 RFE/RL Headlines 9/30/2010 4:52:33 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 Village Fights To Keep Taliban At Bay The Taliban are making rapid gains in parts of northern Afghanistan, forcing villages to make a difficult choice: join the Taliban now or face reprisals later. The village of Tarbuz Guzar decided to fight. More  Turkmen Dipping Their Toes Into Online Forums The lifting of some restrictions on the Internet, however, is allowing some Turkmen to express themselves in an open forum while providing outsiders a rare look into their everyday problems. More  Moscow Rejects Japan's Warning Russia's Foreign Ministry has criticized Japan's condemnation of a plan for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to visit the disputed Kurile Islands, saying the remarks by Japanese officials were "inappropriate and unacceptable." More  EU Set To Extend Belarus Visa Ban -- With Some Exemptions Diplomats in Brussels say EU ambassadors have agreed to extend by another 12 months a visa ban on top Belarusian officials. More  Planet Discovered With Potential For Life U.S.-based astronomers say they have for the first time discovered a planet on which key conditions for life appear to exist. More An Indian court reportedly has ruled that a religious site in northern India claimed by both Hindus and Muslims should be divided between the two communities, according to a lawyer for one of the parties involved in the lawsuit. More  Afghan Opium Harvest 'Nearly Halved' The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in a report released today said Afghanistan produced an estimated 3,600 tons of opium this year -- a 48 percent reduction from 2009. More  Pakistan Blocks NATO Supply Route Pakistan has blocked a vital supply route for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, apparently in retaliation for an alleged cross-border NATO helicopter strike that killed three Pakistani troops. More The Prosecutor-General's Office said it is reopening criminal investigations into the deaths of five journalists between 2001 and 2005 after receiving new information from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). More  Musharraf: New Coup Threat In Pakistan Speaking in London, where he is preparing to launch a political party in a bid for a comeback as a civilian president, former military ruler Pervez Musharraf said that Pakistan's army should be given a constitutional role in the country's politics. More  Kazakh Police Say Health Minister May Have Simulated Stroke Kazakhstan's financial police have said that Health Minister Zhaqsylyq Dosqaliev may have simulated a stroke to escape justice. More  Lenin Statue Removed In Southern Tajikistan Residents of the southern Tajik town of Khatlon discovered on September 29 that the monument to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin had been removed from the town's central park. More  Kyrgyz Trials Postponed After Disruptions Two separate trials of ethnic Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan have been postponed by the judges after disruptions. More  Russian Anarchists Demand Release Of Belarusian Colleagues Four members of Russia's anarchist movement attempted to hand a petition to the Belarusian consul-general in St. Petersburg demanding the release of anarchists being held in Minsk. More  IMF Sees Slower Growth In Armenia The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said it has scaled down its growth projection for Armenia by 20 percent because of a sharp fall in the country's agricultural output. More  Iranian Gold Traders' Strike Spreads Gold merchants throughout Iran are joining a strike to protest a new tax on gold that they say severely hurts their business. More Kyrgyz Farmer Shot On Uzbek Border A Kyrgyz citizen was wounded in a shooting incident on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border on September 28. More  UN Prods Kazakhstan Over Prisons UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak says he hopes Kazakh authorities will stop "window dressing" the situation regarding the country's penitentiary system. More  The Rundown - September 30 A review of news and opinion on RFE's broadcast region. More  Eighty Seats In The Duma Unlike viewers of Russian state-controlled television, readers of The Power Vertical will know that on September 16 leading opposition politicians created a new movement called For A Russia Without Arbitrariness And Corruption. More  Prison Sentence For Iranian Blogger Seen As Warning To Others Some Iranian bloggers are speaking out against the prison sentence given to Iran’s “blogfather” Hossein Derakhshan, who has been reportedly condemned to 19 and 1/2 years in prison on charges that include “propagating against the state” and “cooperating with hostile governments.” More  Uzbek Rights Activist Convicted Of Defamation A leading human rights activist in Uzbekistan has been convicted of defamation and fined. More  'Politics' And Prison In Putin's Russia I don't think that it is a coincidence that at this very moment the administration has submitted a bill to the Duma that would remove the Investigative Committee from the Prosecutor-General's Office and subordinate it directly to the president. More |
