a true blow to the government’s efforts to end decades of conflict in the country.
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