 RFE/RL Headlines 11/12/2009 A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  U.S. Afghan Envoy Expresses Doubts About U.S. Troop Surge The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan has expressed doubts in writing to President Barack Obama about deploying a large number of additional troops to the country. Reports of memos from Karl Eikenberry, who once served as the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, come as Obama considers whether to send up to 40,000 more soldiers to boost the war effort there. More  Reinventing Russia President Dmitry Medvedev has called for a major overhaul of Russian society to transform the country into a great power. Repeating his call for a Soviet-style modernization program, Medvedev presented a laundry list of areas for reform in a state-of-the-nation speech today. More  Armenian Opposition Leader Backs President On Turkey Armenian opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian has signaled his readiness to recognize the legitimacy of President Serzh Sarkisian and attacked nationalist critics of Yerevan's ongoing rapprochement with Turkey, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More  Moldova Drops Charges Against 'Twitter Revolution' Figure All charges have been officially dropped against Moldovan journalist Natalia Morari, who was accused by the previous government of using social networking websites to organize violent street protests in Chisinau in the spring, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports. More  Medvedev Nominates New Governor For Sverdlovsk Oblast Aleksandr Misharin is expected to gain official approval next week after being selected by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to replace longtime Sverdlovsk Oblast Governor Eduard Rossel, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More Tajik officials in southern Khatlon Province have seized a large amount of expired and rotten food from a local hospital and some low-income families who received the food as charity, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  Another Candidate Barred From Armenian By-Election A former government minister who fled Armenia in 2004 has become the second opposition candidate disqualified from a parliament by-election in Yerevan, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More  Moldovan Candidate Says Failed Vote Causes Instability Moldovan presidential candidate Marian Lupu says the failure of parliament to elect a new president could lead to instability and "a chronic political crisis," RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Russian Film Director Dies Of Flu Russian film director Maria Solovtsova has died in the Belarus capital, Minsk, after having flu-like symptoms. More  Amnesty Urges Ukraine To Release Belarusian 'Prisoner Of Conscience' The rights watchdog Amnesty International is demanding that authorities in Ukraine "immediately and unconditionally" release Belarusian activist Ihar Koktysh. More  Daddy, Buy Me A Bellucci Uzbek President Islam Karimov's daughters are known for living the high life. But even for them, this is pretty impressive. More  Revolutions Of '89: The Moscow Spring Before the autumn revolutions in Eastern Europe, there was the Moscow Spring in the Soviet Union. In 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev's reform policies hit their high-water mark, as the USSR held its first competitive elections, press freedom flourished, and civil society awakened. More  Attacking 'Waste, Fraud, And Abuse' In Afghanistan As the United States' special inspector-general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR), Arnold Fields has the arduous task of preventing the "waste, fraud, and abuse" of U.S. funds appropriated for Afghanistan. In an interview with RFE/RL correspondent Abubakar Siddique, the retired Marine Corps major general weighs in on the rising concerns over corruption in Afghanistan. More  Moldova Presidential Hopeful Says 'There's Still Time' Moldovan lawmakers this week tried and failed to elect a new president. The Communist opposition boycotted a vote after the ruling Alliance for European Integration nominated Democratic Party leader and former Communist parliament speaker Marian Lupu. Now legislators must make one more attempt to elect a head of state in the next month, and a failure to choose a president would automatically trigger another round of national legislative elections next year -- in the wake of two inconclusive elec More  Forbes Index Lists World's Most Powerful Players The U.S. media organization Forbes has for the first time issued a list of those who it views as the most powerful people in the world. Not surprisingly, President Barack Obama tops the list, but there are some unexpected rankings further down. First, Forbes attempts to define what it means by "power.” More |
