Charles Recknagel is standards editor for RFE/RL.
To mark World Press Freedom Day (May 3), RFE/RL takes a look at the problems journalists face covering some of the most dangerous places on Earth. “First when I leave my house, I have to check the street," journalist Nabil al-Haidari said. "I have to be sure that there is nobody waiting to kill me or to kidnap me.
The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has presented a report to the Security Council that faults Iran for failing to meet demands to suspend uranium enrichment and improve cooperation with arms inspectors.
Jawad al-Maiki addresses the press in Baghdad on April 22 (AFP) Prime Minister-designate Jawad al-Maliki, 55, is set to start forming a new government. But the old conflicts that bedeviled outgoing Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Ja’fari remain unresolved, from how to quell the insurgency and to how to resolve Sunni-Shi’ite tensions that in recent months have killed hundreds of people. Observers are pinning their hopes on the fact that al-Maliki is seen as more forceful and more pragmatic than his predecessor.
PRAGUE, April 24, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad says Iran's nuclear activities are all transparent.
Some Iraqi leaders are saying the biggest security threat now is not the insurgency but the possibility of civil war, which is focusing new attention on the many sectarian-based militias in Iraq, some of which appear to be waging revenge attacks on rival groups.
Regret that former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic will never face judgment and regret for his victims dominate reactions to the death of a man widely seen as the architect of the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s.
The sectarian violence that has broken out in Iraq in the wake of last week's bombing of a Shi'ite shrine is taking a political toll, too, as efforts to form a new government crumble.
The twin themes of U.S. President George W. Bush's trip to South Asia came into sharp focus today. Speaking in New Delhi, he announced a nuclear deal with India. He also vowed that a bomb attack in Karachi would not prevent him from going on to Pakistan on March 4, where he is due to meet over the war on terror.
Hamas has refused to bow to pressure to recognize Israel (ITAR-TASS) The European Union has unveiled a package worth more than 120 million euros ($142 million) to meet the basic needs of the Palestinian population. The move comes amid controversy over Hamas' victory in the recent Palestinian elections.
The Iraqi government has lifted a curfew imposed on 24 February as quiet appears to be returning to the capital. The lull in violence follows frantic meetings of political and religious leaders to calm the tensions between Shi'a and Sunni over the 22 February bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra.
The Iraqi government is enforcing a daytime curfew in Baghdad to curb possible confrontations between Shi'ite and Sunni worshippers in the wake of the 22 February bombing of a key Shi'ite mosque. The bombing is also sparking a major political crisis.
World leaders continue to react to the victory by the militant group Hamas in the 25 January parliamentary vote in the Palestinian territories. The opposition Islamist militant group won at least 76 seats in the 132-member Palestinian Legislative Council. By contrast, the Al-Fatah movement of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat took just 43 seats. That means it will very likely fall to Hamas to form the next Palestinian government, despite the group's opposition to the peace process and refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
Like many Iraqis, the Kurdish Regional Government wants other cases brought against former dictator Saddam Hussein -- and it is busy gathering the evidence against him.
Prague, 5 January (RFE/RL) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in critical condition after undergoing hours of surgery following a massive brain hemorrhage. The 77-year-old Sharon, who suffered a stroke on 4 January, is now on a respirator in intensive care.
In 2005, Iraq and Afghanistan passed many milestones on the difficult road to democracy. Both countries held key elections for constitutional parliaments -- Afghanistan on 18 September and Iraq on 15 December. In all, Iraqis went to the polls three times in just one year. But 2005 was also marked by violence. U.S. and Iraqi forces continued to battle a strong insurgency and, in Afghanistan, the Taliban mounted some of its strongest attacks since its defeat four years ago. Amid such momentous events, how did ordinary people fare?
In an effort to maximize their voice in Baghdad, Iraq’s largest Kurdish parties are running as a coalition in the 15 December parliamentary elections. But the alliance’s two key factions -- factions who for years warred with each other -- have so far failed even to create a unified government for the Kurdish autonomous region. What chance, then, of pressing Kurdish demands in the new national legislature?
The kidnapping of a German archeologist in late November highlighted both the historical wealth of Iraq and the perils of exploring that history.
For Iraqi Kurds, there is little question whom to vote for in the 15 December parliamentary elections: a coalition that groups all the major Kurdish parties and is expected to sweep the Kurdish vote.
Kurdish writer Ahmad Ghazi (RFE/RL) Iraq's Kurdistan region has achieved a degree of self-rule that Kurds in neighboring states like Turkey and Iran can only dream about. That is making Irbil a magnet for Kurdish writers and intellectuals from around the world. They come here to meet, publish books and, some say, get inspired to press for similar freedoms at home.
With parliamentary elections due on 15 December, violence is expected to surge in much of Iraq. But the Kurdish autonomous region in the north of the country is a case apart.
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