 RFE/RL Headlines 11/19/2009 5:49:57 PM A daily digest of the English-language news and analysis written by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| News  Huge Crowds Mourn Serbian Orthodox Leader Pavle Throngs from Serbia and neighboring countries paid final tribute today to Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle, who presided over the revival of the faith after decades of communist rule. More  Karzai Pledges Corruption Fight President Hamid Karzai begins a second five-year term by saying Afghanistan's "culture of impunity" must end. Vowing to learn from his past mistakes, he said corruption must be "strongly pursued." More  HRW Calls For Kyrgyzstan To Release Activists HRW is urging the government of Kyrgyzstan to release two human rights activists investigating rights abuses in the south of the country. More  No Changes For Bosnia's High Representative Office The international body that oversees the peace process in Bosnia said today it will not change the status of the Office of the High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, RFE/RL's Balkan Service reports. More  Azerbaijani President Criticizes Armenia On Karabakh Talks Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has accused Armenia of delaying efforts to resolve the conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports. More  Kyrgyz Deport Russian Rights Activist Kyrgyzstan deported a foreign human rights activist investigating accusations of abuse against Muslims in the Central Asian state, campaigners said today. More Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian has become a member of the governing Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More Kyrgyz pro-presidential Ak-Jol (Bright Path) party has approved a provision that would require its diplomats to understand the Kyrgyz language, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More Iraqi politicians from Sunni and Shi'ite parliamentary factions say they are concerned about the holding of parliamentary elections after Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashim's veto of the recently passed electoral law, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq (RFI) reports. More  Romania To Ease Entry For Some 1 Million Moldovans Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat says that up to 1.2 million Moldovans -- or more than one-quarter of the population -- will be able to travel easily to EU-member Romania due to an agreement he signed in Bucharest last week, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports. More  Afghan Minister Rejects Charges Of Corruption An Afghan government official has rejected suggestions in "The Washington Post" that he accepted millions of dollars from Beijing in exchange for awarding a Chinese company a lucrative copper-mining contract, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reports. More  Secret Moldovan Remedy For Swine Flu Authorities in Moldova are taking some interesting precautions against swine flu (which is spreading there just as borders are opening), according to Reuters. More  'Our Facebook Campaign For Emin And Adnan' The following is a guest post from Ali S. Novruzov, an Azerbaijani who blogs over at "In Mutatione Fortitudo. He describes how the arrest and conviction of the "donkey bloggers" have pushed the country's youth activists into finding creative ways to get their message out using new technologies. More  Antifa Strikes Back Veteran human rights activists are appealing to Russia's increasingly assertive anti-racist movement to forswear violence, even as they face increasingly lethal attacks from militant nationalist groups. More  Clinton Welcomes Karzai's Goals For Change In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks about the prospects for international cooperation, as well as the obstacles Afghan President Hamid Karzai faces as he starts his second term. More  EU Looks To Get Its Top Ducks In A Row The European Union is set to pick its first-ever president to represent the 27 member states on the world stage, as well as a high representative for foreign policy. The long-awaited posts are expected to herald a new era in EU decision making. But the chaotic selection process has exposed deep divisions among the member states, and there are fears the bloc may emerge looking even more unwieldy than before. More  Brokering Bosnia's Future No Easy Task In Sarajevo, international negotiators are meeting to discuss the future of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which suffered through three years of war in the 1990s and has struggled ever since to overcome ethnic divisions and establish a peaceful, unified government. At issue is whether the time has come to close the international post responsible for supervising the country's elected officials. More  Putting A Price On Iran's Nuclear Decisions Iran has rejected a UN-proposed deal under which it would export its lightly enriched uranium for further enrichment. What options does that now leave for the United States? More |
