The Bulgarian government will allocate an additional 190 million euro to training and job creation in an attempt to offset the effects the economic slowdown is having on the labour market, Social Minister Emilia Maslarova said. The new funds, under the Human Resources Operational Programme will be aimed at improving …

Croatia’s government begun its planned salary cuts for public employees and on Wednesday said it would decrease the salaries of 420 state officials by ten per cent, adding that it plans a similar reduction for the salaries of some 2,500 judges and judiciary officials. The ”Jutarnji list” daily said the …

Kosovo’s International Civilian Representative has called on the country’s Serb population to begin to take part in the administrative structures at a municipal level, and seize opportunities that decentralisation offer them. “It is the time for the Serbs to make use of the possibilities decentralisation offers to them,” said Pieter …

Three citizens, who said they were Afghans, caught by Kosovo’s police on the Macedonian border near Kacanik, have asked for political asylum. Kosovo’s police did not want to comment or speculate on the reasons that prompted the citizens to seek asylum, saying that “their confidentiality is guaranteed by Geneva’s Convention”, …

KABUL – President Hamid Karzai warned the international community Wednesday against meddling in Afghanistan’s politics as it prepares for a presidential election later this year, saying the country is not “a puppet state.” Karzai faces an election in August, at a time when the country is embroiled in a vicious …

`When we collect enough evidence about concrete people, we will raise charges,` said Sofia City Prosecutor Nikolai Kokinov. Bulgaria’s national security agency and prosecutors raided the Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday and seized documents in an investigation into large-scale illegal land deals. The raid was part of Bulgaria’s drive to assure …

Dmitry Medvedev, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin and separatist leader Igor Smirnov signed a joint declaration after talks. Russia’s peacekeeping force in Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region may be replaced by an international mission after a political solution to the crisis is found, Russia’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. It said Russian …

Turkey has some 12-14 million Kurds out of a total population of 70 million, but public use of the Kurdish language is still banned. Islam’s holy book the Koran is to be translated into Kurdish as part of Turkey’s efforts to boost the rights of Kurds and to meet European …

A tiny sliver of land on the Dniester river, Transdniestria declared its independence from Moldova in September 1990. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was on Wednesday brokering peace talks between the Moldovan president and the leader of the ex-Soviet state’s separatist Transdniestria region. For a story on the talks, click on. …

Smirnov and Voronin met in Moldova last year for the first time in seven years. Moldova, its breakaway Transdniestria region and Russia agreed after talks on Wednesday that an international mission may replace Moscow’s peacekeepers in the conflict zone once a peace deal is concluded. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev invited …