The Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Jacques Barrot criticized Bulgaria’s judiciary during an official visit to Sofia on Tuesday, local media reported. Barrot, accompanied by Bulgaria’s European Commissioner for Consumer Protection, Meglena Kuneva, told reporters “your judiciary system is producing very few …

Croatia has slammed a map published by Slovenia’s Environmental Protection Agency that shows the contested Piran Bay area claimed by both countries as belonging to Slovenia. The Croatian Foreign Affairs and the European Integration Ministry said that the map published on the website of the agency, a part of the …

Unknown persons broke into the office of Vesna Bosotova, a judge in charge of a high profile war crime case dating from Macedonia’s armed conflict in 2001, local media reported late on Monday citing police sources. Bosotova leads one of the four cases of alleged war crimes that was returned …

War crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic said NATO forces conducted a “Gestapo-like attack against his home and family” in December last year as part of the search for the two remaining fugitives, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic. Karadzic, indicted on two counts of genocide for his role in the 1992-95 Bosnia …

The first hearing in the case of Macedonia versus Greece is due to start on Monday at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The hearing will cover procedural issues that should determine the future course of the case that is expected to last no less than three years. …

KABUL (Reuters) – U.S. General David Petraeus met Afghan President Hamid Karzai overnight, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, after the regional military chief said deals had been made on new transport routes into Afghanistan from Central Asia. The U.S. military has had to look at new ways to help supply …

(Reuters) – Agreements have been reached for new transport routes for Western Forces into northern Afghanistan through Central Asian states and Russia, the Chief of the U.S. Central Command said on Tuesday General David Petraeus said those routes could supplement the shipment of supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan through …

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel said it completed a troop pullout from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday, starting its relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama by quitting Palestinian land devastated by its 22-day offensive. “As of this morning, the last of the Israel Defense Forces soldiers have left the Gaza …

KIEV (Reuters) – An abrupt rise in Russian gas prices will undermine Ukraine’s economic and energy security and leave some enterprises on the brink of insolvency, officials and analysts said Tuesday. Its economy already in a tailspin due to the global financial crisis, Ukraine will now pay $360 per 1,000 …

(Reuters) – Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom and Ukrainian energy firm Naftogaz have signed 10-year gas supply and transit deals, ending a contract row which left part of Europe without the supplies in midwinter. The contracts, signed in the presence of the prime ministers of both countries on Monday, allowed …