VIDEO REPORTS

Did Russia just implicitly admit that it hacked the United States?

Tajikistan has half of Central Asia’s water reserves. But over 40 percent of its population doesn’t have access to clean water.

Mustafa lives in an old car with his uncle in a parking lot in Belgrade. The 13-year-old is one of thousands Afghans living rough in Serbia.

OTHER NEWS

Russia's No.2 oil producer, Lukoil, is seeking opportunities for growth in the Middle East as Iran opens its oil fields to international partners, a senior executive says.

Russian media reports say Valeriy Bolotov, a former leader of Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's Luhansk region, has died in Russia at the age of 46.

More than 2,000 people rallied in St. Petersburg to protest a decision by the city administration to turn the landmark St. Isaac's Cathedral over to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Authorities say two police officers and three alleged militants have been killed in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region of Chechnya.

Ukraine says five of its soldiers have been killed and nine wounded in some of the worst fighting in eastern Ukraine in weeks.

Colleagues of lawmaker Ihor Kononenko, a member of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s parliamentary bloc, have repeated claims he was poisoned before the New Year, citing medical tests suggesting mercury in his body exceeding normal levels by a factor of 50. (Ukrainian Service)

In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL, Zurab Abashidze, Georgia’s special envoy for relations with Russia, said the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries must be predicated upon the start of a process “for a fair settlement of the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia." (Russian Service)

Macedonia's conservative leader has failed to reach a deal with his traditional ethnic Albanian allies to form a new government as the midnight deadline expired on January 29.

Hungary’s foreign minister says economic sanctions imposed by the European Union against Russia have been "bad news for Europe," and welcomed the timing of President Vladimir Putin's planned trip to Budapest next week.

Returning tigers to Central Asia would involve using the Amur tiger from the Russian Far East, a subspecies that is nearly identical genetically to the extinct Caspian tiger.

At a recent ceremony, recipients of Russian state honors accepted the awards with slavish praise for President Vladimir Putin, prompting politician Nikolay Travkin to observe that the more adoration you show, the more budget money you will get. Journalist Artemiy Troitsky said such idolatry compares to that shown to Leonid Brezhnev, although today the situation is worse, since “there is an impression that if not Putin, then everything will collapse.” (over 60K views on Russian Service website)

RFE/RL takes a closer look at what the readouts said -- and left unsaid -- about sanctions, Ukraine, Syria and terrorism.

Diplomatic problems are coming at the same time economic problems are hammering Turkmenistan, as this tiff, one of several recent bilateral rows, shows.