Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Headlines 1/27/2011 6:59:55 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 Chinese Farmers To Till Tajik Land Kazakhstan first proposed the idea then decided against it. Now Tajikistan has agreed to it. Farmers from China are coming to Tajikistan to grow cotton and rice in a move that has left many in Tajikistan feeling ignored and concerned. More   Pakistani Extremists Step Up 'Blasphemy' Attacks The Pakistani government hopes passions will cool following the assassination of Salman Taseer. That's not happening. More   Central Asia 'Must Diversify' To Leverage Economic Advantages Central Asia's economies have to become more diversified and competitive if they are to attract more foreign investment, says a report by a major global economic group being presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos. More   News Exxon Mobil, Rosneft Sign Deal Russia's Rosneft energy company and the U.S. company Exxon Mobil have signed a deal for joint exploration of oil and natural gas resources in the Black Sea. More   Rights Appeal Over Kyrgyz Justice Human Rights Watch is urging the Kyrgyz Supreme Court to overturn what it feels is a miscarriage of justice in a murder case from last year's ethnic violence in the south. More   From Our Bureaus Nazarbayev Bio Published In Kazakh A glowing biography of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev by a former British cabinet minister has been published in Kazakh. More   Belarus Campaign Manager Freed The campaign manager for a Belarusian opposition presidential candidate has been released from jail. Uladzimer Kobets headed Andrey Sannikau's campaign in the December 19 presidential election. He was one of hundreds of opposition activists arrested for taking part in the mass rally in Minsk on December 19-20 to protest official election results. More   No Mourning For Hanged Iran Activist The widow of an Iranian activist hanged this week for ties with a banned opposition group says the family has been warned not to hold a mourning ceremony for him. Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Hajaghai were executed on January 24 for ties with the exiled People's Mujahedin of Iran (also known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization, MKO). More   Ukraine Cop Fired For 'Cow' Comment A Ukrainian police sergeant has been fired after he was caught on video insulting the Ukrainian language. More   Kyrgyz Arrest Suspected Islamist An alleged member of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir organization has been arrested in Kyrgyzstan's southern Jalal-Abad region. A Jalal-Abad Oblast official told journalists a 29-year-old resident of Kara-Kol was detained January 26. Police stopped the suspect's car and found dozens of books and leaflets of extremist religious content. More   'Mt. Putin' Sparks Kyrgyz Opposition An opposition party in the Kyrgyz parliament has protested a government proposal to name a mountain peak after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. More   Belarus Athlete Sacked Over Protest Prominent Belarusian athlete Andrey Vilkin has lost a university teaching job because of his participation in a mass protest over December's disputed presidential election. Vilkin, a lecturer at the Belarusian National University's Physical Education Department, was fired from his job at the university this week. Vilkin was arrested by Minsk police at an opposition rally on December 19. More   Armenian Economy Rebounded In 2010 Armenia's economy grew 2.6 percent last year as it rebounded from a sharp decline in 2009 caused by the global financial crisis. Growth in 2010 was driven primarily by industry and the mining sector, which benefited from a rally in prices for nonferrous metals. More   Dervishes' Lawyers Jailed In Iran Three Iranian lawyers who recently defended Sufi dervishes have been sentenced to jail in a case an international rights group says highlights mounting pressure on human rights lawyers. More   Nagorno-Karabakh Airport To Reopen The breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh's sole civilian airport will reopen in May to operate the first commercial flights between the disputed area and Armenia in nearly 20 years. More   Tajikistan Complicates Marriages Between Foreigners, Tajik Women The Tajik parliament's lower chamber has approved an amendment to the Family Code that will make it more difficult for foreigners to marry Tajik women. More   Chaikhana Andijon On Karimov's Mind Andijon is a topic Uzbek President Islam Karimov has attempted to avoid ever since. But on the eve of his visit to Brussels, Karimov brought the subject up at a government meeting. More   An Extremist Link Between Tajikistan, Waziristan RFE/RL's Tajik Service has been tracking a shadowy figure who may be a key link between Pakistan's tribal region and Central Asia, and at the same time a person who may prove the evolution of one of Central Asia's most notorious terrorist groups. More   Commentary It May Be Too Late For A New North Caucasus Policy Faced with the galloping jihadization in the region, Russian experts are ever more frequently calling for a new state policy for the North Caucasus. Such calls are misguided insofar there can be no one-size-fits-all set of measures, only individually tailored solutions for specific republics. More