 RFE/RL Headlines 12/4/2009 8:14:37 PM A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  NATO Says U.S. Afghan Allies Offer 7,000 Extra Troops NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says NATO allies and partner countries have pledged 7,000 extra troops for Afghanistan. That is over and above the 30,000 already committed by Washington to help fight the Taliban insurgency. More  Reports Fuel Speculation Over Bin Laden's Location The mystery over Osama bin Laden's whereabouts has taken a new turn following the announcement of a new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan that includes an increased focus on the insurgency in Pakistan. Reports have emerged that the Al-Qaeda leader is not hiding in Pakistan, as widely believed, and could be in Afghanistan. More  Suicide Bombers Kill At Least 35 At Pakistan Mosque Militants attacked a mosque in Rawalpindi where officers and soldiers from a nearby military base were known to pray. Scores of people were reported killed and wounded in the attack. More  Was Putin Shielded From Inconvenient Questions? Three people with keen interest in the deadly accident at Russia's Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower station believe they were intentionally prevented from asking Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin questions about the station during his annual televised call-in show on December 3, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Belarusian Activist Fined For Taking Photos A Minsk district court today fined Young Belarus movement activist Anastasiya Mashchava more than 1 million rubles ($360) for taking pictures during a protest mocking the government, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports. More Fifty veterans of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster cleanup began a three-day hunger strike in the Russian city of Tolyatti today, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Tajikistan, Russia Agree To Fight Drug-Related Crime Tajik and Russian officials signed an agreement in Dushanbe today to fight drug-related crime, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  Tajik Activist Surprised At Kyrgyz Entry Ban Tajik human rights activist Nigina Bakhrieva says the decision by Kyrgyz officials to ban her from entering Kyrgyzstan was a great surprise, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More  Leading Russian Daily's Website Hit By Cyberattack The website of one of Russia's most popular daily newspapers, "Moskovsky komsomolets," has been severely damaged by a cyberattack, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  HRW Tells Kyrgyzstan To Stop Harassing Rights Monitors Human Rights Watch is urging the Kyrgyz government to immediately stop harassing human rights monitors doing research in southern Kyrgyzstan. More  Death Of A Beloved Double Agent The world has lost a true Soviet hero. Vyacheslav Tikhonov, the Russian actor who indelibly portrayed perhaps the greatest of all fictional Soviet spies, Stirlitz, died today in Moscow at the age of 81. More  A Famous Soviet Symbol Revived Even if a hand holding a hammer didn’t jut out from behind a veil, there was no mistaking the monumental statue of the worker and the collective farmer, newly restored and 50 meters in the air as it waited to be revealed today. More Nice viral video from human rights activists in Belarus who dress up as Santa Claus to draw attention to a law that restricts unregistered organizations. More  The Rundown - December 4 A comprehensive review of news, views, and analysis on RFE/RL's broadcast region More  Who Will Be Daghestan's Next President? The political situation in Daghestan is arguably both more complex, and more difficult to comprehend, than that in any other federation subject. That complexity derives less from the ongoing battle against the Islamic resistance than from the constant jockeying for power and influence among and within the largest of the republic's 14 titular nationalities. More In recent weeks, unofficial youth groups that claim to defend Circassian national interests have incurred the wrath of the republican authorities in both Kabardino-Balkaria, and in neighboring Karachayevo-Cherkessia. A confrontation may be imminent in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, where the municipal authorities have asked Circassians to postpone a rally. More  NATO, Russia Paper Over Differences NATO foreign ministers have met their Russian colleague, Sergei Lavrov, for the first time since the Russian-Georgian war in August 2008. But NATO appeared to give the cold shoulder to the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, saying his recent proposals for a new European security treaty should be discussed not within the alliance, but within the OSCE. More  Tajik Wrongly Jailed In Russia Finds Justice In Strasbourg Rahmatullo Nazarov, a 29-year-old Tajik citizen who spent three years behind bars in Russia on drug-related charges, was recently awarded 18,500 euros ($27,000) in compensation by the European Court of Human Rights. The Strasbourg-based court ruled in favor of his complaint that he was treated inhumanely during his detention. More  U.S. And Russian START Talks Continue As Deadline Looms U.S. and Russian negotiators are not likely to have a new START treaty ready before the existing Cold War-era arms accord expires at midnight. But both sides are expressing optimism that a new nuclear arms reduction pact will be signed soon. More  Americans Favor U.S. Isolationism, Acting Alone A new poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly feel that the United States should "mind its own business internationally" when it comes to foreign affairs. The title of the Pew Research Center poll, which asked 2,000 U.S. citizens about the United States' role in the world, says it all: "Isolationist Sentiment Surges to Four-Decade High." More  UN Names Stevie Wonder As 'Messenger Of Peace' The United Nations has appointed the acclaimed American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder as a Messenger of Peace. Though the designation is largely symbolic, Wonder, who was born blind and has won a record 22 Grammy Awards, pledged to work to improve attitudes toward people with disabilities More  Montenegro Seen As NATO Shoo-In, Bosnia May Have To Wait NATO foreign ministers are set to give a Membership Action Plan (MAP) -- an essential stepping stone on the road toward alliance membership -- to Montenegro and put off a decision on Bosnia-Herzegovina. More  Heard in Iran - IAEA Backlash, Unity Crisis More  Heard in Russia: Phone-In Reactions, Grey Wages, Courts Criticism More |
