Ron Synovitz is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL.
Afghanistan's president has banned all private security firms from his country -- regardless of whether they are international companies or Afghan firms.
The release of classified U.S. military reports about the war in Afghanistan by the online whistle-blower WikiLeaks is fueling debates about the balance between journalism, national security, and the right of the public to know.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has been carrying out a threat to launch attacks within Turkish cities following the deployment of Turkish forces along the border with Iraq -- where PKK militants have established hideouts.
From the perspective of four Uzbek women who are hiding in a basement amid the violence in southern Kyrgyzstan, those who have reached the increasingly restive border area with Uzbekistan are the fortunate ones.
Afghanistan's mineral riches are much greater than previously thought. That's according to an updated U.S. study -- reported in "The New York Times" -- that shows the country has substantial deposits of iron, copper, gold, and lithium. Afghan officials hope the research will bring a fresh wave of foreign investment that could alter the entire economy.
A UN court has sentenced two former Bosnian Serb army officers to life in prison on genocide charges for their role in the massacre of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys near Srebrenica in July 1995. The ruling is seen as setting an important precedent for the ongoing trial of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic.
A Pakistani court has blocked all Facebook and YouTube pages in a dispute over an online campaign against Islamic extremists who issue death threats for depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Iraqi politicians and officials have agreed to stop disqualifying candidates for having ties to the party of former leader Saddam Hussein, but an appeals court will determine the election outcome by ruling on whether nine candidates will be reinstated.
As the Balkan countries join Europe in marking 65 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, many people there now appear to be rejecting ex-Yugoslavia's history of antifascism.
Thirty years after the death of Josip Broz Tito, nostalgia is running high in the former Yugoslavia for life under the communist leader.
A Russian defense manufacturer is marketing a highly mobile missile system that could be hidden in a standard cargo container, but has downplayed concerns that such an easily concealed weapon could become a tool of terrorists.
As an extradition case continues in London against Bosnian Muslim wartime leader Ejup Ganic, his supporters have criticized Sarajevo for failing to investigate and resolve Serbia's allegations of war crimes against him, which the UN's war crimes tribunal called for seven years ago.
The ghosts of the Bosnian war have been awakened in the past week by the genocide trial of Radovan Karadzic and the arrest in Britain of Bosniak wartime leader Ejup Ganic on an extradition request from Serbia. Both cases have rekindled bitter arguments between Serbs and Bosniaks over events in Sarajevo at the start of the Bosnian war.
Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic has begun his opening defense statement at his genocide and war crimes trial in The Hague -- describing the Bosnian Serb cause as "just and holy."
A decree issued by Afghan President Hamid Karzai has raised concerns among Western diplomats that Karzai may be trying to prevent fraud rulings against his political allies in upcoming parliamentary elections.
As the 60th anniversary Berlinale film festival enters its final days this weekend, critics are lining up with predictions about who will be awarded the coveted Golden Bear on February 20.
Kosovo today marks two years since ethnic-Albanian officials in Pristina unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. Since then, 65 countries have recognized Kosovo as an independent state -- including the United States and most of the European Union.
Hundreds of Afghan families have been fleeing Taliban-controlled territory in the southern Afghan province of Helmand ahead of an expected offensive by NATO and Afghan government troops. As many as 2,000 Taliban fighters reportedly are concentrated and fortifying themselves in and around the town of Marjah.
The European Union says a new Internet decree in Belarus is a "step in the wrong direction" at a time when Brussels is scrutinizing Minsk's record on human rights issues like free speech and freedom of the press. The EU says President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's decree contravenes standards set out in the so-called "Eastern Partnership" -- an initiative aimed at improving ties between the EU and its eastern neighbors.
Economists and sociologists have been examining a study published last year in a prestigious British medical journal that claimed to find a link between "shock therapy" economic reforms and death rates in former Soviet republics. The latest research rejects the widely-reported claim that mass privatization kills.
Load more
