Liliana Barbarosie is a correspondent for RFE/RL's Moldovan Service.
Alert fans cried "censorship!" after noticing that their Eurovision entry had dropped references to being "one country" with Romania for blander lyrics. A possible union has been a topic of fiery debate ever since Moldova gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Vlad Plahotniuc, a powerful Moldovan oligarch who fled his home country last year amid a government shake-up, sought political asylum in the United States, but his application was rejected, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. federal court.
U.S. officials say that Vlad Plahotniuc, a powerful Moldovan oligarch and political figure linked to a massive bank theft, is in the United States despite being subject to a visa ban earlier this year.
An ousted Moldovan oligarch hit with a U.S. entry ban due to corruption concerns has spent time in the United States in recent months, before and after the restriction order, according to Moldovan and U.S. officials. Vlad Plahotniuc's presence in the United States, described by multiple people to RFE/RL, has anti-corruption experts and other observers worried.
Days before crucial parliamentary elections, Moldovan opposition leaders have accused the ruling party of intentionally poisoning them.
This month, Moldova will ban Russian broadcasting on its territory, a measure Chisinau says is necessary to fend off an existential threat to its national security.
Moldova's parliament speaker has released a confidential consultant report into the disappearance of nearly $1 billion from three Moldovan banks in November 2014. The report traces an elaborate plan to stealthily take control of the three banks by purchasing dozens of small, seemingly unconnected stakes -- culminating in an orgy of lending over three days.
Last month, Moldova inaugurated a new natural-gas pipeline from Romania. But it isn't transporting any gas, and no one knows when the flow of the country's first-ever non-Russian gas might start.
The alliance would view "very negatively" any attempt to bring Moldova's breakaway region "closer to Russia."
Moldova's pro-European government has not made a statement since protests erupted in neighboring Ukraine over Kyiv's decision to put its EU-integration agenda on hold. Chisinau wants Ukraine to move toward the EU in step with Moldova, but also depends on Kyiv for support over it protracted conflict with breakaway Transdniester.
A newspaper has revealed that Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti, serving as a Soviet judge in 1987, ordered the confinement of a prominent dissident in a psychiatric hospital. As RFE/RL reports, the news has shone a spotlight on the "divided" life lived by Timofti's generation.
Moldovan psychologist Lidia Gorceag says her job is to touch the souls of her patients, to encourage them to see their experiences from other angles, and to help them find the strength to move forward.
