As part of its week-long coverage of the twentieth anniversary of the "Velvet Revolution", CNN International (CNNi) correspondent Phil Black interviewed several RFE personalities, including President Jeffrey Gedmin, former Czechoslovak Service Director Pavel Pechacek, Radio Azadi Director Akbar Ayazi and Central News senior correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari.
The piece can be viewed on CNNi's website. The segment reviews the role RFE played in providing live, uncensored coverage of the tumultuous events in Prague of November 1989 and looks at the work RFE/RL is doing today to bring free media to places like Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.
U.S. President Barack Obama's top Russia adviser has said that diplomats from Washington and Moscow will likely meet in the coming weeks to work on a new UN Security Council draft resolution targeting the Syrian government over its bloody crackdown on antigovernment protesters. more
Anders Hjemdahl of the Stockholm-based Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism talked to RFE/RL about why Western Europeans seem to know so little about the communist past. more
The Paris prosecutor's office has dropped an investigation into a French writer's claim that former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her. more
A prominent member of a Russian anarchist street-art collective who faced jail for overturning a police car has had the charges against him lifted. more
Erstwhile Obama administration officials are holding back campaign support over the Chief Executive's decision to force Catholic hospitals to provide contraception for employees.
Obama administration minions, including David Axelrod, are spinning Obama's decision to mandate sterilization and contraception for religiously-affiliated institutions.
The Catholic Church, in an official capacity, is tellings its faithful to practice full-on civil disobedience should Obama's contraceptoin mandate continue.
Long an island of stability in the Mideast, Jordan was rocked last year by riots inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood. King Abdullah will have his hands full this year.
Major European states and Gulf Cooperation Council members withdraw their ambassadors from Syria as the death toll continues to rise in violence between Syrian government forces and government opponents.
Iran's envoy in New Delhi says India will make 45 percent of payments for Iranian crude oil in rupees, as Western sanctions hinder international bank transactions.
U.S. officials say General James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command
General James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command, is expected to meet with Pakistani Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani later this month to talk about the U.S. investigation into air strikes that killed 24 ...