 RFE/RL Headlines 10/9/2009 5:54:51 PM A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  EU, U.S. Diplomats Seek To Ease Tensions EU and U.S. diplomats have urged Bosnian leaders to contain a spiraling political crisis that is raising tensions between the country's ethnic groups. The meeting at the EU's military base near Sarajevo underlined the seriousness with which the international community views what many see as a rapidly deteriorating situation in the fragile Balkan state. More  Central Asian Trade Ministers Look To Boost Ties With U.S. Trade ministers from five Central Asia countries and Afghanistan are in Washington this week for talks on expanding trade and investment. More  U.S. President Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to U.S. President Barack Obama -- only the third time a sitting U.S. president has received the honor. More  Belarusian Police Fail To Enter Troubled Evangelical Church Police in Minsk failed to enter the disputed building of the New Life Evangelical Church on September 8, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports. More A 23-year-old conscientious objector from the Belarusian city of Homel is standing trial for refusing to join the army, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports. More International Monetary Fund and World Bank officials say the reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border -- a key provision of the proposed rapproachment between the two countries -- will boost the economy of both countries, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More  Armed Insurgents Blocked In Daghestan Village Security forces in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Daghestan have attacked a house in Kirovaul village where a group of armed insurgents were reportedly trapped, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Armenian Opposition Party Refuses To Join Turkey Protest Armenia's main opposition alliance is refusing to join a protest planned by a number of nationalist groups on October 9 against the expected signing of the Armenia-Turkey protocols on normalizing relations, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More  Belarusian Soldiers To Be Punished For Party Membership Belarusian soldiers have been told they must suspend their membership in political parties while serving in the military, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports. More  Kazakh Jewelry Company Investigated By Russian Police Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) is investigating the activities of a jewelry holding company that did extensive business in Russia and Central Asia, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Herta Mueller And Constructive Literary Criticism No one could say that the members of the Swedish Academy who awarded Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller the 2009 Nobel Prize for literature don't know a thing or two about literary criticism. One might therefore think that Mueller's literary talent has always been appreciated in the right measure. Well, not exactly. More Inspired by "The Atlantic's" mock "World Leaders" Facebook group, RFE/RL presents a Facebook-style summary of last week's events. More  Iran Deputies Scold Hamas Over 'Arabian Gulf' Usage Iranian support for Hamas only goes so far. Two members of the Iranian parliament have criticized Hamas leader Khalid Mish'al for using the term "Arabian Gulf" to refer to the Persian Gulf during a Quds Day speech in Damascus last month, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. More  Efforts To Stage-Manage Elections Fuel Tensions In North Caucasus Daghestan's President Mukhu Aliyev is reportedly sparing no effort to secure the reelection on October 11 of the incumbent mayor of the southern town of Derbent, Feliks Kaziakhmedov. In Karachayevo-Cherkessia, candidates for the post of mayor of the town of Karachayevsk have demanded that acting Mayor Umar Uzdenov be disqualified from the ballot (also on October 11) on the grounds that his registration as a candidate is invalid, and that the presidential administration is pressuring voters to cast their ballots for him. More  Bras, Beer Bottles, And Panda Poo A contest that awards wacky but revealing research on everything from tequila to cow-milk production, the "Ig Nobel" prizes poke fun at the real Nobel prizes. Winners says that the contest credits soulful science: the ability to wonder, to question, to laugh, and, ultimately, to advance. More  But This Is Moscow It would've been the end for any ordinary mayor: a friend suspected of a billion-dollar contraband scheme, your wife accused of using connections to build a massive fortune, and your 17 years in power condemned by a prominent opposition leader in a report on corruption. And there's an election coming up. More  Russia Facing Resistance On CIS's Southern Flank Representatives of the CIS are holding a summit in the Moldovan capital today, but most of the Central Asian presidents won't be in attendance. The presidents of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan instead sent lower-level delegations. Focusing on the three Central Asian states that make up the CIS's southern frontier, we examine how, by skipping the summit, they might be exhibiting their discontent with Russia. More  Astronauts, Cosmonauts Land In Prague Prague this week plays host to a global meeting of astronauts and cosmonauts. Some big names are in attendance, including Soviet space hero Aleksei Leonov and China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei. More  Lajcak: West Aware Of How Serious Situation Is The Office of the High Representative (OHR) has recently come under attack from Bosnia-Herzegovina's Serbian entity, the Republika Srpska, whose prime minister, Milorad Dodik, has threatened to withdraw from federal structures and says the OHR should be dissolved. Miroslav Lajcak, the foreign minister of Slovakia, served as the international community's high representative to Bosnia from 2007-09. He spoke to RFE/RL ahead of the talks. More  Why Would U.S. Cut Funding To Iran Rights Group? Washington has decided to end funding to a key Iranian human rights group. The news comes as the United States and Iran are for the first time negotiating face-to-face on Iran's nuclear program. Is this cutoff of money for the group a cynical effort to achieve success in the talks, or a necessary concession to persuade Tehran that Washington is negotiating in good faith? More |
