 RFE/RL Headlines 9/2/2009 4:18:20 PM A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  Tensions Rise Over Georgia's Sea Blockade Of Abkhazia A war of words is heating up between Georgia and Abkhazia over the Tbilisi's imposition of a sea blockade on the breakaway region. The latest tensions focus on Georgia sentencing a Turkish sea captain to a lengthy jail sentence for carrying cargo to Abkhazia. More  Western Powers Push For Fresh Iran Sanctions Senior diplomats from the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany are meeting in Frankfurt to discuss their options if Iran continues enriching uranium without addressing international concerns that it may be building nuclear weapons. More  Afghan Meeting Overshadowed By Vote Fraud Claims France is hosting a meeting of special representatives from 27 countries to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. Among those attending will be U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke. But discussions are being overshadowed by growing allegations of fraud in the country's recent presidential and regional elections. More  Kazakh Rights Defender On Trial For Manslaughter One of Kazakhstan's most prominent human rights activists has gone on trial in a case his colleagues fear could be used for political purposes. More  Kyrgyz Survivor Pursues Russian Police Career Malik Kalchakeyev was a seventh-grade student beginning classes in North Ossetia on September 1, 2004 when Chechen militants stormed Beslan's School No. 1 and took him and more than 1,000 others hostage. More  Voronin Resigns As Acting Moldovan President Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin has announced his resignation after eight years in power, RFE/RL's Moldova Service reports. More Protest Held Against Demolition Of Baku Mosque A Baku economic court recently upheld a decision by Suraxani authorities against the mosque and ruled that it be demolished. More  IMF Mum On Audit Of Tajik Power Company The company, Barqi Tojik, has come under criticism locally over perceived shortcomings that include opacity in its operations, and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon dismissed the company's director and deputy directors earlier this year. More  Moldova's Coalition Wants IMF 'Rescue' Talks Vlad Filat, head of the Liberal-Democrat Party, told RFE/RL on September 2 that an IMF credit was "the only possibility" for Moldova to overcome the current economic crisis. More A Moscow lawyer and businessman is facing trial in Georgia on charges of obstructing the work of a journalist, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More Iran's boating federation said Alizadeh informed the team that she had gone with her brother to Germany, where he lives. More  Manslaughter Trial Of Kazakh Rights Activist Begins The manslaughter trial of a prominent Kazakh human rights activist begins today in Bakanas District Court in Almaty Oblast, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More  Unlucky If Your Surname Is Aliev Last week, we reported that Kazakhstan's "Rakhat-TV" is changing its name to "STV" -- not of course anything to do with renegade black sheep, Rakhat Aliev. More The Internet is weird. A colleague was just Googling Gerad Depardieu, concerning his new role in Kazakh movie, and he came across this. More  Armenian President Proposes Measures To Alleviate Plight Of Minority In Georgia The steps include granting Armenian the formal status of a regional language, registering the Armenian Apostolic Church, and preserving Armenian historic monuments on Georgian territory. More  Being Unemployed While Others Thrive A blogger known as "Occupation; reporter," who has lost her job following the closure of a reformist daily, asks which people in Iran do have job security? More  The Families Whose Wounds Will Never Heal Five years ago, more than 330 people -- including 186 children -- were killed in a botched rescue attempt to free hostages held at a North Ossetian school by Chechen militants. Photographer Maxim Marmur recently returned to Beslan to document the residents whose wounds will never heal. More  A Microcosm Of What's Gone Wrong In Afghanistan Afghanistan's southern Kandahar Province has a special place in the country's history, having been home to Afghan kings and the ruling elite for centuries. But this vast desert region is now one of the most insecure areas in Afghanistan and a microcosm of what went wrong in the country after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. The region presents a key test for the incoming Afghan administration and U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. More  New Defense Minister: Goals 'Clear And Unchanged' Controversial former Penitentiary Department head Bacho Akhalya, whose appointment last week as Georgian defense minister elicited a wide range of reactions, has embarked upon his new duties and made public the broad outlines of his agenda. The ministry's "unchanged and clear objective," in Akhalaya's words, encompasses three basic priorities: modernization, peace, and integration with NATO. More  Aboard The 'Eastern Express' Mumin Shakirov, a reporter for RFE/RL's Russian Service, recently traveled through Central Asia aboard the "Eastern Express" -- the train linking the Tajik capital of Dushanbe to Moscow. During his four-day trip, his fellow travelers tell him of their hopes, their concerns, and their lives as migrant workers in Russia. More  Lone Private University Defies Tajik Closure Order Tajikistan's Education Ministry has ordered the temporary closure of the country's only private university. But the educators are questioning their motives, and the university is refusing to comply. More  Turkey, Armenia Move Toward Reconciliation Armenia and Turkey have taken a step toward reconciliation -- announcing that they will launch final talks aimed at establishing diplomatic ties. But diplomatic protocols announced on Monday still need to be approved by the parliaments of both countries. More  Vladimir Nadein: Big Politics In A Small Russian Village The guys in the village where I live can’t decide whether to name a street after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin or Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov. Each proposal has its pluses and minuses, so there is plenty to discuss. More  Moldova's Pols Struggle To Find Common Language Both sides have shown that they are adept at political maneuvering. But former OSCE envoy Louis O'Neill warns that there's a freight train of economic disaster barreling down on Moldova. More  Karabakh Peace Process Must Be Fully Inclusive Javid Huseynov argues that one of the keys to finding a peaceful resolution for Nagorno-Karabakh is achieving the normalization of relations between the region's ethnic Armenian and Azeri communities. More |
