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Unesco award for Portuguese Fado
Unesco has given Portugal an intangible, world cultural heritage award in recognition of its musical tradition, Fado. A special concert was held in Lisbon to celebrate, where award-winning singer and Fado ambassador Mariza took to the stage.

Anxious wait in Egypt for results of historic poll
Egyptians are due to hear the first results of their historic elections on Saturday, but already an Islamist alliance looks like it is in the lead. ?�In a possible sign of a future showdown with the country??�s military rulers, the Muslim Brotherhood says it expects to win 40 percent of the vote.?�As protests against military rule continue, the Islamist alliance is hoping to form a coalition strong enough to limit the power of the generals.?�But one man in Tahrir Square said: ???The Muslim Brotherhood is being used to support the existence of the Military Council. They won the first phase of the election; in the future they will be in prison.????�This weekend’s results are for the first round of the ballot, which is being spread out over six weeks, with much debate about the mix of religion and politics.?�Another voter said: ???The Islamist party has entered the election very strongly, but we want them to implement the agenda presented during their campaigning, without any changes or a more fundamentalist approach that might have been hidden.????�The ruling military council is under increasing pressure to step aside and allow complete civilian rule. But it is insisting that it must retain the power to dismiss and appoint governments.

Two NATO troops injured in Kosovo border clashes
Kosovar Serbs shot and wounded two NATO peacekeepers in clashes in northern Kosovo, the military alliance said on Monday. A spokesman for KFOR, NATO’s peacekeeping force, said protesters used small firearms when troops tried to seize control of a roadblock near Jagnjenica. An estimated 60,000 Serbs living in northern Kosovo do not recognise its independence or its efforts to control the border with Serbia. They have been protesting since July over the Pristina government’s deployment of customs and border officials to the region. Last week, 21 NATO peacekeepers were injured in similar clashes. Kosovar Serbs pledge their allegiance to Serbia, which refuses to recognise Kosovo. But the EU has told Belgrade to make progress on the territorial dispute if it wants to be considered for membership of the 27 member bloc.

Serbia agrees border management with Kosovo
Serbia has agreed to accept border controls with Kosovo. The deal to jointly manage crossings removes a key obstacle to Belgrade’s EU-membership bid, just a week before European leaders are due to discuss it. Delegations from Kosovo and Serbia reached an accord in Brussels at EU-facilitated talks. It is three years since Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. Belgrade does not recognise the move but more than 80 countries, including the US and most of the EU, do. The deal comes after German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that recent border clashes showed Serbia was not yet ready to be a candidate for EU membership. “In the long term, we want not only Serbia but also Kosovo to join the EU and for the EU to continue functioning,” she told Germany’s parliament on Friday. “That is why the only way Serbia can join the EU is through a normalisation of its relations with Kosovo.” Thirty German and Austrian soldiers were injured on Monday in northern Kosovo as NATO peacekeepers tried to remove roadblocks put up by ethnic Serbs.

Setback for Putin as Duma vote plunges
There has been a major shift in Russia’s political landscape after the ruling party of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin suffered significant losses in the country’s general election. As counting neared completion it was set to win around 50 percent of the vote, down from 64 percent four years ago. That would leave the party with a slim 13 seat majority. The Communists were the main beneficiaries, on around 19 percent, up from 11 percent last time. It is a remarkable turnaround for a party that seemed consigned to history in the early the post-Soviet years. With almost all the votes counted this was how the parties stood: UNITED RUSSIA 49.7 COMMUNISTS 19.15 LDPR 11.66 JUST RUSSIA 13.17 YABLOKO 3.22 PATRIOTS 0.96 RIGHT CAUSE 0.59 The turnout was on course to be just over 60 pecent, about 3 percent lower than the previous poll. United Russia won 238 seats, ceding 77 seats to their rivals. They do not have a big enough majority in the Duma to push through constitutional changes. It is also big seback for Putin’s bid to reclaim the presidency in an election in March.

