ANKARA, Turkey Turkish security forces have killed three members of the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in clashes in the southern province of Hatay, the army said on Saturday (July 18th), in a statement posted on its web site. The fighting broke out Friday in a mountainous area near …

BUCHAREST, Romania The Supreme Court decided on Friday (July 17th) to suspend the trial of former Transport Minister Miron Mitrea on corruption charges, local media reported. Mitrea is accused of having taken bribes when he was in the minister position worth almost 200,000 euros between 2000 and 2004, to appoint …

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Prime Minister Nikola Spiric decided on Friday (July 17th) to dismiss Security Minister Tarik Sadovic, the government announced. Earlier this week, Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA) asked for Sadovic’s replacement after he refused to step down. The party sought the minister’s removal due to …

ATHENS, Greece A small anarchist group, calling itself Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei, claimed responsibility on Friday (July 17th) for a bomb attack targeting former Deputy Interior Minister Panagiotis Hinofotis, media reported. A small homemade bomb exploded on July 11th outside Hinofotis’ home in the Athens district of Paleo Faliro. The …

There is no need to make urgent and hasty decisions although Macedonia will probably have to make one more budget cut by year’s end, the new finance minister said Sunday. “Our preliminary analyses indicate that there will be a need for a re-balance in the third quarter of 2009. However, …

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov will sue for libel a Russian rights group which has blamed him for the kidnap and murder of a prominent activist, Interfax news agency quoted Kadyrov’s lawyer as saying on Friday. Natalia Estemirova, who worked for the human rights group Memorial, was abducted in the Chechen …

MOSCOW Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed the issues of bilateral interaction with the President of Kazakhstan Nazarbayev and congratulated him with the victorious finish in the race of the Kazakh racing stallion. 

Next week, US Vice President Joe Biden will visit Ukraine and Georgia. According to US Vice President’s Counselor, Tony Blinken, Joe Biden will deliver statements focusing on relations between Ukraine and Georgia in Kiev and Tbilisi. US Vice President has scheduled meetings with Ukrainian and Georgian leaders, as well as …

The European Commission recommendation that Macedonian citizens be allowed to enter Schengen countries visa-free from January 1 2010 has caused a drop in demand for Bulgarian passports, Skopje-based Dnevnik said on July 17 2009. Macedonia is being given the concession along with two other Western Balkans states, Serbia and Montenegro.

TIRANA Nearly a week after parliamentary elections, Albania’s governing Democratic Party began to assemble a coalition government on Saturday, even as the opposition Socialists decried the move as premature.