This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to extensive investigations by Bellingcat and various Western media into the poisoning of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. During his annual news conference, Putin made the claim, without any evidence to back it up, that the media outlets were merely “laundering” U.S. intelligence materials. He also said that if Russian security services had wanted to poison Navalny, “they would have finished the job.”
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian says he alone cannot decide to call early parliamentary elections, even as he faces mounting opposition calls for him to step down over last month’s cease-fire deal with Azerbaijan. Pashinian made the comment during an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on December 16 in Yerevan.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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When 29-year-old Symbat Kulzhagarova fell to her death from her 11th-floor apartment in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, the police said it was suicide. Kulzhagarova’s social-media posts claiming she was being beaten by her husband have raised doubts about this, and some 70,000 people have signed a petition demanding tougher punishment for domestic violence.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Opposition activists in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, marked the Central Asian nation’s Independence Day with an unauthorized rally. Hundreds of activists gathered in the city’s central Republic Square on December 16 to demand the immediate release of all political prisoners, fair parliamentary elections on January 10, and the registration of opposition parties.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Millions of people have watched a video issued by Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny in which he names several men he alleges attempted to kill him with a military-grade poison in August. The men were also named in a joint report by Bellingcat, CNN, Der Spiegel, and Russian investigative outfit The Insider, which presents detailed evidence that they were a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) team that trailed Navalny for years before finally poisoning him.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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The Taj Majal and Stonehenge are UNESCO World Heritage sites and the Ukrainian government hopes that the exclusion zone around the radioactive wreckage of the Chernobyl nuclear plant will be added to the list. Ukraine’s culture minister cited the recent influx of tourists as evidence of Chernobyl’s importance “not only to Ukrainians, but to all of humanity.”
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Security forces in Belarus detained dozens of people in the capital, Minsk, as opposition demonstrators staged scattered marches and rallies on December 13 to pressure strongman leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka to make political concessions. Human rights group Vyasna said that nearly 180 people were detained during protests across the country.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Viktor Kozlov used to drive a tractor on a Soviet-era state farm, but when times got tough, he moved to the coal-rich Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk and started selling coal to residents there to heat their homes. Most of his customers are poor and he sells coal on credit to keep them warm through the bitter winter.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Moldovan President-elect Maia Sandu addressed a rally attended by thousands in the capital, Chisinau, on December 6. Sandu called the rally after the parliament passed a bill stripping the president of control over the country’s intelligence service. The protesters called for early parliamentary elections, a demand that Sandu has repeatedly raised.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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People were seen being detained and others escaping from security forces in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on another day of anti-government protests on December 6. Demonstrations have been ongoing since the controversial August 9 presidential election. Protesters have recently switched to marches in smaller groups across residential areas of Minsk.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Azerbaijani forces moved into the district of Lachin early on December 1. It was the last of three territories ceded by Armenia under a peace deal that ended a six-week war over Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijani citizens celebrated the news in Baku, and some made plans to return to Lachin, while Armenians living there faced the prospect of leaving their homes.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Valery Melnikov was known in Russia for the huge New Year’s cards he created on the ice and snow of a frozen river in the country’s Far East. After he died in October at the age of 72 after contracting COVID-19, residents of his home region of Amur decided to continue the tradition he started and make a giant, snowy card in his memory.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Security forces were seen detaining people at an anti-government march in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on Sunday, November 29. With larger turnouts at the weekends, demonstrations against Alyaksandr Lukashenka have been ongoing since a disputed August 9 presidential election extended the strongman’s rule.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Serbia has seen a recent influx of digital nomads — people who use the Internet and remote working to move around the world. The capital, Belgrade, was recently listed as the seventh best city in Europe for life and work by nomadlist.com. Local experts say more needs to be done to entice newcomers and ensure natives don’t move abroad.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Svetlana Mintcheva, NCAC’s Director of Programs, presented a talk at the Harvard Law School Library on the effects contemporary moral outrage has on the arts and culture.
The post Cancel Culture: Can Free Speech in Cultural Institutions Survive the Onslaught of Moral Outrage? appeared first on National Coalition Against Censorship.
This post was originally published on Blog – National Coalition Against Censorship.
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Often, the most frequently challenged books tell the stories that most need to be heard. The 10 most challenged books of 2017, according to the American Library Association, were no different.
The post ALA Reveals Top 10 Silenced Stories of 2017 appeared first on National Coalition Against Censorship.
This post was originally published on Blog – National Coalition Against Censorship.