Eurasia

Moldova’s Communists Spurn Opposition Invite For Talks

MOLDOVA Moldova’s ruling Communists have shunned an invitation to talk with all the opposition parties at one time and announced they want to talk about the new government with each party separately, RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service reports. The leaders of four pro-European parties that won a combined majority in the new …

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New ambassadors in Hungary and Qatar

MACEDONIA Zoran Kostovski and Fuad Hasanovic are the new government propositions for Ambassadors in Hungary, actually Qatar, Makfax news agency reported. Kostovski, who is the General Director of the Consulting House “Motiva” and Hasanovic, who is former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, have been proposed on yesterday’s government session.

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Russia renews call for recognition of Georgia regions

RUSSIA, GEORGIA Russia called on Tuesday for international recognition of the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia a year after its own recognition prompted Georgia to accuse it of a land grab. President Dmitry Medvedev announced Russia’s recognition of the two territories as independent on August 26 last …

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Georgian ministry of defense brings suits against hundreds of soldiers

GEORGIA The Ministry of Defense has made claims in the court against hundreds of former soldiers who have violated conditions of the contract, the Center for Human Rights said. The center said that the vast majority of respondents concluded the contracts with the ministry headed by Minister Irakli Okruashvili. At …

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Georgia grants refugee status to Russian deserter

GEORGIA Georgia’s minister for refugees and accommodation has granted refugee status to a Russian soldier who deserted on July 1, a senior official said on Tuesday. Dmitry Artemyev left his post at a Russian base in the South-Ossetian controlled village of Perevi near the Georgian town of Sachkhere after claiming …

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Romanian tourism minister faces parliament inquiry

ROMANIA Romania’s tourism minister answered questions before a parliamentary committee Tuesday and denied some allegations that she misspent government funds. Elena Udrea’s participation in the hearing was a reversal from her previous refusal to cooperate. Last week she filed a legal complaint against the committee on the grounds that it …

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Romanian ambassador in Sofia accused of collaborating with communist-era secret police

ROMANIA Romania’s council on declassifying communist-era secret police files has asked a Bucharest court to officially confirm Romania’s ambassador in Sofia, Anton Păcureţu, as a collaborator of the Securitate, Romania’s feared communist secret police. Under a ruling of Romania’s constitutional court from 2008, the National Council for Studying the Securitate …

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Cooperation between U.S., Bulgaria in revealing drugs trafficking produces good results

BULGARIA The cooperation between the U.S. and Bulgaria in revealing drugs trafficking have been producing good results recently, John Ordway, interim chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria, said at a roundtable discussion. The U.S. helps Bulgaria in security sector in two ways: tactical assistance (trainings and preparation of …

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Greek fires under control as government faces flak

GREECE The wildfires that ripped through the suburbs of Athens forcing residents to flee their homes are now under control. Thousands of hectares of virgin fir and prime forest have been destroyed and hundreds of houses burnt to the ground. The fire broke out last Friday in the village of …

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Chechen bomber defies Moscow

RUSSIA A suicide bomber has killed himself and four police officers in Chechnya. Another has been seriously injured. The attack took place in the village of Mesker Yurt, 20 kilometres from the capital Grozny. Just hours before the Russian Prime minister Valdimir Putin had been in the region on a …

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