Russia rejects calls for Syrian arms embargo
Russia opposes any form of arms embargo being slapped on Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday. Lavrov, whose country is one of the veto wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council, said the international community must stop threatening Damascus and encourage dialogue between the government and the opposition. The call came from the UN Human Rights Council and a number of western powers. Moscow’s chief diplomat pointed to recent events in Libya, saying sanctions must be applied to the government and the opposition. “In reality, that embargo was only enforced against the Libyan army. The opposition got arms from countries such as France and Qatar,” Lavrov told reporters at a press conference in the Russian capital. A government-led crackdown on protests against President Bashar Assad’s regime has been widely condemned by the international community. The UN estimates at least 3,500 people have died since unrest began in March. But Russia has been one of few states to oppose punishing Damascus. Last month, Russia and China veto a Western-backed Security Council resolution condemning the violence in Syria. Moscow enjoys close economic and strategic ties with Syria. It has a naval base there and also sells weapons to the country.

Ren?�e Fleming’s Rodelinda dazzles the Met
Bright lights in the big city and also in the opera world, with the Met production of Handel’s Rodelinda in New York. Composed in 1725, nowadays it is relayed on giant screens the world over. In the title role: top American soprano Ren?�e Fleming. She told euronews: “Rodelinda is so different from the other typical operatic heroines who are so often victimized because they are yound and beautiful. She starts the opera in tremendous trouble, in mourning, and in grieving, and she’s a mother. But she also shows so much courage, and she’s clever.She [is not] the simple ingenue that we sopranos typically play.” It is a story of romantic and political intrigue. With Queen Rodelinda’s husband – the rightful king -believed to be dead in exile, the way is open for usurped power, passionate courtship, machiavellian plotting and the rediscovery of abandoned hope. “The thing I love about Handel is that the music is tremendously emotional without being dense, there’s a clarity, a simplicity to the tools,” Fleming went on. “The acoustic quality of the instrumention, the strings with the harpsicord, and the improvisation element which appeals to me. And it’s intimate. So I love all those elements coming together but still expressing real truth of what it means to be a human being.” “And the other thing that’s interesting about this opera, and it’s also atypical, is that the characters begin in a tragic situation and it has a happy ending, and very few operas do.” “When I first sang the opera here,” said Fleming, “I even received mail from people who were somewhat disappointed: people come to the opera for a sort of cathartic cry, and one can have that in Rodelinda, but not at the end.” For more excerpts from our interviews with British conductor Harry Bicket and American soprano Ren?�e Fleming, please click on the following link: Bonus Interview

Hopes and fears as Egyptians await poll results
In the Cairo square that cradled Egypt’s revolt, demonstrators gathered on Friday to mourn those killed last month at rallies ahead of the country’s election. Some fear their dreams could be stolen by well-organised Islamists. But, poised for success in the poll, The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) is keen to offer reassurance. “The Egyptian nation is the main winner in this election,” said the party’s Deputy Leader Dr. Issam al-Eryan. “We think any political parties represented in parliament will have a huge responsibility to the people to implement the aims of the revolution and turn Egyptians’ hopes to reality by achieving freedom, social justice and humanitarian dignity.” Among the tents in Tahrir Square, some are optimistic that things could change for the better. “We need to try a new system,” said protester Mohamed Sa’dawai. “Let us give them a chance first and then we can judge their efforts. And if they are not efficient….we can come back to the Square.” Egyptians know more than anyone what people power can achieve. So these elections may not mean the end of Tahrir Square as a place of protest.

Rallies in Moscow on day after elections
Several thousand protesters gathered in central Moscow calling for the end to Putin’s rule. They claim that Sundays election was fraudulent, and it is now time for the man who has dominated Russian politics for over a decade to go. Prominent Russian Blogger Alexei Navalny questioned what Putin had achieved for the country: “What has Putin done with all this time (in office)?” He said. “He had a colossal mandate of trust. They controlled the Duma, they had support and they had high oil prices.” “Now we look back and realise that we didn’t get anything – no reform of the police or the army, and no fight against corruption” Arrests Demonstrators clashed with police when they tried to move from the boulevard where they had permission to rally, to a major street in the city centre. It’s reported that at least 30 were arrested. At the same time many thousands from the pro-Kremlin youth group, Nashi, also gathered in Moscow city centre. Waving flags and praising its leaders, they were apparently attempting to raise the spirits of United Russia, following its poor show in the election.