Albania’s leftist opposition boycotted parliament on Thursday accusing the government of stalling the distribution of new identification cards, a key requirement ahead of the June 28 general elections. Socialist Members of Parliament are threatening not to return to the assembly chamber if the government does not resolve the problem where …

Some 25 percent of Bulgaria’s citizens say they are ready to sell their vote ahead of parliamentary elections due in early July, a report by Open Society shows. The good news is that only 5 percent of them would cast their ballot for the bribing party, said Open Society Executive …

The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Kosovo has released a statement encouraging foreign investment in Kosovo, following the launch of a website by a private Norwegian company arguing against investment. “Don’t Invest in Kosovo” is the name of a web domain recently created by a Norwegian company in a campaign to …

While recession wreaked havoc in the world economy, Albania registered an eight percent growth in its Gross Domestic Product last year, according to the National Statistics Institute. However, few economists take seriously the data published by INSTAT, while others have even hinted that it might have been manipulated due to …

The Serbian government is expected to adopt a rebalancing of the 2009 budget at Thursday’s session. Even though it was stated on Wednesday that the budget proposal was adopted by the government’s chief councils, according to Belgrade’s B92 network, the Finance Ministry was working into the late hours of the …

Bosnia’s top western envoy has urged Bosnia’s Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim)-Croat dominated Federation to curb public spending in a bid to get urgent financial support from the International Monetary Fund, IMF. “The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina must bring its expenditures under control to ensure financial stability and meet IMF requirements. …

The government of Macedonia proposed an ambitious plan to invest 8 billion euros in the country’s infrastructure through 2016. Fresh off a commanding victory in the April 5th presidential and local runoff, the ruling VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition in Macedonia now has a chance to make good on its plan to invest …

Belgrade hopes that the International Court of Justice will rule that Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence violated international law, while officials in Pristina expect the court to rule in their favour. Serbia has finalised its argument against Kosovo’s independence and will forward it to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) …

Kabul – The United Nations office in Afghanistan Monday condemned the assassination of a woman provincial legislator in southern Afghanistan by Taliban militants. Sitara Achikzai, who was aged in her 50s, was shot dead Sunday afternoon by Taliban fighters riding on motorbikes outside her home in Kandahar city, the capital …

HERAT, Afghanistan – Taliban militants publicly executed a man and girl on Monday for eloping when she was already engaged to marry someone else, an official said, in a sign of the grip the Islamists have over parts of Afghanistan. Hashim Noorzai, head of Khash Rud district in southwestern Nimruz …