 RFE/RL Headlines 6/23/2010 7:28:44 PM A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty RFE/RL is looking for guest bloggers, preferably writing from and about our broadcast region. If you're interested, drop us a line at webteam@rferl.org. |
| Features  Afghan, Iranian Films At HRW Festival Explore Human Interactions In Trying Times Among the offerings at the 2010 Human Rights Watch Film Festival taking place in New York through June 24 are "Iran: Voices of the Unheard" directed by Davoud Geramifard, and "Camp Victory, Afghanistan," directed by Carol Dysinger. More  Can A Russian Silicon Valley Rise From The Dust? Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is touring California's high-tech nerve center for meetings with executives from Google, Microsoft, and Intel. His tour is an attempt to attract investment for his country's own Silicon Valley -- the nascent town of Skolkovo -- which he hopes will help boost Russia's technology sector and diversify its economy away from oil and gas. More  Kyrgyzstan: The Story Of One Life Upturned By Ethnic Violence This month's ethnic violence in southern Kyrgyzstan forced some 400,000 people from their homes and left more than 250 dead. RFE/RL correspondents Farangis Najibullah and Bruce Pannier hear the story of one woman caught up in the turmoil in Osh. More  McChrystal Resigns, Petraeus To Head Afghan Operations U.S. President Barack Obama says he has accepted General Stanley McChrystal's resignation from the post of commander of the Afghan war. More  EU Warns Kyrgyz Instability Could Spread The EU Special Representative for Central Asia has warned that recent instability in southern Kyrgyzstan could spill over into other countries along the Ferghana Valley. Pierre Morel, who visited Kyrgyzstan last week, told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee in Brussels that the EU wants the referendum on Kyrgyzstan's new constitution to go ahead as planned on June 27. More  UN Faults Afghan Neighbors' Opium Use The UN's "2010 World Drug Report" shows that while Afghanistan remains the world's largest opium producer, it is neighboring countries like Iran, Pakistan, and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia where a majority of the world's opium is consumed. More  Thousands Of Refugees Return As Kyrgyzstan Prepares For Referendum Kyrgyz officials say thousands of ethnic Uzbeks have begun returning to Kyrgyzstan from refugee camps in neighboring Uzbekistan. But tensions remain high in south Kyrgyzstan as the country’s interim government prepares for a referendum on constitutional reform to be held later this week. RFE/RL’s Central Newsroom and Kyrgyz Service report. More  Belarus Says Russia Gas Debt Paid Belarus says it has settled its gas debt with Russia and now says Russia owes it more than $250 million in transit fees. Belarusian officials have given Moscow until tomorrow to pay up before Minsk shuts down gas transit lines to Europe. More  Ahtisaari Downplays ICJ Kosovo Opinion Martti Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland and Nobel peace prize laureate, says Kosovo will remain an independent state regardless of a pending advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice. More  Report Says U.S. Contracts Funding Afghan Insurgents A new congressional report says the U.S. government is inadvertently funding "a vast protection racket run by a shadowy network of Afghan warlords" who safeguard supply lines for U.S. and NATO troop More  Lebanon Extradites Iraqi For Corruption Iraq's anticorruption chief says Lebanon has extradited a former Baghdad government official suspected of stealing millions of dollars from the government, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq (RFI) reports. More  Russia Approves PACE Resolution On North Caucasus For First Time Russia has approved a resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the North Caucasus, the first time it has accepted recommendations on that region since it joined the council. More  Eight Dead In Latest Karachi Shootings Police in Karachi say eight people have been killed over the past two days in Pakistan's biggest city. More  Kyrgyz In Almaty Plan Rally In Support Of Referendum Kyrgyz residents of the Kazakh city of Almaty are planning to rally on June 24 in support of Kyrgyzstan's upcoming referendum on a new constitution. More Jalaliddin Salakhuddinov, a former Kyrgyz parliament deputy, told RFE/RL that the reported discovery of ammunition in his Osh office during security operations that began on June 21 is a provocation by law-enforcement officers. More  Kyrgyz Unrest 'Organizers' Detained Officials in Kyrgyzstan's southern Jalal-Abad Oblast say they have detained 12 suspected organizers of the ethnic clashes between local Uzbeks and Kyrgyz. More  Sarkisian Seeks Closer Germany Ties Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has heaped praise on Germany and called for the expansion of bilateral relations after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel during an official visit to Berlin. More  First Russian Polio Cases In 15 Years The Russian Health and Social Affairs Ministry has confirmed seven cases of polio that it says likely originate from an outbreak in Tajikistan more than one month ago. More Officials in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk are investigating a shooting incident involving a local mayor. More  Taliban Warn Drivers Off NATO Work Taliban in Pakistan's Khyber tribal agency have warned truck drivers against carrying supplies for the U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. More  Kyrgyz: Foreigners Among 'Snipers' Kyrgyz State Security Service chief Keneshbek Duishebaev made the announcement while telling journalists on June 22 that the suspects were captured in special operations by security forces in Kyrgyzstan's Jalal-Abad and Osh regions. More  Medvedev Launches Twitter Account, Complete With Typo On his way to Silicon Valley to try to lure investment eastward and learn lessons to apply to Russia’s own nascent tech hub of Skolkovo, President Dmitry Medvedev paid a visit to Twitter headquarters. More  Top Human Rights Defender Released On Bail One of Iran's top human rights advocates, the writer and investigative journalist Emad Baghi, has been temporarily released from jail on bail of about $200,000. More |
