 RFE/RL Headlines 6/28/2010 5:06:52 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 In February, Sayid Fekhretdinov jumped to his death from a fourth-floor window in his Moscow flat. He was just 10 years old. Why did he do it? And why are hundreds of other Russian children doing the same? More  Battle Over Azad University Deepens Iran's Divisions Iran's largest private university has become a battleground in a power struggle between factions of the Islamic establishment. More  Passions High As Foreigners, Locals Debate 'Muscovite's Code' What does it mean to be a Muscovite? Moscow authorities are coming up with an etiquette guide for the city's residents that looks suspiciously exclusionary toward ethnic non-Russians. More  Kyrgyzstan Prepares For Referendum Amid Ongoing Instability The people of Kyrgyzstan prepare to vote in a referendum that interim President Roza Otunbaeva says is the only means of ending the kind of ethnic clashes that killed hundreds and perhaps thousands this month. But with hundreds of thousands of people displaced, there's serious doubt about whether the vote will be seen as legitimate. More  OSCE Praises Kyrgyz Referendum, As Russia Warns Of Risks The OSCE has praised Kyrgyzstan's referendum on a new constitution as largely transparent, but Russia has warned against the risk of extremist groups exploiting the new political system to take power. Voters on June 27 approved the new constitution that paves the way for the first parliamentary democracy in Central Asia. More  G20 Agrees Measures To Boost Recovery Leaders of the G20 group of economically powerful nations have agreed at their summit in Canada to reduce budget deficits and pursue growth-friendly policies. A final statement said the advanced economies of the group had agreed to halve their deficits by 2013, while at the same time doing their best to stimulate consumer demand. More Two weeks after ethnic clashes rocked southern Kyrgyzstan, the government says it will adopt a new constitution after people across the country voted in a referendum. More  Gay Rights Activists Defy Russian Ban Russian gay rights activists have gathered at St. Petersburg's world-famous Hermitage Museum for a brief unsanctioned rally that ended with a police raid. More Teachers, Parents Join Hunger Strike Several days into a hunger strike, a protest is growing over the closing of several schools in Russia's central Ulyanovsk region. More  Number Of Addicts In Russia Rising The head of Russia's drug enforcement agency says the number of drug addicts in Russia has ballooned to 2.5 million in the past 10 years. More  Gori Residents Divided Over Stalin Residents of the hometown of former Soviet leader Josef Stalin are divided over the controversial removal of his statue from the city's main square. More  Iran's Intelligence Ministry Urges Moving Away From Russia Iran's Intelligence Ministry has called for a "decrease" in ties with Russia, according to Hossein Ebrahimi, a parliament deputy and a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee. More This video of a press conference by Iran's Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki is several weeks old, but it's becoming very popular among Iranians. More  Last Man Standing? One of the last remaining statues of Josef Stalin has been removed from the central square in the Soviet dictator's hometown of Gori, Georgia, but his likeness continues to stand tall in the northern Tajik village of Asht. More  What You See Written In Osh Moving around Osh these days, you see a lot of destruction: burned-out buildings, broken windows, smashed vehicles. But there are also two words in particular that you see written: "Kyrgyz" and "SOS." More  Torture In Uzbekistan Described On Capitol Hill "Yusuf is going to die." That’s how Gulnora Juma, the wife of jailed Uzbek poet and political activist Yusuf Juma, summarized Juma’s plight at a recent discussion on Capitol Hill jointly sponsored by Freedom House and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. More |
