Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, Eklil Hakimi

Afghanistan's U.S. Envoy Says NATO Pledge Sends 'Strong Signal' To Region

Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United States says his country is grateful for the support that NATO allies have pledged at their summit in Chicago. Eklil Hakimi told RFE/RL that the agreements reached between President Hamid Karzai and the United States and its NATO partners will send a strong message to the region and assure the Afghan people that Kabul will not be left on its own after NATO ends its combat mission in the country in 2014. More

The Key Players In Russia's New Government

Russian President Vladimir Putin presented Russia's new cabinet on May 21 after weeks of intense speculation. Putin appears to have kept loyalists in key posts, which may block any reformist agenda. Some longtime stalwarts, like Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, hold onto their posts. More

Azerbaijani plainclothes police officers detain an opposition supporter during an antigovernment protest in central Baku on May 21.

Video Critics Say Eurovision Has Done Little To Stop Azeri Regime's Rights Abuses

With its flashy costumes and sugary pop songs, the Eurovision Song Contest can be a light-hearted, even silly, affair. But as the oil-rich nation of Azerbaijan prepares to host the contest for the first time, critics aren't smiling. Instead, they're pointing to numerous human rights violations that have flourished under the autocratic regime of President Ilham Aliyev -- and say that Eurovision officials and other European authorities are willingly turning a blind eye. RFE/RL looks at what is proving to be one of the most controversial contests in Eurovision's 56-year history. More

Serbian President-elect Tomislav Nikolic (foreground) celebrates his election victory with supporters in Belgrade.

Video Serbian Nationalist's Surprise Presidential Win Raises Uncertainty

The surprise win of nationalist Tomislav Nikolic in Serbia's presidential polls on May 20 throws the country into fresh political uncertainty. Nikolic, a one-time ally of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, may now ask his party to form a new government and break an existing deal on a new ruling coalition headed by Boris Tadic's Democratic Party. Nikolic's election also casts serious doubt on Serbia's attempts to join the European Union. More

Princeton University professor and "New York Times" syndicated columnist Paul Krugman (file photo)

Transcript: Economist Krugman Predicts 'Moment Of Truth' Coming For Eurozone

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has written extensively about the crisis in the eurozone -- what led to it and what should be done about it. Following last week's Group of Eight meeting, in which European leaders expressed hope that debt-ridden Greece remains in the eurozone, RFE/RL correspondent Heather Maher got his thoughts. More

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American economist Paul Krugman, a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics, during a 2011 visit to Yaroslavl, Russia

Paul Krugman Predicts Greek Euro Exit, But Larger Crisis Averted

As Greece spirals into economic chaos, its place in the eurozone looks more and more tenuous. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman says it might be too late to save Athens, but there's still time to save the euro.
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Convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi (center) was welcomed as a hero on his return to Tripoli after release by Scottish authorities on compassionate grounds in August 2009.

Obituary: Libyan Convicted For Role In 1988 Lockerbie Bombing Dies

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of carrying out the deadly bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Scotland in 1988, one of the worst terrorist attacks in modern history, has died in Libya.
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Demonstrators are reflected in a souvenir shop window in Chicago, Illinois, as peace activists march through the street demanding an end to NATO violence ahead of the summit.

NATO Gathers To Discuss Afghanistan, Missile Defense, And Its Own Future

NATO leaders meet in Chicago this weekend for a summit that will focus largely on the alliance's combat-force withdrawal from Afghanistan and its postmilitary role. But contentious plans for a European missile-defense system and the alliance's future vision will also be up for discussion.
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A missile is launched from the Aegis-combat-system-equipped destroyer "USS Decatur" during a Missile Defense Agency ballistic-missile flight test in 2007.

European Missile Defense: What's On The Table At NATO Summit?

Despite increasingly vociferous objections from Russia, this weekend's NATO summit will announce the next steps in European missile defense, including an "interim capability" that is being hailed as the first step toward fully protecting NATO populations from limited missile attacks.
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Chicago protesters Jill McLaughling (left) and Barbara Lyons of The World Can

U.S. Activists Use NATO Summit To Make Their Case

The United States' third-largest city, Chicago, will host this weekend's NATO summit meeting and thousands of activists from across the country are using the occasion to press their agendas before the eyes of the world's media.
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Azerbaijan

Baku Hotel Owners Questioned On Hidden Sex Camera Claims

In the run-up to next week's Eurovision Song Contest, seven hotels in the host city, Baku, have been quizzed by a rights group about claims that hidden cameras have been placed in guest rooms to record people having sex so as to blackmail them.
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Russia -- Opposition supporters hold a banner with the Facebook logo during a rally in Moscow, 13May2012

Russian Opposition 'Likes' Facebook

The social-networking site Facebook has been slow to take off in Russia, lagging far behind the more popular local sites like Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki. But in recent months, it has grown more than threefold and become the platform of choice for the country's reenergized opposition.
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The crisis in the eurozone is expected to cast a shadow over this week

Eurozone Crisis Looms Over G8 Summit

Leaders of the world's top economies are gathering in the northeastern United States for a two-day Group of Eight (G8) summit set to be dominated by the deepening crisis in the eurozone.
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Azerbaijan won hosting rights for this year

Eurovision Glitz Is Assured, But For Azerbaijan's Gays, It's Same Old Song

As Baku prepares to host the 57th Eurovision Song Contest -- a bejeweled meringue of a spectacle, with unabashedly gay overtones -- the country's unyielding stance on sexual minorities is coming under fresh scrutiny.
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Mejra Dzogaz watches the TV broadcast of the court proceedings of former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic at her home in Potocari, Bosnia. Mejra

Mladic Genocide Trial A Big Story Everywhere, Except Serbia

As the long-awaited trial of Ratko Mladic began in The Hague on May 16, one country was not watching. Serbia.
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