RFE/RL
RFE/RL broadcasts in 21 countries in 28 languages, including Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Central Asia. Follow us on Twitter @RFERL and Facebook
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![Iran’s Police Chief Rails Against TV Images Of People…Eating Chicken
Chickens and their rising cost could soon join the list of censored topics in Iran.
Over the weekend, police chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghadam criticized state-controlled television for broadcasting images of people eating chicken. He suggested such footage could spur the underprivileged to revolt against affluent Iranians…[read more]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7axs5M1lO1qkgi6go1_500.jpg)
Iran’s Police Chief Rails Against TV Images Of People…Eating Chicken
Chickens and their rising cost could soon join the list of censored topics in Iran.
Over the weekend, police chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghadam criticized state-controlled television for broadcasting images of people eating chicken. He suggested such footage could spur the underprivileged to revolt against affluent Iranians…[read more]
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![‘Mystery Woman’ Makes Fresh Appearance At Kim Jong-Un’s Side
The attractive mystery woman who has appeared alongside North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in his recent public events has once again been shown on state television, fueling speculation she is Kim’s wife…[read more]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m78y3u3xip1qkgi6go1_500.jpg)
‘Mystery Woman’ Makes Fresh Appearance At Kim Jong-Un’s Side
The attractive mystery woman who has appeared alongside North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in his recent public events has once again been shown on state television, fueling speculation she is Kim’s wife…[read more]
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A prizewinning cartoon by Mahmud Mohammad Tabrizi equates Wall Street with Jerusalem’s Western Wall.
The cartoon by an Iranian illustrator that portrays stereotyped Jews worshipping the New York Stock Exchange has won first prize in the inaugural “International Wall Street Downfall Cartoon Festival.”
RFE/RL’s Golnaz Esfandiari has more.
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“According to the Emergencies Ministry, 34.650 people have been affected [by the flood], 171 people died, 29.000 completely lost their property. More than 400 houses have been raised to the ground and this figure is not final.”
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev speaking today (July 13) at the Russian Cabinet meeting in Moscow about the flood-stricken Krasnodar region.
Read more about the floods in Krymsk, Russia here. -
The travel ban for Sotoudeh’s daughter marks the first time that the Islamic republic has targeted a minor child of a prisoner of conscience, according to Hadi Ghaemi of the U.S.-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran…[read more]
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![“We know [of drones] in the military context, with massive aircraft like the Predator and Global Hawk, but there are also tiny ones that weigh just a couple of pounds are basically model airplanes that have just had an autopilot installed,”
says Chris Anderson, the editor-in-chief of the U.S.-based technology magazine “Wired” and a widely recognized expert on drones.
“Those autopilots used to cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, but thanks to, basically, the chips that are in your smartphone, they’re now available for just a couple hundred dollars. As a result, all those model airplanes or helicopters out there can be turned into drones with the simple introduction of a cheap board.”
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can do a lot more than target militants in Pakistan — and now they’re going to prove it…[read more]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m73cou2HPo1qkgi6go1_500.jpg)
“We know [of drones] in the military context, with massive aircraft like the Predator and Global Hawk, but there are also tiny ones that weigh just a couple of pounds are basically model airplanes that have just had an autopilot installed,”
says Chris Anderson, the editor-in-chief of the U.S.-based technology magazine “Wired” and a widely recognized expert on drones.
“Those autopilots used to cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, but thanks to, basically, the chips that are in your smartphone, they’re now available for just a couple hundred dollars. As a result, all those model airplanes or helicopters out there can be turned into drones with the simple introduction of a cheap board.”
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can do a lot more than target militants in Pakistan — and now they’re going to prove it…[read more]
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A video shows a man pointing a rifle at a 22-year-old woman named as Najiba, who is sitting at the edge of a ditch shortly before being shot in the village of Qol.The public execution of an Afghan woman in the village of Qol in Afghanistan’s northern Parwan Province prompted local and international outrage this week after a video footage of the act was obtained and published by Reuters.
Despite widespread reports that the Taliban was behind the execution, the Taliban has denied any involvement. RFE/RL’s Ahmad Hanayish and Frud Bezhan look more closely at how the former “Taliban-free” province became the target of international condemnation.
Ordinary Afghans, Islamic scholars, and even the Taliban say that the recent trial and execution of 22-year-old Najiba is a crime punishable by death under the Shari’a law. RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi interviewed Maulavi Hanafi, an Islamic religious scholar who has more on the subject.
In response to the execution, on June 11, dozens of women rallied in Kabul to condemn violence against women in Afghanistan.
Other news from Afghanistan:
#RFE/RL’s Frud Bezhan talks to veteran sports journalists and former Afghan athletes who say that sports under the Taliban flourished despite the fact that sport stadiums were notorious for public executions, stonings and mutilations under the Taliban. -
![Silly Dictator Story #7: 1,000 Weddings In Uzbekistan (Whether You Like It Or Not)
Gulnara Karimova is already a singer, composer, fashion designer, professor, diplomat, philanthropist, and businesswoman. Now, the daughter of Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov can add wedding party organizer to her overflowing list of achievements. 2012 has been declared the “Year of a Strong Family” in Uzbekistan, and Karimova is lending her party planning expertise to the government’s family-oriented campaign through the “1,000 Weddings and 1,000 Sunnat-Tuy (circumcisions)” project organized by her charity organization, Fund Forum. [read more]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m71grhO2Zs1qkgi6go1_500.jpg)
Silly Dictator Story #7: 1,000 Weddings In Uzbekistan (Whether You Like It Or Not)
Gulnara Karimova is already a singer, composer, fashion designer, professor, diplomat, philanthropist, and businesswoman. Now, the daughter of Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov can add wedding party organizer to her overflowing list of achievements.
2012 has been declared the “Year of a Strong Family” in Uzbekistan, and Karimova is lending her party planning expertise to the government’s family-oriented campaign through the “1,000 Weddings and 1,000 Sunnat-Tuy (circumcisions)” project organized by her charity organization, Fund Forum. [read more]
