Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Headlines 12/27/2010 9:02:44 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 As Russia Claims Democracy, Is It Redefining The Word? President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia is a developing democracy. But does he mean democracy in the same way the West does? More   New Year Brings New Fears In Kyrgyzstan's Troubled City Of Osh The normally festive New Year's holidays have lost their sheen this year in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh, where authorities have banned public gatherings and fireworks out of security concerns. More   Interview: Anne Applebaum Discusses Peter Weir's New Gulag Film, 'The Way Back' With the premiere of Peter Weir's "The Way Back," a film about the Soviet gulag, RFE/RL spoke to Anne Applebaum, author of the Pulitzer-prize winning book "Gulag: A History," who served as a consultant on the project. More   News More Join List Of Former Ukrainian Officials In Trouble With Law As the list of former Ukrainian officials in trouble with the law grows, the opposition and human rights activists say the law is being used randomly to punish or scare opponents of the government. More   Khodorkovsky, Lebedev Found Guilty In Second Trial, Await Sentencing A court in Moscow has found jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky guilty of stealing billions of dollars of oil from his own company in a second trial many said was a test of the country's authoritarian regime. More   Moscovites Rally Against Violence "Moscow For All," a rally against ethnic violence, took place today in the Russian capital. Protesters condemned attacks on ethnic minorities and the recent ultranationalist riot in Moscow. More   From Our Bureaus Armenian Public Workers Protest Layoffs More than a hundred civil servants have rallied in Yerevan to protest against the government's decision to liquidate a division of the State Social Security Service employing them. More   Tajiks, Afghans To Be Dismissed From Iranian School In Dushanbe Tajikistan's Education Ministry has ordered an Iranian school under supervision of the Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe to dismiss all Tajik and Afghan pupils. More   Afghanistan Returns Tajik Fugitives Tajikistan's State National Security Committee has confirmed that four Tajik citizens have been extradited from Afghanistan, including two fugitives from a mass jailbreak four months ago. More   Logging Firm Drops Suit Against Khimki Campaigners A logging company has dropped a lawsuit against campaigners protesting plans to build a highway through Khimki forest near Moscow. More   Persian Letters Iran's Intelligence Minister Admits Hacking Into Opposition E-Mail More   Concern Over 'Imminent' Execution Of Kurdish Student Human rights groups and activists are expressing concern over the imminent execution of a Kurdish student, Habibollah Latifi, who has been accused of terrorist activities. More   Gandhara Pakistan Faces A New Threat -- Female Suicide Bombers Radio Mashal's Farkhanda Wazir discusses the December 25 suicide bombing by a female bomber at a World Food Program distribution point in northwest Pakistan. More   The Tower Of Babur: The Legacy Of Babur The Great Oil is the strategic commodity of our time. Ready access to cheap oil has launched empires, and much blood has been shed to control it. But in Babur’s day, horses were the great resource upon which states were built. More