Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Headlines 4/11/2011 8:16:39 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 Celebrates Gagarin's Flight, Space Program Comes Under Fire Delayed launches, rocket crashes, and missing satellites are just a few of the mishaps plaguing Russia's space program. Can attention surrounding the 50th anniversary of Yury Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight revive the once-storied program's fortunes? More   50 Years Since World Star-Struck By Space Pioneer Gagarin Fifty years ago, Soviet cosmonaut Yury Gagarin became the first human to travel into space. The flight was a triumph for the Soviet Union in its space race against the United States and propelled the young Gagarin to global fame. More   Gagarin: 'A Great Soviet Hero Who Easily Crossed Into Being A Great Russian Hero' Fifty years ago this week, Soviet cosmonaut Yury Gagarin blasted off into space, becoming an overnight star. Thereafter, the Kremlin scripted most of what was written about him. Writer and filmmaker Jamie Doran, in a new biography co-authored with Piers Bizony and titled "Starman: The Truth Behind The Legend of Yuri Gagarin," explores the man behind the official facade. More   News Deadly Blast Hits Minsk Subway The blast occurred at the Kastrychnitskaya (October Square) subway station, located close to President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's offices. More   French Full Veil Ban Comes Into Force A law banning the wearing of garments that cover the face in public has today come into force in France -- the first European country to impose such a ban. More   From Our Bureaus Pakistan Considers Life Sentence For Acid Attacks On Women Pakistan's National Assembly is considering a bill that would toughen the punishment for people who commit acid attacks on women. More   More Activists Held Over Baku Rally More opposition activists in Azerbaijan have been charged in connection with an antigovernment rally that was dispersed by riot police earlier this month. More   Guns Found At Kyrgyz Parliament Kyrgyz security chief Keneshbek Duishebaev says 11 guns -- including an AK-47 -- were confiscated at the parliament after a scuffle between deputies last week. More   OSCE Asked To Help Jailed Kyrgyz Supporters of a Kyrgyz opposition leader jailed on suspicion of trying to overthrow the government have called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to help secure his release. More   'Thousands' Questioned In Search For Missing Ukrainian Journalist Ukrainian police say they have interviewed thousands of people in their investigation into the disappearance of a journalist last year. More   Kyrgyzstan Wants Customs Union Kyrgyzstan will try to join the Belarus-Kazakhstan-Russia Customs Union this year. More   New Image For Tajik 'Police' Tajik Interior Minister Abdurahim Qahhorov said a new draft law on the police would officially rename the "militsia" as "police." More   Tajik Flash Mob Protests Energy Shortages Internet users in Dushanbe have staged Tajikistan's first-known flash mob in order to protest the state electricity provider's inability to provide uninterrupted power supplies. More   Transmission Porn WikiLeaks: The Dark Side Of Radical Transparency Porn WikiLeaks, a website intent upon exposing the real identities of 23,756 porn actors and actresses, is a good example of the dark turn that the logic of radical transparency and crowdsourcing can take. More   Gagarin: A Cosmic Success For Russian Public Diplomacy At the opening of the UN photo exhibition in New York celebrating Yuri Gagarin’s groundbreaking flight in space, people could feel the pride and jubilation of Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vitaly Churkin. More   Chaikhana Tajik Fatwa Bans SMS-Divorce Tajikistan's Council of Ulema is set to issue a fatwa banning a so-called SMS-divorce, the state religious committee announced today. More   Caucasus Report Defendant Implicates Chechen Resistance Commander In Vienna Killing Suleiman Dadayev, one of three Chechens currently on trial in Vienna as accessories to the murder two years ago of Chechen refugee Umar Israilov, has recently changed his testimony. More   Outpost Washington Cultural Awareness Month At The Pentagon Why does the Pentagon have such a hard time with culture? Theories welcome More   Commentary The OSCE's Failure Of Magical Thinking OSCE agreements are nonbinding, and its leverage mainly moral. But is it too much to ask that it avoid turning its leadership over to countries that do not abide by basic human rights? More   Even After All These Years, Gagarin Has The Right Stuff Everyone loved Yury Gagarin, even the dormitory wise guys who, during that time of Nikita Khrushchev’s thaw before he retreated from it when Francis Gary Powers’ U2 was shot down, made fun of everything they could think of. Jokes about Soviet slogans and their distance from reality were then the richest currency of popularity. But I heard none about Gagarin. More