Russian and European Union officials meeting in the Siberian oil town
of Khanty-Mansiisk have launched negotiations on a new strategic
partnership pact, in an apparent step toward more constructive
relations between Moscow and Brussels following years of concern over
deteriorating ties.

RFE/RL has learned that Sazak Durdymuradov, a contributor to its Turkmen Service, is being held at an infamous psychiatric clinic in eastern Turkmenistan, one week after his arrest and reported beating by police.

Officially, it’s Media Day in Uzbekistan today, although the running
joke among journalists is that the government is actually celebrating
Victory Day over the country’s free and independent media.

The government of Pakistan’s restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has recently appointed veteran Pashtun politician and human rights activist Afrasiab Khattak as its peace envoy. In his new job, Khattak will be dealing with dangerous and complicated security issues along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, widely believed to the bastion of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militancy.

As hard as it may be to believe, there was a time when many regarded Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu as an open-minded Marxist, a nationalist communist, even a proponent of socialism with a human face. Ceausescu himself cultivated this image at times.

Thirty years ago, a 47-year-old Crimean Tatar named Musa Mamut poured gasoline over himself and set himself alight. He lived for five days, eventually dying from his burns on June 28, 1978. Before dying, he is reported to have said, “I feel the pain of every Tatar who is not allowed to return to his Crimean homeland.”

A German journalist who was found unconscious and semi-frozen in the snow on the outskirts of the Kazakh capital on January 20 has been flown in a medically equipped aircraft to Germany for further care.

German journalist Marcus Bensmann was found unconscious in the snow on the outskirts of Astana on Sunday (January 20) morning, having been severely beaten and robbed. Bensmann had made a name for himself as an independent and outspoken journalist, often criticizing the authoritarian practices of some Central Asian governments.

A newly released study by the World Health Organization (WHO) concludes that an estimated 151,000 Iraqis have died violent deaths in the three years since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

PRAGUE -- A prominent U.S. policy maker said today during a visit to RFE/RL in Prague that western-style democracy is suitable for all cultures, as it has its roots in the universal right to freedom. Senator Larry Craig also warned about the danger of “petro-nationalism” -- political pressure applied by oil- or gas-rich countries on those dependent on energy imports.