 RFE/RL Headlines 12/16/2009 6:33:37 PM A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  U.S. Wants Cooperation, But Also Progress On Rights, Democracy A U.S. Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee held a special hearing on Central Asia on December 15 to discuss the Obama administration's policy toward a region that has grown in importance recently for many countries. More  Group Says Russian Civil Society Needs EU's Help The European Parliament has awarded its human rights prize to the Russian group Memorial, which is battling to uncover the truth about the recent murder of one of its researchers in Chechnya. More  NATO Asks Russia For Afghan Help Paying his first visit to Russia as head of the military alliance, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said today that beating the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan is as "essential" for Moscow as it is for the West. More  Iran Judiciary Cites 'Proof' Of Opposition Leaders' Crimes The head of Iran's powerful judiciary has hinted at evidence linking opposition leaders to a seditious "plot" in an apparent escalation of the dispute stemming from June's presidential election. More  Russian Reform Architect Gaidar Dies Yegor Gaidar, an economist who became late President Boris Yeltsin's reform commissar, provoked awe and antipathy for freeing prices in 1992 before the dust had settled on the ruins of the Soviet Union. More  Kazakh Protesters Arrested On National Holiday Almaty police say they detained 29 people today for a disturbance during demonstrations on Kazakhstan's Independence Day, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More  Russian Journalist Beaten In Kyrgyzstan A reporter for the Russian BaltInfo news agency was beaten in Kyrgyzstan's capital today, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More  WHO Confirms 14 Swine-Flu Cases In Tajikistan A World Health Organization (WHO) official has said there are 14 swine-flu cases in Tajikistan, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  New Book On Turkmen President A book about the life of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov was presented today at Turkmenistan's parliament, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reports. More  Inspectors Shut 24 Kamchatka Nightclubs The prosecutor-general in the Kamcahtka Krai in Russia's Far East says that 24 nightclubs will be closed due to fire-safety violations, representing nearly half of the sites inspected, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More Activists in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok have launched a hunger strike over the imprisonment of an organizer of protests against increased taxes on imported cars, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Iran's Nobel Peace Laureate Praises 'Men In Hijabs' Campaign Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi has praised those men who have in recent days worn the Islamic hijab to express support for jailed student Majid Tavakoli, and to protest against the hijab becoming compulsory for women in Iran after the 1979 revolution. More  The Year In Review RFE/RL's Information Unit compiled this summary of Russia's ranking in some major annual global development surveys. More  Expert Discusses Iran's Reported Nuclear-Weapons Work In a report this week, "The Times" alleged that Iran has been secretly conducting weapons-development work. The report was based on documents obtained by the newspaper that referred to a neutron source, uranium deuteride, that can be used as a trigger for a nuclear weapon. More  Interview: Former Newsweek Correspondent Recalls Life And Death In Ceausescu's Romania Michael Meyer, the "Newsweek" regional bureau chief in 1989, was the last American journalist to travel to Romania and interview communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu before the fall of his regime, and one of the first to arrive in Bucharest afterward. He discusses his impressions of life in Ceausescu's Romania with RFE/RL. More  My Conversations With Yegor Gaidar I met Yegor Gaidar in early 1990. He was the editor of the economics department at "Pravda" and I was looking for a job. He spent a long time explaining to me what his department was doing, what was allowed and what wasn't. "I'm outta here," I decided to myself, but I didn't have time to tell him before he unexpectedly concluded with: "You don't want to work here." More |
