Yearly Archives: 2009

US House speaker assures Afghanistan of support

KABUL (AFP) – US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assured President Hamid Karzai Saturday that Washington would accelerate Afghanistan’s reconstruction as part of a new “war on terror” strategy, his office said. Pelosi visited the country at the head of an eight-member Congressional delegation as the United States was reviewing its …

Read More »

US: 13 civilians killed in Afghan operation

KABUL – U.S. military airstrikes in western Afghanistan killed 13 Afghan civilians and only three militants, the U.S. said Saturday, three days after an American general traveled to the site to investigate. Civilian casualties have been a huge source of friction between the U.S. and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who …

Read More »

Three foreign troops killed in Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP) – Three soldiers in the US-led coalition helping to fight a Taliban-led insurgency in southern Afghanistan have died after their patrol was hit by a bomb, according to the US military. The three were killed on Friday in the southern province of Uruzgan, it said in a statement. …

Read More »

Obama administration keeps Bush view on Afghanistan detainees

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Obama administration told a federal court late Friday it will maintain the Bush administration’s position that battlefield detainees held without charges by the United States in Afghanistan are not entitled to constitutional rights to challenge their detention Having considered the matter, the government adheres to its …

Read More »

Bosnian Imam claims child molestation innocence

The convicted Bosnian Muslim Imam that was sentenced to 18 months in jail for sexually molesting an underage girl told the gathering audience in the Bosnian village where he served and committed the crime that he is innocent and his claims were supported by a chorus of little Muslim girls …

Read More »

Turkish, Croatian PMs meet to boost ties

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his visiting Croatian counterpart Ivo Sanader to discuss ways to promote bilateral ties as well as international and regional issues of mutual interest. Erdogan said Croatia is a country to which Turkey attaches great importance for peace, stability and welfare in the …

Read More »

Slovene president wraps up visit to Macedonia

Skopje, 18 February – President Danilo Tuerk wrapped up on Wednesday his two-day official visit to Macedonia, where he met the country’s highest officials and took part in a business forum dedicated to economic cooperation between the countries. Later in the day the president departed for an official visit to …

Read More »

Romanian Foreign Minister to meet Italian counterpart on Monday

Bucharest. Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Cristian Diaconescu will meet on Monday his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini to talk about bilateral relations, the Romanian Mediafax informed. The talks would focus on the business environment and the situation of the Romanians in Italy, ministry’s spokesperson Alin Serbanescu told Mediafax. Diaconescu will have …

Read More »

Albania PM Accuses World Bank of Corruption

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha renewed his attacks on a World Bank inspection panel on Wednesday, after its Board of Executive Directors acknowledged that a project meant to safeguard Albania’s coastal zones was used to selectively demolish parts of a village in southern Albania and leave many families homeless. Berisha …

Read More »

Athens, Skopje Media War “Goes Mental”

The case of a Macedonian mental patient who says he is a Serb ‘working for Slav-Hellenic friendship’ has sparked a propaganda war between Macedonia and Greece, reaching even diplomats and European Union officials in Brussels. Vasko Gligorov was put in a mental hospital by his family last month for observation …

Read More »