 RFE/RL Headlines August 11, 2009 4:47:16 PM A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  Armenia, Azerbaijan 'Coming Closer' To Peace The top U.S. official for Nagorno-Karabakh talks insists that Armenia and Azerbaijan are moving closer to a framework agreement over the disputed territory, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More  Tajikistan's Largest Company Rejects Charge Of Huge Debt The Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) is disputing claims by the Tajik power company Barqi Tojik that it owes some 96 million somoni ($22 million) in unpaid electricity bills, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  Tajikistan Sentences Five From Banned Islamic Group Tajikistan's Supreme Court sentenced five members of Jamoai Tabligh, a banned Islamic group, to prison terms ranging from three to six years, RFE/RL's Tajik Service has reported. More  Prison Visits Restricted In Tajikistan A top Tajik prison official says that only the country's president, government and parliament members can visit prisons and detention facilities without restrictions, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  Rights Activist, Husband Killed In Chechnya Zarema Sadulayeva, the head of a charity for war victims, was found shot dead today along with her husband. The slayings come less than a month after another prominent Chechen rights activist, Natalya Estemirova, was killed. More  Kazakh Activists Question Journalist's Guilty Verdict Kazakh rights activists are calling unjust the guilty verdict against Ramazan Esergepov, the owner and chief editor of the weekly newspaper "Alma-Ata Info," RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More  Belarusian Town To Restore Monument That Killed Man Officials say they will repair a Lenin statue that broke and killed a 21-year-old man in the southeastern Belarusian town of Uvaravichy who climbed it, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports. More Russian Activists Demand Protection In North Caucasus Russian human rights activists are urging the country's authorities to guarantee their safety in the volatile North Caucasus region, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Investigative Journalist Killed in Russia's Daghestan A well-known journalist in Daghestan was found shot dead today, RFE/RL's North Caucasus and Russian Services report. Malik Akhmedilov, a leading correspondent for the daily newspaper "Hakikat" (The Truth) was found dead in a car on the outskirts of Daghestan's capital, Makhachkala. More The media in Tajikistan are speculating about the news that President Emomali Rahmon's son, Rustam Emomali, took part in the summit of Afghan, Pakistani, Russian, and Tajik leaders held in Dushanbe on July 30-31, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More Russia says it will provide humanitarian food aid to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to help them deal with the global economic crisis, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Two More Rights Activists Murdered In Chechnya Zarema Sadulayeva, the head of a charity for Chechen war victims, was found shot dead today along with her husband, Alik Dzhabrailov. More  Freed Armenian Editor Pledges To Fight For Change As He Fights For His Life Arman Babajanian, the gravely ill newspaper editor released from prison last week, pledged to fight for leadership change in Armenia alongside the country’s main opposition force today as he prepared to travel abroad for urgent medical treatment. More  Tajik City Park Bans Hugging And Kissing Kissing and hugging between young couples will no longer be tolerated in the central park of the southeastern Tajik city of Kulob, park director Sharaf Aziziov has told RFE/RL's Tajik Service. More  A New Space Race? According to an August 11 Reuters article excerpted below, Russia plans to respond to new U.S. air and space defense technology with its own new technology. More  Woman Throws Cup At Mona Lisa A Russian woman frustrated at failing to obtain French nationality hurled a ceramic cup at the Mona Lisa but did not damage Leonardo da Vinci's famed portrait, a spokesman for the Louvre Museum said on Tuesday. More  Iran's Grim Details Will Emerge Only Slowly Beyond the anguish of those who simply want to be reunited with friends and loved ones, the uncertainty over the Iranian death toll is essential to the debate over the lengths that the Iranian government is willing to go to in order to quell a popular challenge to its legitimacy and methods. More  Medvedev's Next Move? If Medvedev can put a close ally like Aleksandr Konovalov in the Prosecutor-General's post it would go a long way toward dispelling the conventional wisdom that he is merely a symbolic president. It would also undermine the influence of Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and his siloviki clan of security service veterans. More  Moldovan Opposition Pulls Together, But Is That Enough? The four opposition parties that together hold a slim majority in Moldova's new parliament have agreed to form a new, Western-oriented coalition. But without reaching a deal with the Communists -- or tempting a few Communist deputies to vote with them -- the opposition does not have the supermajority required to elect a new president. Unless such a deal can be made, Moldova faces months of a caretaker government, followed by more legislative elections early next year. More  A City Built On Fear Chechens praise Ramzan Kadyrov for overseeing the republic's dramatic reconstruction after two wars. At least in public. Off the record, many call Kadyrov an autocratic thug who's imposed order through fear. RFE/RL correspondent Gregory Feifer traveled to Grozny for a behind-the-scenes look at life in the capital. More  The Death Of St. Petersburg? Russia can draw on a wealth of native and international expertise that could lead the way forward. But for the moment, the odds are stacked against the conservation lobby. More |
