TEHRAN (FNA)- The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon described Israeli attacks on UN building and schools during war in Gaza outrageous. “It is an outrageous and totally unacceptable attack on the United Nations,” Ban said about the destruction of UN-run buildings and schools in Gaza during Israel’s 22-day war …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Czech charge d’affaire in Tehran Jan Kouril, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, to criticize EU’s double-standard policy towards human rights violations in Gaza. The Ministry also criticized European Union’s fecklessness that has encouraged Israel to continue brutalities against Palestinian …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran shut its natural gas pipeline to Turkey on Tuesday for maintenance work following a technical hitch. Mahmoud Loqmani, a supervisor at one of the gas dispatching centers in Iran, said Turkey’s state gas company BOTAS was informed of the stop in gas flow. Turkish media outlets also …

Ahead of his inauguration as the 44th United States president, Barack Obama’s winning smile is plastered on billboards and posters all around Kosovo, the most pro-American nation in Europe due to US support for its secession from Serbia. Washington was among the first capitals to recognise Kosovo’s declaration of independence …

A group of Albanian NGOs sent an open letter to Prime Minister Sali Berisha on Monday to protest against the application of value-added tax, VAT, on non-profit organisations, calling it a serious threat to the existence of civil society in Albania. Though the Albanian non-profit sector is thriving with hundreds …

Montenegro and Italy have formed a joint economic association in a bid to boost trade and expand economic cooperation, AKI reported. Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said that the volume of Italian investments in Montenegro was “far below expectations”, given the vicinity of the two countries, and the “quality of …

A Croatian court in Rijeka on Monday ordered a month-long detention for the head of Bosnia’s special unit for the fight against organized crime, terrorism and corruption, who was arrested by Croatian police under suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder. Vjekoslav Vukovic, who was also an assistant minister in Bosnia’s …

Macedonia looks to the inauguration of Barack Obama with some trepidation about a possible shift in the United States’ position on the name dispute with Greece, while Athens appears quietly confident that the new US president will be more sympathetic to its stance. Athens and Skopje have been locked in …

“Barack Obama’s presidency will create a new chapter of values, not only for the United States, but for the rest of the world,” Albanian Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha said. Albanians are very pro-American and the US elections are often presented as a standard of democracy in the country, where after …

United States policy in the Balkans will not change with Barack Obama as US president, and Serbia cannot hope for any shift in Washington’s stance over Kosovo, a veteran Serbian diplomat said. Zivorad Kovacevic, a former Yugoslav ambassador to the US and current head of the European Movement NGO told …