31 January: US President Barak Obama has praised Georgia's success at institution building during a meeting with President Mikhael Saakashvili in the White House yesterday. Speaking of the future Obama said that "anticipating fair and free elect

Borrell underlined that the European Union will make every effort to support the peace process and to remain a committed partner to the Afghan people. "Of course, we will have to take into account the evolving situation, but disengagement is not an option.  We are clear on that: there is no alternative to a negotiated political settlement, through inclusive peace talks.

The European Parliament has awarded the Sakharov human rights prize to jailed Georgian journalist and editor Mzia Amaghlobeli and Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut, calling them symbols of the "struggle for freedom". Amaghlobeli, 50, has emerged as a symbol of journalistic defiance to what the European Union says is a slide toward authoritarianism in her country.