 RFE/RL Headlines 11/4/2009 A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  In Surprise Move, GM Scraps Plans To Sell Opel In a surprise move, U.S. automaker General Motors has reversed earlier plans to sell its European division Opel, citing better economic conditions. But the decision is likely to cause a row in Germany and Russia. More  Former Challenger Questions Afghan President's Legitimacy Abdullah Abdullah, who was Hamid Karzai's top challenger in Afghanistan's recent presidential election before pulling out of a scheduled second-round runoff, is now questioning Karzai's legitimacy as president. More  Merkel Says Iran Must Not Acquire Nuclear Bomb German Chancellor Angela Merkel marked this month's 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a speech to the U.S. Congress. She said Germany will never accept the idea of Iran having nuclear weapons and called for trans-Atlantic unity in the fight against global climate change. More  Tajik Health Care Workers To Work In Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia's Trade Chamber and the Tajik Interior Ministry's Migration Service have signed an agreement allowing Tajik labor migrants to work in Saudi Arabia, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  Protest In Moscow Against Fascism, Ultranationalism More than 1,000 activists gathered in downtown Moscow today to protest against ultranationalism, racism, and fascism in Russia, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Slain Russian Businessman To Be Buried In Israel Prominent Russian businessman Shabtai Kalmanovich, who was shot dead in Moscow on November 2, will be buried in Israel, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Russian Regions Declare 'Mask Regime' Against Flu Officials in some Russian regions are introducing a so-called "mask regime" in an attempt to prevent the spread of flu viruses, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Jailed Armenian Journalist To Run For Parliament Jailed Armenian opposition newspaper editor Nikol Pashinian says he will run as a candidate for parliament, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More  First Swine-Flu Death Reported In Belarus The first death caused by the H1N1 or swine-flu virus has been reported in Belarus, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports. More  Armenian President Defends Turkey Policy Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian defended his reconciliation policy with Turkey at a meeting of leading clerical and secular representatives of the Armenian Apostolic Church on November, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More  Moldova's Acting President Predicts End To Political Deadlock Acting Moldovan President Mihai Ghimpu says enough members of the opposition Communist Party will eventually help elect the country's new president and end the current stalemate, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports. More  Deported Kazakh Asylum Seeker Still Missing The whereabouts of a Kazakh asylum seeker deported from the Czech Republic to Almaty remains unknown, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More  Prominent Russian Rights Activist Receives German Award Veteran Russian human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseyeva will be awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  'Againstall' To Run For Ukraine's Presidency Not that we needed another reminder of the dismal state of Ukrainian politics, but an individual called Protyvsikh ("Against all" in Ukrainian) has registered as a candidate in the country's upcoming presidential election. More  Putin The Director Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin criticized Russia’s film industry yesterday, telling prominent directors assembled at the recently created Council of Cinematography that “goals of economic, cultural, and humanitarian influence are not being reached.” More  Commander's Testimony Fails To Substantiate Mukhrovani Coup Allegations Testifying in court in the ongoing trial of military officers accused of plotting to overthrow the Georgian leadership, the commander of Georgia's land forces could not confirm that two of the charged officers were pursuing any broader political objective. Nor could he say positively that three other men identified as the masterminds of the alleged coup were present at the Mukhrovani military base on the crucial morning of May 5. More  Has Armenia's Economy Bottomed Out? Official statistics suggest that after seven consecutive months of negative economic growth, the Armenian economy has begun to recover. But some prominent former officials are skeptical. More  Church Leaders Go Green Ahead Of Copenhagen As politicians struggle to reach agreement on global emissions cuts ahead of the UN's climate change conference in Copenhagen next month, international religious leaders have stepped in with their own ambitious plans. More  Who Are These Guys Again? This week's EU-U.S. summit will go down as a unmemorable affair. Neither the European Union nor the United States could claim any breakthroughs after a lackluster two-day meet that ended in Washington on November 4. More  Unmasking The Truth About Swine Flu As concerns over massive outbreaks of swine flu rise in many countries with the onset of the influenza season, doctors say much is misunderstood about how people contract the disease. We speak to experts to learn more, and whether there is any cause for panic. RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel reports. More  Swine Flu Fears Spread From Ukraine To Afghanistan Public fears of a major outbreak of swine flu are growing in countries from Ukraine to Afghanistan. The fears are fed by real cases of people falling ill with the flu. But what is not clear is how many of the cases are ordinary flu, and how many are swine flu, and whether fears of an imminent pandemic are justified. More  Protests And Clashes In Tehran Iranians held anti-U.S. rallies in Tehran today to mark the 30th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy. At the same time, opposition demonstrators defied officials’ orders by staging fresh antigovernment protests, prompting a harsh police crackdown. More  Experts Downplay Fears Over Ukraine-Russia Gas Crisis A recent exchange of barbs between Russia and Ukraine is raising worries in Kyiv over a possible new natural-gas crisis this winter. Moscow's shutoff last winter left millions of Europeans without heat in the bitter cold, but observers say they doubt there will be a repeat this year. More  Russia Is Dying To Learn Its Census Data The news that the next Russian census will be held in 2010 is welcome news indeed. There had been considerable speculation that the census had been delayed largely for political reasons, and it is encouraging to think that the opinions of experts who say the census information is crucially needed were heeded in this case. More |
