 RFE/RL Headlines 8/5/2010 6:16:00 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  Lawyer Who Fled Iran Insists: 'I Had The Right To Defend Sakineh Mohammadi' In his first interview since fleeing Iran, lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei talks about defending Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, and the maelstrom that it unleashed. More  Karzai: Review Of Anticorruption Bodies President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has set himself on a potential collision course with the Obama administration by demanding a probe into the Major Crimes Task Force, a U.S.-backed anticorruption body. His call appears to signal a bid for control of the organization amid fears that it is targeting his closest political allies. More Lawyer In Stoning Case Flees Iran The lawyer of an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery has fled to Turkey and has requested asylum there. More The authorities in Kyrgyzstan have arrested an opposition leader and more than 20 others on charges of plotting a coup, President Roza Otunbaeva said, after troops fired tear gas and stun grenades in the capital, Bishkek, to disperse around 2,000 of his supporters. More  Russia Sackings Over Wildfires Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has sacked several top military officials for failing to stop wildfires from destroying a naval base outside Moscow. More  Tajik University Files Lawsuit Against Education Minister Tajikistan's only private university is suing the country's education minister for defamation. More  Germans March In Kyiv To Commemorate Nazi Victims Two hundred Germans took part in the "March of Life" today in Kyiv, an event aimed at asking forgiveness from the victims of the Holocaust. More  Iran's Stats Center Takes Over Reporting Of Economic Indicators An Iranian official says major economic indicators will no longer be announced by the Central Bank but will instead be reported by the Statistics Center of Iran. More  Moldova Coalition Shows Strain The leaders of two of the four parties in Moldova's coalition government have signaled they may run against each other in a direct presidential election. More Iraqi authorities say they are investigating whether two Iranian commercial banks that want to do business in Iraq are covered by UN Security Council sanctions. More  Tatar Lawyer Sues Police A Tatar lawyer specializing in human rights and freedom of speech cases has filed a lawsuit against police after he says they beat him while in detention. More  Moldovan Journalist Healthy, But Still Jailed The wife of a Moldovan journalist jailed on charges of espionage says an official in the breakaway region of Transdniester has assured her that her husband's health is good but that his detention could be extended. More  Anti-OSCE Protest Blocked In Osh The authorities in Kyrgyzstan's southern city of Osh have prevented a mass protest against the deployment of an international police force in the Osh and Jalal-Abad regions. More  Four Arrested In Probe Of Armenian Officer's Death The Armenian Defense Ministry said four servicemen have been arrested in connection with last week's death of a junior army officer. More A court in southern Tajikistan has ruled that a regional leader of the opposition Islamic Renaissance Party and another man are not guilty of human trafficking. More  Rights, The Reset, And The Gathering Storm The United States came out this week with its harshest public criticism of Russia since President Barack Obama reset relations with Moscow. The U.S. criticism comes at a time when rights activists are increasingly worried that optimism about the liberalizing noises coming from President Dmitry Medvedev may have been premature. More  New South Ossetian Defense Chief Opposes Further Downsizing Of Armed Forces Two years after Georgia's defeat by Russian forces in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, a top Russian general has estimated as minimal the chances of a new Georgian assault on the region. But the Georgian breakaway region's Russian defense chief thinks differently. More  Will The Floods Open The Floodgates For Pakistan's Extremists? Although the government has announced it is stepping up relief efforts for the devastating floods that hit the northwest, it has been widely criticized for its slow and poorly coordinated response. This perceived failure has opened new vistas for pro-Taliban religio-political parties and outlawed militant organizations to win the hearts and minds of locals in this war-weary region. More  A Tale Of Two Leaks Andrei Soldatov says it's interesting that at the very moment when the Russian media were reporting about the U.S. scandal and predicting the imminent collapse of the coalition in Afghanistan, another episode that could have had a much more direct impact on Russia -- another leak! -- passed without mention. More |
