Croatia’s economy posted a surprising mild rise in the last quarter, data showed on Friday, but analysts said there was no doubt it was poised for a serious downturn this year. Analysts had expected a first contraction since 1999 but the state statistics office reported a year-on-year quarterly rise of …

A new web portal gives entrepreneurs easy access to information on doing business in other European Union member states. The new portal, Your Europa – Business, helps small and medium-size businesses to take advantage of opportunities for trade and to offer their services on the single European market.

Macedonia’s National Bank, NBM has raised its benchmark interest rate by two percent in order to preserve the stability of the local currency, the Denar. The NBM’s head Petar Gosev announced this at a press conference in Skopje on Thursday. He informed that at the next auction, the NBM’s bonds …

Kabul – Eight members of the Afghan security forces and 15 Taliban militants including two rebel commanders were killed in separate clashes and a roadside bomb explosion in Afghanistan, officials said Sunday. Taliban militants ambushed a police vehicle in Pashtun Zarghoon district of western Herat province on Sunday morning, killing …

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday praised U.S. President Barack Obama’s new plan for the war in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai says Obama’s plan has Afghanistan’s full support. “He has our full support,” Karzai told a news conference. “This was better than what we expected.” Obama unveiled …

WASHINGTON – U.S. intelligence suggests that violence in Afghanistan will rise through 2009 despite the Obama administration’s new strategy for combatting the Taliban and shoring up the Afghan government, a top intelligence official said Friday. Violence in Afghanistan has steadily risen for the past three years as the ousted Taliban …

WASHINGTON – More troops, new legislation, improved troop training and added civilian expertise highlight President Obama’s strategy to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Obama on Friday announced his plan to tackle what he called an “international security challenge of the highest order.” Stressing soberly that “the safety of people …

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 27 – Taliban leaders in Pakistan have united with their Afghan comrades to launch a new offensive in Afghanistan, Taliban fighters say. Word of the move comes as the United States prepares to send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan this year, The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reported …

WASHINGTON — Shifting U.S. objectives in Afghanistan away from the Bush administration’s promise to build a Western-style democracy, President Barack Obama will announce on Friday that he’s deploying thousands of additional American troops and civilians to achieve more modest goals, such as enhancing security and promoting economic development, U.S. officials …

KABUL – International and Afghan troops killed 11 militants when a raid in Afghanistan’s volatile south turned into a gunbattle with Taliban fighters, U.S. forces said Friday. Fighting broke out during the Thursday night raid targeting a key Taliban insurgent in a village in Helmand province, the military said in …