mircea

Belgrade’s Underground Film Scene: Small, But Thriving

Every Sunday, the Illegal Cinema puts on a movie that has never been regularly distributed. But, although the screenings are free, there are strings attached. Six o’clock had already come and gone while people were still piling in and taking their seats in the small 25-square-metre room that no one …

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EU Trying To Sway Serbia Over Kosovo Serbs

The European Union is trying to convince Belgrade not to pursue its plan for parallel structures in Serb areas of Kosovo, said the head of Kosovo’s International Civilian Office, Pieter Feith. Belgrade has vowed to never recognise Kosovo’s secession in February last year and is keeping a firm hold on …

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Serbia Wary Of Kosovo Force Role Abroad

Serbia is worried that Kosovo’s Security Forces (KSF) will not only be the starting point for a bigger armed force, but could participate in peacekeeping missions abroad before Serbia itself does, said Serbia’s Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac. Last week Kosovo inaugurated a NATO-sponsored security force that is an army in …

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Iraq holds peaceful election, Obama, U.N. applaud

BAGHDAD  – Iraqis held their most peaceful election since the fall of Saddam Hussein on Saturday, voting for provincial councils without a single major attack in a poll that demonstrated the country’s dramatic security gains. U.S. President Barack Obama hailed the poll as an important step toward Iraqis taking responsibility …

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Early signs show Iraq’s Maliki sweeps south in poll

BASRA, Iraq  – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s candidates look set for sweeping victories in provincial polls, a result that could overturn the post-Saddam political order and strengthen the hand of a leader once seen as weak. Although official preliminary results will not be published for days, leaders of rival …

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Suicide bomber hits foreign forces in Kabul

KABUL (Reuters) – A Taliban suicide car bomber hit a convoy of foreign troops on the outskirts of the Afghan capital on Sunday, wounding two Afghan civilians and slightly injuring a French soldier, officials said. The attack took place on Kabul’s western edge near a bridge where Italian troops and …

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Afghanistan hits back at Western critics over aid

KABUL  – Afghanistan hit back at Western criticism of official corruption on Sunday, saying some 80 percent of international aid was outside government control so donors should be held to account. As U.S. President Barack Obama makes Afghanistan his foreign policy priority, President Hamid Karzai’s government has come under increased …

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Russia’s new patriarch seen as modernizer

MOSCOW  – Patriarch Kirill, enthroned on Sunday as the new leader of around 160 million Russian Orthodox believers, is seen as an outspoken modernizer who may thaw icy ties with the Catholic Church. The first patriarch elected since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kirill, 62, replaces Alexiy …

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Afghan drug crop to fall slightly this year: U.N

KABUL  – Drug cultivation is expected to fall slightly in Afghanistan this year as lower opium prices and higher wheat prices encourage some farmers to switch crops, the United Nations said on Sunday. Afghanistan is locked in a vicious circle where drug production helps fund Taliban militants and increases official …

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Iran Produces More Fighter Jets

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran has produced a number of the domestically-grown ‘Saeqeh’ (Thunderbolt) jets so far, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said here on Sunday. Speaking to FNA on the sidelines of “Innovation and Flourishing Festival”, Najjar referred to the production of more Saeqeh jets by Iranian defense …

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