RFE/RL Headlines
3/17/2011 7:47:26 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. |
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Features
More and more singers in Muslim countries are abandoning their art to adopt a more pious form of Islam. Such career changes have heightened the debate over Islam's relationship to music and the direction the world's fastest-growing religion is heading. More 
Images Of Tsunami-Stricken Japan
As Reuters chief photographer for Southeast Asia, Damir Sagolj has been covering events in Japan since last week's earthquake and tsunami and the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. He spoke by telephone with Nedim Dervisbegovic of RFE/RL's Balkan Service. More 
Interview: As Qaddafi Advances, Hope And Fear Reign In Benghazi
As Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's troops near the eastern city of Benghazi, the mood in the country's last major opposition stronghold is a mix of hope and fear. Voice of America's Cairo bureau chief, Elizabeth Arrott, has just returned from the city. More 
Rumsfeld Looks Back At Two Wars, The Massacre In Andijon, And The Mistakes That Were Made
Few Americans have served in government longer, or in such high positions, as Donald Rumsfeld. First elected to Congress in 1962, he has served every Republican presidential administration, in some capacity, since Richard Nixon's first term. Most recently, he served as President George W. Bush's secretary of defense, and he recounts that experience, as well as his long career, in his recently released memoir "Known And Unknown." More 
Belarus Expels Russian Activist
Belarusian authorities today ordered a Russian human rights activist to leave the country after briefly detaining him. More 
Armenian Demo To Demand Elections
Thousands of antigovernment protesters in Armenia have occupied a central square in the capital after riot police agreed to withdraw without resistance. More 
Turkish PM Erdogan Visits Tatarstan
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has paid a visit to Russia's autonomous republic of Tatarstan. More 
'Missing' Defendant To Reappear At Bakiev Trial
A former high-ranking Kyrgyz official who disappeared shortly after he went on trial with the country's former president is to appear in court when the trial resumes on March 18. More 
'No New Year Leave' For Iranian Political Prisoners
Iranian political prisoners will not be allowed the customary temporary leave to celebrate the upcoming new year, under a directive by the head of the judiciary. More Akmat Bakiev went on trial in December on charges that include organizing mass unrest and violent attacks on law enforcement officials; extortion; illegal use of private land; illegal procurement and possession of weapons; illegal construction; and creating and participating in an illegal armed group during ethnic clashes in the south in May and June. More
Russia Asks Belarus After Activist
Well-known activist Andrei Yurov, who traveled to Minsk this week to assess the human rights situation in Belarus, was detained on March 16. More 
Kyrgyzstan Probe Targets Top Telco
Experts from Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security, Interior Ministry, and financial police will make up the new investigative group that will look into the affairs of MegaCom, the country's leading communication services provider. More 
Trial Resumes Of Kyrgyz Ex-Prez, Others
A Supreme Court spokesman said that for security reasons, the trial will be open only to selected people. He added that it will be conducted by the Bishkek garrison's military court. More 
Afghans Detain Alleged Foreign IMU
Afghan Intelligence Service spokesman Lutfullah Mashaal said one Kyrgyz and two Ukrainians were apprehended in two separate operations. He said all three are members of the IMU, which he said is based in northern Pakistan. More 
Baku Will 'Shoot Down' Karabakh Flights
Azerbaijan has threatened to shoot down civilian planes flying to Nagorno-Karabakh if the sole civilian airport in the disputed region reopens as planned. More 
As Japan Battles The Apocalypse And Libya Descends Further Into Chaos, Van Rompuy Writes Haiku
Yep, it's true. More 
Is Aleksei Kudrin's Political Star On The Rise?
Aleksei Kudrin has long been one of Russia's quietly influential figures. But lately, he has become an increasingly public politician -- and people are noticing. More 
'If You Mind Your Own Business, No One Pressures You'
"What is past is past; I don't want to think about it now," says Rashid Bekjon, an Uzbek political prisoner who was recently released from jail after completing a 12-year prison term. More 
Turkmen Rockers Under Arrest -- Back To The Bad Old Days?
Maksat Kakabaev -- best known by his stage name Maro -- and Murad Ovezov, just possibly the two most popular rock musicians in Turkmenistan, have run afoul of the state. And in Turkmenistan that's usually not a good thing. More 
Remembering Mansur
Every insurgency produces its share of legendary leaders; but not all such men are unconditionally respected and loved by their comrades-in-arms. One who met those criteria was the Chechen commander and Islamic scholar Arbi Yovmirzayev (nom de guerre Sheikh Mansur), who died one year ago at 37. More 
Hey, Obama, Rummy's Got Your Back!
Our colleague Jamie Kirchick has just interviewed ex-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Here's an excerpt - plus a bit of Outpost snark. More Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks with Tatar President Rustam Minnikhanov during his visit to Russia's autonomous republic of Tatarstan. Turkey and Tatarstan have strong cultural and historical ties, and bilateral trade has been rising, amounting to some $1.37 billion. Video by RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service More 
Images From Tsunami-Stricken Japan
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