The World
A Belarus Winter, Not a Minsk Spring
For four frigid nights, young protesters camped out in a peaceful demonstration against the rigged re-election of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who claimed 83 percent of the vote. Everyone knew it wouldn't last since Lukashenko--known as Europe's last dictator--has made clear he won't sit still for a sequel to Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution. Sure enough, police early Friday moved into Minsk's October Square and trucked off for detention some 300 protesters; that they did it largely without using their truncheons may have reflected uncharacteristic concern about international reaction. Within hours, the White House called for the protesters' release and joined European nations in imposing travel and financial sanctions against Lukashenko and other top officials.
"There Is but One God and..."
While working for a Christian aid group in Pakistan in the 1990s, Abdul Rahman gave up Islam for Christianity. For that, considered an act of apostasy, Afghanistan-born Rahman was put on trial--with a possible death sentence under his country's post-Taliban Constitution. Rahman, 41, was denounced by family members in a custody dispute over his two children after he returned home from living in Germany. With his case drawing alarm from American Christian and conservative groups--and blunt criticism from President Bush and other western leaders--Afghan President Hamid Karzai scrambled to find a way to get Rahman sprung. But there is a cost: Karzai risks reinforcing his image at home as Washington's puppet.
With Associated Press
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