Eurasia

TIRASPOL: As voters in the ex-Soviet republic of Moldova go to the polls today, half a million residents of an impoverished rebel province in the east of the country won’t take part. For the people of Transdniestr, which broke from Moldova after the collapse of the Soviet Union, all roads …

Chisinau – Active campaigning came to a halt in Moldova on Saturday, as the former Soviet republic prepared to elect a new parliament. The streets of the capital Chisinau were free of electioneering Saturday morning, as a nationwide last-day ban on election advertising went into effect. The poll-leading Communists ended …

Slovaks are voting Saturday in a presidential run-off election between the popular incumbent and a strong opposition challenger. President Ivan Gasparovic won nearly 47 percent of vote in the first round of elections last month. He now faces the top opposition candidate, sociologist and former social affairs minister Iveta Radicova, …

Slovenia will not change its view ad maintains that the outstanding border dispute has to be solved in order for Croatia`s European Union accession talks to be deblocked, said Slovene Prime Minister Borut Pahor on Thursday, commenting the situation as the meeting of Croatian Foreign Affairs Minister Gordan Jandrokovic, his …

Croatian President Stjepan Mesic told the Austrian Ö1 Radio that Croatia has offered an agreement on accessing the open sea to Slovenia, which Ljubljana has been demanding from the start, Slovene Dnevnik reports. Mesic explained that he meant the option of Slovene ships passing through Croatian territorial waters to the …

Supplies of Russian natural gas to southeastern Europe are under control following a pipeline explosion this week, European Union gas experts said on Thursday. The blast on a 30-year-old pipeline in a separatist region of ex-Soviet Moldova caused a drop in deliveries on Wednesday. “After hearing reports of the countries …

`I am pleased to announce that from February 1, payment for gas has been proceeding in timely fashion,` Tymoshenko said to the press. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko pledged on Thursday that Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz would make timely, full payment for gas shipments in March by Russian giant Gazprom. …

ANKARA, Turkey – Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Wednesday (April 1st) that he is mulling changes in the government after his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) suffered its worst election result in seven years. The AKP won 39% of the votes in Sunday’s local elections, falling well …

ATHENS, Greece – Greece is being paralysed by a 24-hour national strike Thursday (April 2nd) organised by the two largest trade unions in the country — the General Confederation of Workers of Greece and the Civil Servants Supreme Administrative Council.

ANKARA, Turkey – President Abdullah Gul hosted the third trilateral meeting among counterparts from Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday (April 1st). Gul, Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai and Pakistan’s Asif Ali Zardari discussed ways to strengthen relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, joint economic projects, and the fight against terrorism in the context …