Party employment for dysfunctional municipalities

Municipality Rankovce is a leader by the number of employees in Macedonia. For 10 years this community has increased its staff by five times. In 2005 the municipality had 6 employees, while in 2014 their number rose to 31 people. Municipality Dolneni has had the same recruitment process for the past 10 years as Rankovce. But unlike Rankovce, this Pelagonija municipality has three times more inhabitants than Rankovce. Third...

Free Khadija!

A court in Azerbaijan has prolonged the pretrial detention period for Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist and contributor to RFE/RL who has been behind bars since December. The Nasimi District Court in Baku ruled on May 14 that Ismayilova’s pretrial detention period will be extended for three months. Ismayilova, whose investigative reporting has exposed corruption by Azerbaijani government officials, was arrested on December 5 and initially charged with inciting...