Charles Recknagel is standards editor for RFE/RL.
It's no secret that oil wealth plus autocracy often equals secrecy and corruption, despite international efforts to fight the problem through greater business transparency. A new report on Azerbaijan's oil industry underlines the challenge.
Ukraine's economy was already fragile before the country plunged into its latest political crisis. Now, things only look worse.
Usually talk of the Iran nuclear standoff concerns uranium enrichment. But with a deal reportedly within reach with six world powers and Tehran meeting again in Geneva on November 20, attention turned to Iran's potential to produce weapons-grade plutonium. RFE/RL looks at why the completion of Iran's Arak heavy-water research reactor is a source of concern.
Polonium is back in the news as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's wife says Swiss forensic tests show he was poisoned to death by it in 2004. Here are five things to know about the radioactive substance sometimes called the "Perfect Poison."
India this week successfully launched a spacecraft to Mars. It is a measure of how much space exploration no longer belongs to the first generation of pioneering space powers: the United States, the Soviet Union/Russia, and the European Union.
Iran's new government may be winning praise for showing a softer face to the West. But it remains as hard-line as ever in dealing with opponents at home.
There are not many states in the world where the population is constantly mobilized for mass celebrations. But Turkmenistan is one.
Every year, nearly 4 million people die worldwide from the effects of inhaling smoke as they cook with traditional clay stoves. Now, inexpensive new clean stove technologies offer a safe alternative.
For a few years it looked like Turkmenistan was sticking by its laws forbidding the use of children in the cotton harvest. But this year they're back.
Washington wants its soldiers to be immune from Afghan courts if they remain after 2014. Kabul isn't sure. Here are five things to know about what makes immunity for foreign soldiers so complicated.
If the United States defaults on its debt, the results for the global economy would be catastrophic. Here are five things to know about the U.S. debt ceiling crisis now playing out in Washington.
Countries don't usually charge protesters with piracy for trying to board an oil rig. But Russia has done so in a drama that constantly surprises. Here are five things to know about the story.
After weeks of wrangling, the UN Security Council is set to pass a resolution demanding Syria give up its chemical weapons so that they can be destroyed. Here are five things to consider about what comes afterward.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rohani have presented their views of the Iran nuclear crisis to the United Nations. What they shared was a tone of optimism that leaves little doubt they want to give diplomacy a chance.
World powers meeting at the UN are discussing how to force Syria to give up its chemical weapons. Could the deal have benefits for Damascus?
The Islamist fundamentalist Al-Shabab group in Somalia is little known outside Eastern Africa. But its attack on a Nairobi mall reveals it to be one of the strongest and most capable Al-Qaeda affiliates.
As President Hassan Rohani makes his first official visit to the United Nations, the message he carries is of a more flexible Iran. But there are few signs Tehran is ready for more than cautious policy changes at home or abroad.
Chemical-weapons experts say no one has ever tried to disarm a country as well-stocked as Syria in less than a year. So creativity -- and even an unorthodox approach -- may be needed.
It's been a busy week for Russian diplomacy as Moscow has taken a pivotal role in trying to solve the Syria crisis. What’s behind the Kremlin’s new assertiveness?
New Iranian President Hassan Rohani has chosen the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Bishkek for his first official trip abroad. His goal: to get Russian and Chinese support for new talks over Iran's nuclear crisis.
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