 RFE/RL Headlines 29.05.2009 A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  Iranians Allege U.S. 'Hands' Behind Mosque Bombing The attack was one of the deadliest such incidents in decades in Iran, where local officials have occasionally accused Washington and its allies of operating through minorities to stir up trouble in remote border regions. More A U.S. official who is in France preparing President Barack Obama's visit next week has been admitted to hospital with H1N1 flu in the Normandy city of Caen, French officials said. More  Tajik Deputies Amend Law On National Bank The measures are seen as a response to inspections of Tajikistan's central bank last year by an independent British auditor that revealed some $1 billion in irregularities between 2004 and 2008. More  Much Of Kyrgyz-Uzbek Border Still Shut In Wake Of Attacks The border was closed after shootouts in the eastern Uzbek cities of Khanabad and Andijon near the Kyrgyz border on May 25. More  Obama Says Israel Must Halt Settlement Activity U.S. President Barack Obama says Israel must halt its West Bank settlements as part of a broader deal toward Middle East peace. More Chechen Woman Sets Herself On Fire In Spain A Chechen woman has set herself on fire in the Spanish town of Alicante, apparently protesting the expulsion of her family from a Red Cross apartment, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Minsk Group Meeting With Azerbaijani President The U.S., Russian, and French diplomats cochairing the OSCE Minsk Group are in Baku on May 29 for talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. More  Ukrainian Security Concerned Over Rusyn Movement The chief of Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU), Valentin Nalivaychenko, says that the separatist movement of the Transcarpathian Rusyns has no chance of success in Ukraine. More An activist of the Youth Front in the Belarusian city of Baranavichi has been expelled from the local university for his political activities, RFE/RL's Belarusian Service reports. More  If You're In The Market For A Good Embalmer, Just Ask Russia... Though they couldn't do the same for the Soviet economy, Russian scientists this week were given dozens of medals and other awards by Vietnam for their role in embalming and keeping Ho Chi Minh's earthly remains preserved for display in the 40 years since his death. More  Former Dutch UN Peacekeeper Moves To Srebrenica A former Dutch UN peacekeeper, who witnessed the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, is relocating with his family to live in the town. More  Russian Warship Attacks Russian Village Here's one from the "oops" department. More If you missed these stories from RFE/RL this week and are looking for something to read/watch over the weekend, try these: More  Plugging Our New Iran Coverage Two new RFE/RL blogs to bring to your attention. More  Russian History In The Dock More  Georgian Patriarch Calls For Unity, Pre-Term Elections Georgian Patriarch Ilia II, who on May 26 appealed to the Georgian opposition to reconsider their demand for President Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation, issued a written statement on May 28 calling on the Georgian authorities to undertake "real steps" to defuse tensions. More  O, Iran! Farhangvairan questions the appropriation by the Ahmadinejad campaign of an Iranian national anthem. More  Woe Are The Teens St-behesht questions the pledges of reformist candidate Musavi, as well as the principles of his sympathizers. More  Young And Homeless In Almaty In Almaty, as in many cities, there are homeless children who have fled abusive families or other domestic problems to fend for themselves on the streets. On the eve of International Children's Day, Yermek Boltayev of RFE/RL's Kazakh Service got to know one such teenager, 16-year-old Sava. More  Slide Show: Moscow Children's Home No. 19 Millions of migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus have sought work in Russia, but as jobs dry up, many are returning home. The wave of return migration has meant a rising number of children left behind. Ahead of International Children's Day, RFE/RL visited Moscow Children's Home #19, where many sons and daughters of migrant workers have been taken into care. More  New Power Line Lights Up Afghan Capital The lights are on again in Kabul. And that’s no small change. For years, residents of the Afghan capital endured shortages of electricity, with power sometimes rationed to only a couple of hours a day. But thanks to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Afghanistan’s neighbor Uzbekistan, things are now looking a little brighter. More  Impetus For Fresh Historical Examination More than 40 years after a shooting that burned an indelible image on the German psyche, its people have reason to examine their postwar history once again. Researchers have discovered that the West German police officer who shot Benno Ohnesorg was in fact a paid agent for East Germany's Stasi secret police. More  As Economic Fortunes Dim, Migrants' Children Left Behind The post-Soviet period saw millions of people from Central Asia and the South Caucasus migrate to Russia in search of work. Now, with jobs dwindling as a result of the economic crisis, many labor migrants are returning home. One consequence has been a rise in Kazakh, Uzbek, and other children living in Russian orphanages after being abandoned or taken away from neglectful parents. More  The Wayward Son Rakhat Aliev, the former son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, has recently published a scandalous tell-all book about the long-time Kazakh leader. In an interview with RFE/RL, Aliev accuses the Kazakh president of the murders of several opposition leaders. More  An Energy Opportunity The EU Seems Determined To Miss The EU must seize the opportunity and set out an unashamedly political external energy strategy which puts its own interests first -- preeminent among them reducing dependence on Russia as a supplier or transit country. Such a strategy would also permit it to exponentially increase its leverage in the region for the long-term good of the other countries involved. More  Khatami Says Ethnic Joke Video Is Fake Iran’s former President Mohammad Khatami has said that a video purportedly showing him telling a joke about Iran’s Azeri minority is a "montage" and fake. More |
