 RFE/RL Headlines 9/8/2010 7:12:27 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  Ahmadinejad Encroaches On Supreme Leader's Foreign-Policy Turf Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's appointments of special envoys for foreign affairs is seen as a direct challenge to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. More  Tajiks Stopped From Traveling To Iran, Pakistan For Religious Courses Dozens of Tajiks have been prevented by officials from traveling to Iran and Pakistan to obtain religious education. The move by Tajik authorities comes days after President Emomali Rahmon urged parents to recall their children from foreign madrasahs, saying otherwise they could be turned into terrorists and extremists. More  'WSJ' Editor Takes The Wraps Off Tony Blair's Book Iain Martin, deputy editor of "The Wall Street Journal Europe" and longtime observer of British politics, weighs in on the attention generated by the release of former Prime Minister Tony Blair's book, "A Journey." Protesters hurled eggs, bottles, and shoes at Blair at a promotional event at a Dublin bookstore over the weekend, and threatened protests prompted organizers to postpone a second Blair appearance, in central London. The interview was conducted by RFE/RL Executive Editor John O'Sullivan. More  Ukraine Plan To Upgrade Russian A group of Ukrainian parliamentary deputies has proposed a law changing the official status of the Russian language in the country. More  U.S. 'Regrets' Russian Activist In Jail A top U.S. diplomat has expressed regret at the jailing of a prominent Russian rights activist that forced the campaigner to miss a meeting with visiting U.S. officials. More  Soros Gives HRW $100 Million In one of the biggest donations of its kind, financier and philanthropist George Soros has promised $100 million to the global advocacy group Human Rights Watch, to help it expand its work. More Police say an ethnic Albanian was killed by unknown gunmen in the Serb-dominated part of the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica. More  Police Beat Afghans At Crisis-Hit Bank Afghan security forces used batons on customers scrambling to withdraw their savings from a branch of troubled Kabul Bank, the country's biggest private financial institution. More  Judge Shot Dead In North Caucasus Authorities say gunmen have shot dead a Russian federal judge in the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. More  Kyrgyz President's Spokesman Resigns The chief spokesman for Kyrgyzstan's presidential administration has resigned. More  Moldovan Leader To Call Early Elections Moldovan acting President Mihai Ghimpu says he will issue a decree to dissolve the parliament and call for early elections. More  Armenian Court Refuses To Lift Rally Ban A Yerevan court has upheld the city administration's decision to ban the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) from holding a rally in the city's historic Liberty Squareю More  Uzbek Rights Activist's Son Injured In Attack A prominent Uzbek rights activist says her son has been injured in a knife attack in the capital, Tashkent. More  Afghan Villagers Set Up Security Force For Elections Officials in Afghanistan's northern Balkh Province say a group of villagers has organized an armed force to help police provide security during the upcoming parliamentary elections. More  Russian Court To Consider Complaint Against Ruling Party Russia's Constitutional Court has agreed to consider a complaint from a regional deputy claiming that all the regional parliament committees are headed by deputies from the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. More Iranian Intelligence Ministry officials raided human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh's home and office on August 28 and confiscated files and personal belongings, then she was arrested when she went to the prosecutor's office on September 4. More  'Peace Art' Exhibit Opens In Afghan Capital An exhibition of young Afghan artists has opened to viewers at Babur Garden in the western part of Kabul with the aim of "promoting a message of peace to Afghans." More  LUKoil Official Found Not Guilty In Deadly Car Crash Anatoly Barkov, the vice president of Russian oil giant LUKoil, has been cleared of blame in a February car crash that killed two women. More  The Widening Cracks In WikiLeaks What the heck is going on inside WikiLeaks? More  Loose Lips Sink Fink Yury Fink's case drew public attention this spring when the entrepreneur, freshly released on bail after a year in pretrial detention, posted two video clips on Youtube pleading to Medvedev and Putin to protect him and his company from raiders. More  The Rundown - September 8 A review of news and opinion on RFE/RL's broadcast region. More  Georgian President Rejects Venice Commission Criticism Of New Constitution Meeting with legislators from his United National Party, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said he "categorically disagrees" with specific criticisms by the Council of Europe's Venice Commission of the amendments to the Georgian Constitution currently under discussion. More  Can Serbia Move Beyond Kosovo? Instead of seeking a solution that takes into account the desire of 2 million Kosovo Albanians to live in their own country, most Serbian political parties have adopted populist positions aimed solely at marketing themselves. By keeping Kosovo at the top of the domestic political agenda in Serbia, the parties have distracted the public from issues like the failure of reforms, kleptocratic privatization deals, rampant corruption, crime, and falling living standards. More |
