Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Headlines 6/20/2011 10:28:02 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.

 

Picks "Free Talk" June 18, 2011, part 3/3 In this week's "Free Talk," a joint television project between RFE/RL and Georgia's PIK public broadcaster, host Irina Lagunina of RFE/RL's Russian Service discusses how the Caucasus republics react on parliamentary elections results in Turkey. More   "Free Talk" June 18, 2011, part 2/3 In this week's "Free Talk," a joint television project between RFE/RL and Georgia's PIK public broadcaster, host Irina Lagunina of RFE/RL's Russian Service discusses why Georgia wants to expand its participation in the coalition forces in Afghanistan. More   "Free Talk" June 18, 2011, part 1/3 In this week's "Free Talk," a joint television project between RFE/RL and Georgia's PIK public broadcaster, host Irina Lagunina of RFE/RL's Russian Service discusses what are the consequences for the North Caucasus the ex-colonel Budanov murder and his funerals with "military honors". More   Features Former Comrade-In-Arms Warns That Al-Qaeda’s New Leader Bears Grudge Against U.S., Egypt With the confirmation of Ayman al-Zawahri as the new leader of Al-Qaeda, there has been much speculation as to whether the terrorist organization will change its tactics with him at the helm. More   Hostility On The Homefront Pakistan's powerful military has often been strengthened by its ability to repel outside criticism. But now it is faced with a new type of threat: resistance coming from its core support base in the eastern Punjab Province. More   Afghan Asylum Seekers Left Stranded In Brussels A group of 80 Afghan asylum seekers have found themselves living on the streets of the EU capital after getting caught up in a legal quagmire. With no place to call home, their dreams of a better life in Europe are fading. More   Dictionary Of Ancient Akkadian Provides Glimpse Into Civilization’s Cradle The dictionary, which spans some 10,000 pages in 21 volumes, took no less than nine decades to complete. In the process, it outlived some of the nearly 100 scholars who devoted their careers to it. More   News EU Tightens Belarus Sanctions Brussels has added four more people to its black ist of Belarusians associated with Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime. At a meeting in Luxembourg today, EU foreign ministers also put three Belarusian companies on the sanctions list for the first time and imposed an arms embargo on Belarus. More   Syria's Assad Maintains Tough Stance Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has announced a plan for the future of his country that gives himself a key role in the creation of a new election law and a new constitution. But his speech to the country fell short of opposition demands that he immediately step down. More   Russian Dissident Yelena Bonner Dies Prominent Soviet-era Russian dissident Yelena Bonner passed away on June 18 at the age of 88. Following a memorial service in the United States, Bonner will be buried alongside her husband and parents in Moscow's Vostryakovskoye Cemetery. More   From Our Bureaus China's Ethnic Kyrgyz To Aid Osh Farmers China's ethnic Kyrgyz community has agreed to assist farmers in southern Kyrgyzstan's Osh region. More   Tajik Fugitives Killed, Captured Tajik officials say an escapee from a high-profile jailbreak last year and a suspected insurgent have been killed by security forces in east-central Tajikistan. More   Kyrgyz Prosecutors Won't Be Axed Kyrgyzstan's Military Court has turned down a request by the lawyer of ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiev to change the prosecutors at her client's trial in absentia. More   Ukraine: Ex-Minister's Release Refused A court in Kyiv has refused to release from detention a former Ukrainian interior minister on trial for abuse of office. More   Kazakh Officials Confirm Prison Protest Kazakh officials have confirmed that inmates at a maximum security prison near Almaty staged a protest late last week, but denied that security forces were brought to the penitentiary More   Rally Held To Support Kyrgyz MP Hundreds of people gathered in southern Kyrgyzstan on June 20 in support of a member of parliament charged with assaulting a fellow deputy. More   Chisinau Mayoral Race Dispute The Communist Party contender for the key job of mayor of the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, says he will not recognize his defeat to a pro-Western candidate in the June 19 runoff election and will fight against it using "all legal means." More   Russia Releases Fugitive Wanted In Kyrgyzstan An associate of ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev's son who was arrested in Moscow last week has reportedly been released while his extradition to Kyrgyzstan is being considered. More   Kyrgyzstan Recommends Website Ban The Kyrgyz parliament has adopted a resolution calling for a news website to be banned. More   Lawyer Of Arrested BBC Reporter In Tajikistan Denied Access The lawyer for BBC correspondent Urinboy Usmonov, who was arrested in Tajikistan this week for alleged ties to an extremist group, says she has been denied access to her client. More   Iraq To Use Saddam's Palaces As Resorts, Museums The Iraqi government says several of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's most lavish palaces will be transformed into tourist facilities, museums, and galleries. More   Persian Letters Iran: Hunger Strike In Prison, Online Campaign Outside Following the deaths of two well known political prisoners in Iran, some of their fellow inmates have gone on hunger strike in protest at the circumstances surrounding their demise. Their actions have prompted many online expressions of support from other leading Iranian opposition figures. More   Chaikhana Pulling The Rug Out From Under Uzbek Restaurateurs Osh was once a city of restaurants and cafes -- spacious, welcoming eateries whose owners and cuisine, more often than not, were Uzbek. (In a city of many divisions, Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, even now, are nearly unanimous in agreeing that Uzbeks are far better cooks. More   Commentary Yelena Bonner: 'It Is Time To Say Goodbye' It often happens that even when you try to prepare yourself for something tragic and inevitable, you find yourself completely unprepared when it actually occurs. That is what happened to me when I heard the news of the passing of Yelena Bonner. More   For Mladic, The Hague Is Better Than Suicide Bosnian Serb wartime General Ratko Mladic reportedly considered taking his own life rather than surrendering to Serbian authorities, but he is certainly not regretting his decision now. More   Video Archive Yelena Bonner On Andrei Sakharov Russian human rights activist Yelena Bonner, widow of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, talks about her husband: "He always felt the wind of change, but at the same time, he said he supported Gorbachev to varying degrees depending on what he was doing." More   Photo Gallery Archive Yelena Bonner Remembered Prominent Soviet-era Russian dissident Yelena Bonner passed away on June 18 at the age of 88.    More   Russia My Husband Andrei Sakharov RU Andrei Sakharov, the author of Russia's A-bomb, is the best known USSR dissident. He was forced by authorities to leave Moscow and spent years in small city called Gorky. With Glasnot and Gorbachev he was allowed to return to Moscow and elected as a member of People's Congress. More