NICOSIA, Cyprus Leaders of the two communities on the divided island have made significant progress in reunification talks but no pressure should be exerted to strike an agreement, UN special envoy for Cyprus Alexander Downer told AP on Wednesday (August 5th). “We haven’t set a timeline,” Downer said.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic says he was kidnapped by Serb authorities and held without any communication for several days after he was detained in July 2008, according to a document released Wednesday (August 5th) by the UN war crimes tribunal. Karadzic, 64, insists on receiving …

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) High Representative Valentin Inzko is warning BiH officials that he will consider alternative measures to guarantee the inventory of state property unless the working group responsible for this does its job and collects the necessary documents. Inzko said in a letter published Wednesday (August 5th) …

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina Forensic experts announced Wednesday (August 5th) that they have identified the remains of Colonel Avdo Palic, former commander of Bosniak forces in the Zepa “safe” area. Palic went missing in July 1995, at the end of the Bosnian conflict, after Bosnian Serb forces over-ran the enclave.

ATHENS, Greece An earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale rocked southern Greece early Thursday (August 6th). The epicentre was about 50km north of Kalamata on the Peloponnese island and about 165km southeast of Athens. No injuries or damage was reported.

It took the International Commission for Missing Persons, ICMP, eight years to identify the remains of Avdo Palic, a Bosnian Army colonel from Zepa. Interviews which BIRN’s-Justice Report held with Palic’s wife Esma, ICMP and other officials, shed more light on the controversy.

Talks expected to boost Ankara’s energy hub ambitions began on Thursday as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. The talks are expected to focus on Turkish support for a major Russian natural gas pipeline project that Moscow wants to build ahead of a rival …

Romanian president Traian Basescu told his country during a television address in the evening of August 5 that between 10 000 and 15 000 public servants will lose their jobs. In the address, he stressed that as much as 20 per cent of the public sector will be trimmed in …

Skopje/Sofia – A diplomatic row over a prison sentence Macedonia handed to a Bulgarian national could signal growing ethnic tensions and further burden Skopje’s already stalled bid to join the EU and NATO, media said Thursday in both countries. Macedonia recently sentenced 23-year-old mother-of-two Spaska Mitrova to three months in …

During a visit to two villages in the Leposavich municipality on August 5, Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu called on Serbs to participate in local elections, Bulgarian news agency quoted Tanyug agency as saying. Serb participation would contribute to a better future for the republic, Sejdiu was quoted as saying.