 RFE/RL Headlines 7/30/2010 5:26:21 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  Into The Inferno Russia's record-breaking temperatures have sparked fires, killed crops, and stirred fears of thousands of heat-related deaths. What will be the cost of this long, hot summer? More Russian Scholar Warns Of 'Secret' U.S. Climate Change Weapon As Muscovites suffer record high temperatures this summer, a Russian political scientist has claimed the United States may be using climate-change weapons to alter the temperatures and crop yields of Russia and other Central Asian countries. More  Interview: Mothers Say U.S. Hikers' Yearlong Detention 'Outrageous' On July 31, 2009, three Americans were arrested by Iranian forces after they purportedly strayed across the Iranian border while hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan. Shane Bauer, 27; Sarah Shourd, 31; and Josh Fattal, 27, have been held in Iran ever since, without charges, and are currently in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. RFE/RL correspondent Nikola Krastev, who last spoke to the hikers' mothers in May after they traveled to Iran to try to secure their children's release, catches up with them again ahead of their address on July 30 before Iran's Permanent Mission to the United Nations. More  Saudi, Syrian Leaders Visit Beirut The leaders of Saudi Arabia and Syria, King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, are visiting Beirut today in a bid to calm tensions over possible indictments by a UN court against members of Hizballah for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. More  Medvedev's Top Rights Adviser Quits Ella Pamfilova, who headed the presidential council on human rights and the development of civil society, declined to give the reasons for her departure. But human rights defenders said she had come under mounting pressure from critics inside the government. More The death toll from flash floods and landslides triggered by torrential monsoon rains in northern Pakistan has risen to nearly 400 over the past three days. More  Kosovo Predicts 'Wave Of Recognition' Kosovo's foreign minister, Skender Hyseni, has predicted that the territory will soon be recognized as an independent state by many more countries following an international court's ruling that said Kosovo's 2008 secession from Serbia was legal. More  Forest Fires Kill Five In Russia Russia's Emergencies Ministry have said that five people died and hundreds lost their homes as a wave of forest fires spread through central Russia amid an ongoing heatwave. More Russian officials say special forces, disguised as doctors, were able to overpower a man who had seized control of a passenger plane. More  Gates Warns Of Danger From 'WikiLeak' Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has denounced the leak of thousands of classified U.S. documents about the war in Afghanistan. More  Jailed Iran Dissident Appeal Rejected The lawyer of a jailed university worker says his client's appeal to the Supreme Court for a review of his death sentence has been rejected. More Protesters in the eastern Afghan town of Terenkot have accused some NATO-led forces of showing disrespect for the Koran. More Some 70 tribal elders in the Panjwaji region of Kandahar Province have received letters threatening them with death unless they leave the country within five days. More  Six Dead In Armenia 'Army Shooting' Armenia's Defense Ministry has confirmed that one officer and five soldiers died in an incident earlier this week, following reports of a shooting spree at one of its army units. More  Russian Opposition Plans 'Day Of Wrath' Russian opposition groups have submitted an application to hold a "Day of Wrath" protest in Moscow on August 12. More  Iranian Journalists Voice Concern For Imprisoned Colleague More than 90 journalists have written an open letter to Tehran's chief prosecutor expressing concern over the imprisonment of their colleague Abdolreza Tajik and demanding his release. More  Russian Activists Pledge To Hold Rally Despite Official's Warning Russian opposition leader Eduard Limonov says activists plan to hold a demonstration in support of freedom of assembly in Moscow on July 31 despite warnings from the Interior Ministry that it will be broken up. More  Kyrgyz President Begins Tense Visit Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbaeva is in the southern city of Osh, where she met with the city mayor as well as local residents. More  Police: Russian 'Rambo' Confesses Investigators in Russia's Far East have announced that a member of the gang dubbed the "Russian Rambos" has confessed to four murders. More  Armenian Activists Picket Mining Project About two dozen environmental activists clashed with police while picketing the Armenian branch of a Russian bank that intends to finance a controversial mining project. More  In The Heatwave, Getting Information From Moscow Hospitals Is Not Easy Moscow is being tormented. For two weeks now, the temperature has not dipped below 30 degrees. Everyone is miserable, but the most miserable have to be the patients in the surgical departments of city hospitals. According to media reports, doctors are postponing elective surgeries until the fall for fear of “complications.” More |
