 RFE/RL Headlines 1/29/2010 10:49:45 PM A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Interview  Karzai: 'I Have Always Favored Peace Talks With Taliban' Afghan President Hamid Karzai tells RFE/RL that he has always been in favor of talking to the moderate elements within the Taliban. He said he only managed to gain Western support for wooing the insurgent movement last year, and urged continued support for his strategy. More  Clinton Urges Russia To Join U.S. On Security The Cold War has been over for nearly 20 years, but mistrust persists between Moscow and Washington. Today U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought to enlist Russia in the U.S. effort to bolster security in Europe. More  Six Dead In Shooting At Azeri Military Base Six servicemen are dead and two more wounded after two soldiers went on a shooting rampage on an Azerbaijani military base near the border with Armenia. The dead include the two gunmen, who went on to shoot themselves. More  Blair: No 'Covert' Iraq Pact With Bush Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told a government panel investigating how Britain became involved in the Iraq war today he made no "covert" deal with former U.S. President George W. Bush to invade Iraq in 2003. More  Top Tajik Judges Sue Newspapers Three judges from the Tajik Supreme Court and a Dushanbe court filed lawsuits against three independent newspapers today, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  Kazakhstan Wants OSCE Summit In Astana Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev today called for the first Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) summit of heads of state in 11 years to be held in Astana, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More  Young Armenians To Celebrate 'Lovers' Day' Armenians will celebrate Youth and Lovers' Blessing Day -- their own version of St. Valentine's Day -- on January 30, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More  Woman Sues Uzbek President, Kazakh Ministry Over Son's Death A Kazakh woman has filed a lawsuit against Uzbek President Islam Karimov and the Kazakh Interior Ministry following her son's unexplained death in Uzbekistan last year, RFE/RL's Uzbek and Kazakh services report. More  South Ossetian Leader Criticizes Russian Construction Firms Eduard Kokoity, the president of the breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia, today criticized Russian construction companies engaged in building new homes in the capital, Tskhinvali, RFE/RL's Georgian Service reports. More  Moscow Police Stop Rechnik Protest Police in Moscow stopped a group of homeowners from the suburban community of Rechnik and their supporters from reaching the Moscow mayor's office today, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Kyrgyz Rally For Jailed Leader Banned Supporters of jailed former Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov have been banned from holding a rally for him in the Alay district of the southern Osh region, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More  Kalashnikov Gun Factory Offers Food In Place Of Salaries The management at a factory producing Kalashnikov guns in Russia's Kirov Oblast is paying its workers in food in place of their regular salaries this month, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Tatar Official Wants U.S. Consulate Tatarstan's State Council speaker, Farit Mukhametshin, says a U.S. Consulate should be opened in Kazan, the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service reports. More  Kyrgyz Journalist’s Attacker Gets Suspended Sentence A man found guilty of attacking and injuring a television news cameraman in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh received a suspended sentence of three years in jail today, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More  Tribal Leader: Deal Will Help Beat Taliban An Afghan tribal leader says a new deal that pits his Pashtun tribe against the Taliban in exchange for U.S. financial support will allow the Kabul government to succeed, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan (RFA) reports. More  Latest Iranian Executions Roundly Condemned Amnesty International, along with the U.S. and British governments, have condemned the executions in Iran of two men who were sentenced to death in trials after June's disputed Iranian presidential election. More  Russian City Puts Lenin Up For Sale he southern Russian city of Voronezh has put its bronze statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin on sale, because it can't afford to maintain it any longer. More  Where Is The Color Green? Iran's flag is composed of three bands of color: green, white, and red. But in at least two official ceremonies in recent days, images of that flag have been used where the green color has been replaced by blue. More  Hugh Grant Reaches Out To Russia And the Hollywood heartthrob's pronunciation is pretty darned good! More  Working Together Isn't Working For all the talk of “reset” and “shared interests” and the like, cooperation between the United States and Russia is just not going anywhere. More  A New Tactic In Russia's War On Free Press The arrests at a regional Russian newspaper on charges of publishing articles in return for money surprised many in a country where the practice is common. But some say the detentions could actually be linked to the newspaper's stinging criticism of local authorities. More  Gunboat Diplomacy Moscow’s reported bids on advanced military hardware from NATO countries is making its neighbors nervous -- and dividing the alliance on how to respond. More  Georgian Offer Of Afghan Transit Unlikely To Tempt NATO Georgia this week revived the idea that it could become a bridgehead for a NATO transit corridor through Central Asia to Afghanistan. The idea was first floated a year ago, but has been ignored by the United States and NATO, which currently supply their forces in Afghanistan via routes crossing Pakistan and Russia. More  ‘You Can’t Punish Someone Before He Commits A Crime’ Nineteen-year-old Arash Rahmanipour was executed in Iran on January 28 after being convicted of waging war against God and attempting to overthrow the Iranian regime. The charges against Rahmanipour related to his alleged role in Iran’s postelection unrest. His father, Davoud Rahmanipour, told Radio Farda broadcaster Baktash Khamsehpour about what he called an unjust sentence against his son. More  Arrest Of Popular Uzbek Commentator Sparks Vigorous Public Outcry Jailings of human rights activists have become all too frequent in today's Uzbekistan. To the chagrin of democracy advocates, they often get little public attention. Not so with this month's arrest of popular local journalist Khairullo Khamidov, whose case has raised an unusually strong wave of opposition. More  U.S. Envoy For Eurasian Energy Explains Goals, Strategy For Region The White House's Special Envoy for Eurasian energy has laid out the U.S. government's policy strategy for the region, and says the key to its success will be engagement. More  At 150 Years, Chekhov's Appeal Remains Timeless Today marks 150 years since the birth of one of Russia's most enduring literary talents, playwright and author Anton Chekhov. More than a century after his death, Chekhov is one of the most widely translated and imitated writers in the world. More  Salinger's 'Catcher In The Rye' Resonated Behind Iron Curtain As Well When J.D. Salinger's seminal American novel, "The Catcher In The Rye," was translated into Russian during the "Khrushchev thaw," its antihero's tormented soul-searching also reverberated among admirers throughout the Soviet Bloc. More  Eide: Afghans Must Be Empowered (Intro) On the sidelines of the January 28 conference in London on Afghanistan, Radio Free Europe correspondent Abubakar Siddique spoke to Kai Eide, the UN's outgoing special envoy to Afghanistan: More |
