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Five years after street protests in Kyrgyzstan led to the resignation of long-time leader Askar Akaev, citizens and politicians alike are now unhappy with the outcome of the Tulip Revolution, saying it merely replaced one corrupt strongman with another. Last week, several thousand opposition supporters rallied in Bishkek and some other towns in Kyrgyzstan, airing wide-ranging grievances varying from high energy prices to a government clampdown on independent media.

The Tulip Revolution of March 2005
Widespread discontent over parliamentary elections in February 2005 prompted the mostly haphazard demonstrations that erupted in Kyrgyzstan. Protesters accused President Askar Akaev and his family of heading a corrupt and nepotistic government that did not represent the people.

I FIRST MET Srdja Popovic last spring at a bustling café in the Maldives, where he had just helped overthrow the government. Sipping espresso and smoking cigarettes, he spoke in passionate bursts as he told me about how he had guided the local opposition—now the ruling party of this tiny nation in the Indian Ocean—in the ways of peaceful revolt. Yet even with five revolutions already under his belt, Popovic insisted that he sought only to educate rebels, not lead them.
"You cannot take the revolution in a suitcase and take it to one place," Popovic told me when I caught up with him again in a restaurant in wintry Washington, DC, where he'd been meeting with pro-democracy organizations. Popovic has been credited with giving activists the tools to oust unpopular regimes (pdf) from Ukraine to Lebanon—earning him and his small band of nonviolent storm troopers a name as Che-like globe-trotting agitators. "We have the notorious reputation of being capable of toppling dictatorships all over the world," he said with nonchalance. "We are the world's best known troublemakers."

FIVE anti-nuclear power protesters blocked the entrance to Sizewell power station today. Representatives from the People Power not Nuclear Power Coalition wearing arm tubes locked themselves on to concrete just under the barrier at the main entrance around 6.40am. The demonstrators brought big black barrels with them daubed with 'Don't Nuke the Climate'. Other protesters are also there in support.
The group said they are demonstrating against the flawed government consultation on nuclear new build - which ends today - and the dumping of local democracy.

Police in Ivory Coast have fired on hundreds of demonstrators at an anti-government rally, killing three people and wounding a dozen others in the latest protest since the president dissolved the government last week.
Moussa Dembele of the opposition RDR party said the protest took place in Gagnoa, about 200km northwest of Abidjan, the country's economic capital.
Demonstrations spread to at least eight cities on Friday over a decision by Laurent Gbagbo, the country's president, to dissolve the government and the electoral commission after a row over voter registration.

The US has accused Iran of seeking a "near-total information blockade" to silence anti-government protesters. The allegations came after opposition supporters clashed with security forces as Iran marked the anniversary of the 1979 revolution.
The US government said it had information that the telephone network was taken down, SMS messages blocked, and internet communication "throttled".
China and Burma have also been accused of blocking internet communication.
Analysts say some governments make strenuous efforts to block modern communications among opponents, with varying degrees of success.

Thousands of people are expected to gather near Cape Town in South Africa today to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release.
It will be the centrepiece of commemorations to mark the moment that Mandela emerged after 27 years behind bars, ushering in a transition from apartheid to multi-racial democracy and his rise to become the country's first black president.
This morning Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who held Mandela's hand and punched the air in triumph on that day, will lead a 500-metre march from the former Victor Verster prison in Paarl, Western Cape, to symbolise the walk that was seen by a TV audience of millions.
Mandela's former wife is also expected to address a rally attended by African National Congress veterans including Ahmed Kathrada and Denis Goldberg.

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- The final results from Ukraine's presidential election on Wednesday showed former Prime Minister Victor Yanukovich winning a close race, but an official declaration of a victor was still to come.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has refused to concede defeat and plans to demand a recount in some districts, officials from her party, Bloc Tymoshenko, said Tuesday.
The tally from the Central Election Commission from Sunday's runoff showed Yanukovich holding 48.95 percent of the vote, and Tymoshenko claiming 45.47 percent. Nearly seven in 10 registered voters showed up at the polls.

A leading Iranian human rights activist and journalist was arrested Wednesday, activists said. Kaveh Ghasemi Kermanshahi was taken by seven security agents who searched his home and took personal belongings including his computer, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said in a statement.
It is not clear where he is being held.
"Kermanshahi is one of the most important sources of objective human rights information and analysis in Iran, and one of the few still courageously working to document, in a scientific way, the deprivation of human rights there," said ICHRI representative Hadi Ghaemi from New York.

Political observers have praised the recent Ukrainian elections, saying the outcome of Sunday's second round contest between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and one of her predecessors, Viktor Yanukovych, is not predetermined.  That's in stark contrast to neighboring Russia, where the 2008 election of President Dmitri Medvedev was a forgone conclusion.  VOA Moscow Correspondent Peter Fedynsky contrasts presidential elections in two former Soviet republics.
About 3,000 foreign election observers declared that, despite a few irregularities, the first round of Ukraine's presidential election on January 17 met international standards for honesty.