Balkans

Stanisic Made His Own News: Serbian Pres

Jovica Stanisic, the former chief of Serbia’s State Security, secured the CIA’s support in his bid to clear his name at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia with the help of Russia’s former prime minister, Yevgeny Primakov, according to Belgrade daily Blic. The same newspaper also claims that Stanisic …

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Postponed Kosovo Trial Begins

The first trial to be held in Kosovo’s northern town of Mitrovica after the courts in the town shut down in February 2008, has begun. The EU’s Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, EULEX, opened the trial against two Kosovo Serbs charged with breaking into the home of an elderly …

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Tadic: No Quick Fix for Serbian Economy

On the second day of Serbia’s Economic Forum held in the Kopaonik ski resort, the country’s President and government ministers gave some impressive speeches but failed to shed any new light on government policy. Tadic told the gathering that that he expects his government to reach an agreement with the …

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Bulgaria Prepares for New Gas Crisis

Bulgaria is preparing contingency plans to ration gas to industrial consumers in case the gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia once again blocks supplies to the country, the economy minister Petar Dimitrov said on March 04. Since Bulgaria relies entirely on Russian gas transited through Ukraine, Bulgaria was one of …

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Serbia: Tadic Gives Stark Economic Warning

In a keynote speech delivered at an annual forum of Serbian economists the country’s president Boris Tadic delivered an impassioned call for an end to links between business, the state and crime. Addressing what some sections of the media have dubbed “Serbia’s Davos”, Tadic told delegates that without greater development …

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Greece Attack – Attackers Throw Firebombs At Bank In Athens

The devices exploded, causing a fire, which seriously damaged the Piraeus Bank branch in the northern Athens suburb of New Psychico. Arsonists threw gas canisters and firebombs at a bank branch office in Athens on Wednesday, causing serious damage to the building but no injuries, Greek police said. There has …

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Bosnian Serb Softens Breakaway Talk

Milorad Dodik, the Prime Minister of the Serb-dominated Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska, has seemingly softened his radical rhetoric and temporarily abandoned plans for his entity’s independence, local media reported on Wednesday. The apparent shift in Dodik’s attitude came after his meeting on Tuesday with Stuart Jones, the deputy US …

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EULEX Sentences Albanian for Murder

In the first war crimes trial to be held under the auspices of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, EULEX, judges found a Kosovo Albanian guilty of murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, sentencing him to17 years in jail. Gani Gashi, 59, from Komoran in central Kosovo …

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Ex-Romanian PM to Face Criminal Charges

Romania’s parliament on Wednesday decided to allow criminal proceedings against former prime minister Adrian Nastase on corruption charges. With 158 votes for and 128 against, MPs in the second chamber of parliament, the Camera Deputatilor, decided to strip Nastase of his parliamentary immunity from prosecution and probe two corruption cases. …

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Greece Overreacts to Incident, Macedonia

Greece’s warning against traveling to Macedonia is an over reaction to an isolated incident, Macedonia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, in a response to Athens’s decision to caution those traveling to their northern neighbour. The Greek Foreign Ministry on Tuesday issued what effectively amounted to a travel warning to its …

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