Sun, Nov 22 2009

Bulgaria among European democracies whose rankings in Reporters Without Borders’ annual rankings are falling.
SEEMO condemns the warnings sent by the lawyers of the Port of Belgrade as a direct attack on the freedom to broadcast public information
With press freedom worldwide in decline, Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union suffered the biggest drop, Freedom House reported.
The South East Europe Media Organisation strongly condemns the excessive fine handed down by the court in Nis, Serbia, in a defamation case against Dragana Kocic and Timosenko Milosavljevic
Authorities in Moldova refuse entry to a group of journalists, raising the hackles of a prominent media watch organisation.
International Press Institute expresses concern about verbal attacks on news organisations and legal hurdles to freedom of expression in Turkey
South East Europe Media Organisation calls for safe working environment for journalists and media outlets in Greece
South East Europe Media Organisation lists cases of direct pressure on journalists
Annual assessment says Bulgaria 'generally respects' human rights but finds problems in several areas
Watchdog says that media freedom in Bulgaria is not progressing
A string of threats issued against journalists in South East Europe, threats rendered particularly ominous by violent attacks on journalists throughout 2008, are causing concern for the Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO).
Welcomed by the UK government, France and Germany, as well as the US, the naming of Belgium’s Herman van Rompuy as European Council President and Catherine Ashton as foreign policy chief has caused misgivings in some circles, including Turkey which believes that Van Rompuy will oppose Turkish membership of the bloc.
The dinner meeting of EU leaders to decide on the European Council President and the bloc’s new foreign minister and head of secretariat could take a few hours or all night, says host Fredrik Reinfeldt, Sweden’s prime minister.
Russia and the European Union have agreed on an early warning system if another natural gas cutoff looms. Some say that Bulgaria, among other countries hard-hit by the January 2009 crisis, is now better prepared. Not everyone is convinced.
Five Bulgarian films screened at the World Film Festival in Bangkok.
A complicated game, played partly in the dark, and with elements of everything from poker to tug ‘o war – that’s the way Europe’s leaders will come up with its new European Council President, foreign minister and European Commission.