 RFE/RL Headlines 11/5/2009 6:12:12 PM A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  GM's About-Face On Opel Angers Germany, Russia The surprise decision by U.S. automaker General Motors not to sell off its European operations is raising political tensions in U.S. relations with Germany and Russia. GM has announced it is overthrowing months of negotiations with a Canadian-Russian consortium to sell the Opel brand, angering leaders in Berlin and Moscow. More  Suspected U.S. Missile Strike In Pakistan Kills Four A suspected U.S. drone aircraft is reported to have fired two missiles into North Waziristan, an Al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan. More The White House has expressed concern over a violent crackdown on antigovernment protesters in Iran. More  Afghan Insecurity Prompts UN To Relocate International Staff The United Nations said it would relocate or evacuate more than half of its foreign staff in Afghanistan, following an attack by Taliban militants in which five foreign UN staff were killed in the capital in October. More Iraq Reports Seven Swine Flu Deaths To Date An Iraqi Health Ministry official says seven people have died of swine flu in Iraq since the first case of the virus was reported in May, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq (RFI) reports. More  Georgian Opposition Wants U.S. To Renounce Recognition Of Kosovo The chairman of Georgia's opposition Labor Party is in Washington to discuss Georgian-U.S.-Russian relations and the recognition of Kosovo and Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, RFE/RL's Georgian and Russian services report. More  Tajik President To Pardon Thousands Of Criminals Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has signed a decree that will grant amnesty to an estimated 10,000 prisoners, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  Belarusian Parliamentarians To Visit South Ossetia, Abkhazia A group of Belarusian lawmakers will travel to Georgia and its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to decide if they should have parliamentary discussions about the recognizing the regions as independent states, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports. More  Iraqi Deputies Demand Minister Be Questioned Over Bombings A leading Iraqi parliamentarian said legislators are demanding that the parliament's presidium question Interior Minister Jawad Bolani over security lapses following the recent bombing attacks in Baghdad that claimed hundreds of victims, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq (RFI) reports. More A region in south-central Russia is the latest to have declared a swine flu emergency, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Kyrgyz Journalist Recounts Brutal Attack Kyrgyz journalist Kubanychbek Joldoshev says an attack that left him hospitalized with a concussion was politically motivated, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More Heat Up Another Cheeseburger! Some friends and I stopped by McDonald's last weekend. We ordered a couple trays of food, paid our money, and waited. After a bit, the clerk came back with the food and said: "I'm sorry, but you can't take your cheeseburgers and fries now. The last customer didn't pay, so until he comes back and hands over the money, we won't give you your food." More  Honey, Don't Forget Your Parachute! The big thinkers in the capital, Astana, are urging ordinary Kazakhs -- who earn on average $114 a week -- to make more use of small planes to replace what they call the "anachronism" of long car and train journeys. After all, it's an 800-mile trip between the main business hub of Almaty and Astana. More  Kyrgyz President's Son Takes On Powerful New Role When Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev put the finishing touches on his restructured government last week, he entrusted the country's future economic course to a person he has known for decades -- his youngest son, Maksim Bakiev. More  With Lisbon Secure, EU Focuses On Name Game With the Czech Republic becoming the last country to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, EU leaders can now move on to putting it into practice. Most immediately, they face the problem of picking the bloc's first-ever president and foreign minister, two positions created by the treaty. More  Revolutions Of '89: 'At The Moment Of Crisis, Nobody Was At Home' As "Newsweek’s" bureau chief for Germany, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, American journalist Michael Meyer was a professional observer of the revolutionary wave that swept across Central and Eastern Europe in 1989. More  Blood And Velvet Some were peaceful and some were violent. Some were popular revolts and some were orchestrated within the Communist Party leadership. The revolutions of 1989 cast aside Europe's Cold War dictators, paving the way for democracy and the free-market reforms of the 1990s. More  Tehran's Program 'About Winning Recognition, Prestige' Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Muhammad el-Baradei, the International Atomic Energy Agency's outgoing chief, said he believes that for Tehran, its nuclear program is largely about status and winning recognition as a regional power. More |
