Charles Recknagel is standards editor for RFE/RL.
Libya's National Transitional Council says Muammar Qaddafi, Libya's leader for over four decades, has died in his hometown of Sirte following weeks of fighting between his supporters and fighters loyal to the new interim government.
This week's near crash of a major Franco-Belgian bank has highlighted how much bad government debt Europe's banks hold. But there is no easy fix for the eurozone's continuing financial crisis.
The Palestinians are expected to ask the UN to recognize them as an independent member-state as the world body begins its 66th regular session this week. The proposal is almost certain to set off one of the hottest debates of the UN's new year. It may also be one of the most divisive.
Richer EU states are getting tired of bailing out fiscally troubled ones. But will that lead to greater economic and political integration for the eurozone?
In Iran, book censors regularly remove what they consider offensive references to sex. Sometimes, their heavy hand even falls on Persian classics.
We can't help but pay attention to mass murderers like Anders Behring Breivik and Osama bin Laden. But we do so at our own peril. Their actions make it more difficult to hold the reasoned dialogue we need about how the world is changing.
The recent wave of street battles in Karachi, which killed 120 people this month, seems to have subsided, for now. The way it did tells a lot about its causes.
The tribal areas of Pakistan were once famous as sports grounds. But today, youth have few facilities and little opportunity to compete in organized games. That plays into the hands of militants.
It's not uncommon for rich people to say they owe their success to one thing: a strong desire to succeed. But does the same hold true for societies? We look at that question in the third and final part of our three-part series on building prosperity.
There is no magic formula for knowing how countries become wealthy and their citizens happy.
What makes countries happy and prosperous? It's more than just a high GDP. According to recent studies, the factors that contribute to making countries rich, and their people satisfied, also include citizens' ability to participate fully in public and business life.
Talk of the planned U.S. troop withdrawal has Afghan citizens mulling their future.
The European E. coli outbreak has killed 22 people so far and left hundreds hospitalized -- mostly in Germany. It is proving an enormous challenge for German investigators to track down. Why is this outbreak so hard to pinpoint and why is it so damaging to health?
Sixty years ago, Radio Free Europe went on the air with its first broadcast service. The target country was Czechoslovakia, and this year many of those who listened to the broadcasts are marking the anniversary.
The Armenian government is freeing its jailed critics and opening the door to dialogue with the opposition. Why?
In much of the world, it is indigenous political parties and the local civil society they represent that helps to keep extremists at bay. But in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas there is no such counterbalance.
Afghanistan once attracted thousands of tourists. At the Blue Mosque in Mazar-e Sharif, it is easy to see why.
Development projects are key to rescuing Pakistan's tribal areas from militancy. So why do people there have so little faith in them?
On May 6, U.S. President Barack Obama met some of the members of Team Six -- the special unit widely reported to have undertaken the operation to kill Osama bin Laden earlier this week. What is Team Six and who are the SEALs?
When Reactor No. 4 at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant exploded 25 years ago, it seemed nuclear power might die with it. But in subsequent years, rising fossil fuel prices and concerns over global warming prompted talk of a "nuclear renaissance." Now, as Japan's Fukushima Daiichi reactors produce the worst radiation leaks since Chornobyl, doubts about nuclear power are suddenly back with a vengeance.
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