Eurasia

Zbogar has announced that Slovenia would respond to Rehn`s proposal in time, but there are still no details. Slovenia has responded to the latest proposal of European Union expansion commissioner Olli Rehn on Monday, Slovene STA agency reports Tuesday, stating that the Slovene Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed the …

Khodorkovsky appeared in court on Tuesday for the first day of a new trial that could keep him in prison for a further 22 years. Lawyers for jailed Russian oil oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky said on Tuesday they would call Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as a witness to fight embezzlement charges …

Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn also said Croatia could still wrap up entry talks with the EU this year. The European Union may decide this year on offering visa-free travel to citizens of some Western Balkan countries and on opening membership talks with Macedonia, the EU’s enlargement chief said on Tuesday. …

Medvedev said neither Russia nor the United States can tolerate `drift and indifference` in their relationship. Russia and the United States should rebuild their relations and work together on key global issues, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an article on Tuesday in the Washington Post. Medvedev said neither Russia …

ATHENS, Greece – Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis has rejected an initiative by Macedonian counterpart Antonio Milososki aimed at improving strained relations between the two neighbours, media reported on Monday (March 30th). In a letter to Bakoyannis on March 13th, Milososki suggested that the two countries should overcome their differences by …

MADRID, Spain – A Spanish court has released on bail Remzi Kartal, a former lawmaker from Turkey’s disbanded Democracy Party and suspected former commander of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Turkish media reported on Monday (March 30th).

LONDON, the United Kingdom – The international human rights watchdog Amnesty International accused Greek police of using excessive force and violating the rights of demonstrators in a report released on Monday (March 30th).

The European Commission as rejected a request by Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev to send European officials and diplomats to help the country’s state administration in its handling of EU funds. In a letter, obtained by the Dnevnik newspaper, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told Stanishev that the new …

Bulgaria’s Criminal Assets Forfeiture Commission on Tuesday imposed a ban on funds and property worth 828,000 leva (423,500 euro) owned by Alexander Tomov, a former deputy prime minister and now president of CSKA Sofia football club and executive director of Kremikovtzi steel plant. Tomov is under investigation for embezzlement while …

As the World Bank issues its latest report which forecasts the first global recession since World War II, the chill winds of economic slowdown are increasingly being felt in the Balkans. The current unprecedented economic downturn has forced the World Bank to adjust its estimates and warn that the recession …