俄罗斯人权活动家在车臣被杀害.doc

BBC News with John Jason. A prominent Russian human rights campaigner who documented abuses in Chechnya has been murdered. The body of the activist Natalya Estemirova was found in the neighboring region of Ingushetia with gunshot wounds to her head and chest. Witnesses said she’d been kidnapped outside her home in the Chechen capital Grozny on Wednesday morning. The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he was outraged at the murder. From Moscow, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes. The body of Natalya Estemirova was found dumped in the forest near the border between the Russian republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia. In recent months, she’d been gathering evidence of a campaign of house burnings by government-backed militias. Natalya Estemirova was a close friend of the murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Together they had investigated kidnappings, torture and extra-judicial killings by Russian forces fighting the Islamic insurgency in Chechnya. The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said America’s offer to engage with Iran is not open-ended. In a major foreign policy speech in Washington, Mrs. Clinton warned that Iran could face greater isolation over its nuclear program. Iran can become a constructive actor in the region if it stops threatening its neighbors and supporting terrorism. It can assume a responsible position in the international community if it fulfills its obligations on human rights. The choice is clear. We remain ready to engage with Iran, but the time for action is now. The opportunity will not remain open indefinitely. Mrs. Clinton also said the US has admired the energy of Iran’s recent presidential election, but was appalled by the way the Iranian government had quelled protests over the disputed ballots. Almost 170 people have died in a plane crash in Iran. The Russian-made jet operated by Caspian Airlines crashed shortly after taking off on a flight to Armenia. Jon Leyne reports. The plane was a Tupolev aircraft on its way from the