As Muslims around the world prepare for this year's hajj, those from Turkmenistan won't be among them. Fears of swine flu have led the Turkmen government to ban citizens from making the trip to Mecca. Instead, a delegation of officials and elders has embarked on a first-ever official pilgrimage to 38 "holy" sites within Turkmenistan itself. More
UN Says Violence Against Women 'Pervasive' Violation
Battling It Out Ahead Of Ukraine's Presidential Poll
Female Prisoners Freed By Amnesty In Tajikistan
'Sick Of The U.S., Send Me Back To Uzbekistan'
Was Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mother Azeri?
Solidarity, Oil, Human Rights, And Azerbaijan
Progress In Karabakh Talks?
Protest, But Don't Tell Your Mother
Igor Pomerantsev turned to Gogol in his search for an image of Ukraine. It's a tabula rasa, which is both an advantage and a weakness. More
Eighty-five-year-old Qazhyghumar Shabdanuly of Kazakhstan has spent more than 40 years in Chinese jails for his political views and is currently under house arrest in Xinjiang. Six novels that he's written have just been published in Almaty. More
The dramatic fall of communism across Eastern Europe cannot be traced to one event, one decision, or one person. But there was a singular wind of change sweeping across the continent in 1989, blowing down the Iron Curtain, and revealing the public's yearning for freedom.