The new head of Kazakhstan's state-owned oil and gas company is charting a course toward closer cooperation with Iran, and he has made it clear that the threat of sanctions against the Islamic Republic will not stand in his way.
The bigger you are, the harder you fall. But the longer-term effects of the current financial crisis are beginning to be felt in smaller countries as well. One such place is Ukraine, where the central bank this week took the controversial step of restricting lending and withdrawal limits.
Since a Western audit found unforeseen energy resources in Turkmenistan, all eyes are now turning to pipeline projects like White Stream. The only obstacle is Russia, which doesn't look kindly on being left out of the loop.
The Iraqi government has promised to send officials to northern Iraq to tackle violence against Christians there. The pledge comes amid a spate of killings of Christians in the northern city of Mosul, where violence against the minority community has prompted more than 1,000 families to flee.
The two houses of Pakistan's central parliament are meeting behind closed doors this week as they seek consensus on an antiterrorism policy. The sessions, begun last week on the initiative of new President Asif Ali Zardari, are not open to the public or press, and legislators have taken an oath not to reveal details. Nevertheless, signs of discord have emerged.
Turkmenistan hired a British auditing firm earlier this year to survey natural-gas fields in the country to determine if it has enough gas to fulfill its contracts. The results have now been made public, and they were far better than anyone could have imagined.
France's top human rights official, Rama Yade, recently spoke to RFE/RL correspondent Claire Bigg about the humanitarian crisis in Georgia, this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, and her recent visit to Afghanistan.
Czech writer Milan Kundera, the author of acclaimed novels such as "The Unbearable Lightness Of Being," has been accused of informing the communist police about a Western agent while he was a student in the 1950s.
Robert Menard is the co-founder of Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-Based international media freedom watchdog. RFE/RL correspondent Claire Bigg spoke to Menard during Forum 2000, a conference held annually in Prague to promote democracy and tolerance.
U.S. presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain have offered distinctly different visions for the future of U.S. troops in Iraq. But their plans might not matter because the U.S. future in Iraq is being decided now, according to a key Iraqi political leader.
With an opposition boycott in effect, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's only potential threat in this week's election is low voter turnout. But a distinct lack of enthusiasm among residents in the capital hints at serious voter malaise under the post-Soviet world's lone dynasty.
Reversing its long-held policy of attempting to isolate Belarus, the EU's foreign ministers have dropped a travel ban imposed on President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and other officials, and revived political contacts with Belarus's government.
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