 RFE/RL Headlines 8/18/2010 6:00:04 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  Iranian President's New 'Religious-Nationalism' Alienates Hard-Line Constituency Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is risking a breach with his fundamentalist supporters by abandoning apocalyptic religious rhetoric for a new nationalistic tone in an effort to appeal to the country's "apolitical" masses. But it has brought him into conflict with his previous religious constituency. More  The Net Neutrality Debate: Is All Content Created Equal? The principle that the Internet should be a free-flowing information highway where all content is treated equally is being challenged in the United States. Advocates of "net neutrality" call it no less than an assault on Americans' constitutional rights. Internet service providers, who say they want to offer better service for higher prices, argue that market forces must be allowed to prevail. More  Disappearance Raises Fresh Questions About Media Climate In Ukraine The disappearance of a journalist in Ukraine is raising new questions about the deteriorating climate for press freedom since voters repudiated the Orange Revolution by electing a pro-Moscow president earlier this year. More  Pakistan Pledges Transparency To Ensure Flood Aid Arrives The UN says it has received less than half the $460 million it needs in international aid for immediate flood relief in Pakistan. The tardiness of aid donors is being blamed on fears that much of the money may be lost to corruption or may fall into the hands of Taliban insurgents. More  Moldovan Court Backs Voting Abroad Moldova's Supreme Court has upheld a government decision last month to open dozens of polling centers at the country's diplomatic missions. More  Former Official Downplays New Russian-Armenian Military Pact A prominent U.S.-Armenian scholar who held senior posts in Armenia's first post-Soviet government has downplayed the significance of a revamped Russian-Armenian military agreement that will be signed this week. More  Visits Promised After Kazakh Prison Riot Dozens of relatives of inmates at a Kazakh prison hit by a riot last week have been promised they will be allowed to visit the facility. More  Kyrgyzstan Closes Uzbek University The private Friendship of the Peoples University in the southern Kyrgyz city of Jalal-Abad has been closed. More  West Concerned About Tajik University Western diplomats in Tajikistan have expressed concern over the fate of the country's only private university. More  Iranian Student Leader To New Prison Jailed Iranian student leader Majid Tavakoli has been transferred from Tehran's Evin prison to the nearby Rajaeeshahr prison. More  Jailed Georgians On Hunger Strike Two prisoners in Georgia have declared a hunger strike until the government frees those who they say are political prisoners. More  Kazakh Businessman Missing A well-known Kazakh businessman has been missing for three days. More  Dancing In The Streets? Word emerged this week that the Moscow city authorities have OKed a concert on downtown Pushkin Square in support of the activists and citizens who are protesting against the destruction of the Khimki forest. The August 22 concert is expected to include headliners such as DDT (whose front man, Yury Shevchuk, has been much in the news lately with his aggressive pronouncements against the Kremlin; at a concert in March, Shevchuk slammed Russia’s “brutal, cruel, and inhumane” system), Televizor, Barto, and others. It will be hosted by outspoken journalist Artyom Troitsky and could possibly include the red-hot rapper Noize MC. More  Trial Of Iran's 'Blogfather' Ends, Sentence Still Unknown The sister of jailed blogger Hossein Derakhshan, writes in the blog "Justice for Hossein Derakhshan" that his trial ended three weeks ago, but that the family is still awaiting the sentence. More  Iran’s Three Plans For Confronting Attacks By The 'Enemy' The head of the operations department of Iran’s armed forces, Ali Shadmani, says Tehran has three contingency plans in place to confront “any possible agression” against the country. He said implementing any of the plans would “undoubtedly” bring the country’s enemy to it knees. More  Lawyer: Nokia Siemens Played Key Role In Saharkhiz's Arrest We reported on August 17 about the lawsuit against Nokia Siemens Networks by a prominent jailed Iranian journalist, Isa Saharkhiz, who implicated Nokia Siemens in his arrest last year. He accuses them of delivering surveillance equipment to Iran that allowed authorities to trace his whereabouts through his cell phone. "Persian Letters" spoke to Edward Moawad, an attorney at the Maryland-based Moawad & Herischi law firm, who is representing Saharkhiz and his son, blogger Mehdi Saharkhiz. More  Flooding Sinks Pakistan In Mire Of Regional Divisions Already reeling from a range of crises, Pakistan is now coping with the most devastating floods in the last 80 years. And the receding waters are exposing long-standing political, ethnic, and religious divisions at a time when the federation needs unity more than ever before. More |
