A second day of protests by Bulgarian university students, environmental activists, farmers and pensioners ended peacefully outside the parliament building on Thursday, a day after demonstrators clashed with police and 158 people were detained. The January 15 protest, advertised by organisers as an outlet to express discontent at the way …

Panama has officially recognized Kosovo as an independent state, Kosovo’s ministry of foreign affairs said on Friday. This makes Panama the 54th country to recognize Kosovo, whose Albanian majority seceded from Serbia on February 17 last year. The United States and most European Union countries have already recognised it. Panama’s …

Greece’s ratification of Albania’s Stabilization and Association Agreement, SAA, with the European Union on Wednesday was the final step in the formal approval process of the key document by all EU member states, paving the way for Tirana’s application for EU candidate status. Prime Minister Sali Berisha said last week …

BERLIN (Reuters) – The European Union piled pressure on Russia and Ukraine on Friday to resolve a dispute cutting gas supplies to Europe in mid-winter and Germany said Russia must honor energy contracts. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who began a visit to Germany on Friday, is to meet Ukrainian …

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – A warehouse in a U.N. compound in Gaza that came under Israeli fire on Thursday was apparently hit by white-phosphorus shells, U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes said. It was the first public allegation by a senior U.N. official echoing an accusation by Human Rights Watch …

MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) – The Russian and Ukrainian prime ministers plan to meet in Moscow on Saturday to try to resolve a gas row that has cut supplies to a freezing Europe. A minister of the Czech Republic — current holders of the rotating presidency of the European Union — said …

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain urged its European NATO partners on Thursday to step up their military contribution in Afghanistan, saying it was wrong to expect the United States to do the lion’s share of the fighting. In Britain’s strongest criticism yet of the effort its European allies are putting into …

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Russia is providing Ukraine with gas in a way that makes its successful delivery to Europe difficult, a source familiar with the work of European Union monitors said on Thursday. Europe is still not receiving gas from Russia, its main supplier, despite Moscow having provided some at …

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An Egyptian proposal to end the war in Gaza centers on a phased-in ceasefire, starting with a lull to let in aid, followed by the pullout of Israeli forces and the reopening of border crossings, diplomats said. But Western and U.N. diplomats close to the negotiations said …

RIYADH (Reuters) – Gulf Arab leaders gathered in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Thursday for an emergency meeting on Israel’s offensive in Gaza that could help scupper an Arab summit proposed by regional maverick Qatar. King Abdullah called the meeting, pre-empting a bid by Qatar to stage an Arab summit …