Eurasia Press & News
Kosovo’s public servants and pensioners will get a pay rise next month, with civil servants receiving a 10 percent increase, while pensioners, people on social assistance and war veterans and their families will get a 12 percent increase. Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said the hike is in accordance with …
Read More »Serbia’s Jeremic To Push Dutch On EU Ties
Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic will meet Dutch officials in Brussels on Monday in a bid to “unblock Serbia’s European path”, with the goal of starting EU membership talks in early 2010. The Netherlands refuse to allow an interim trade deal – part of the suspended Stabilisation and Association Agreement …
Read More »Presevo Albanians Seek Ex-Guerrilla Release
Albanian officials from the Presevo region in southern Serbia have sent a letter of protest to Belgrade demanding the immediate release of a group of ethnic Albanians accused of war crimes against Serbs, as well as the pullout of Serbian special security forces from the area. The 10 men were …
Read More »Blasts Cause Damage In Kosovo’s Mitrovica
Two explosions caused material damage in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica in north Kosovo on Saturday night, police said. Mitrovica — divided between Serbs in the north and Albanians in the south — has been the scene of protests, occasional clashes and bomb attacks since Kosovo’s Albanian majority declared …
Read More »Albania Election “A Test for EU Bid”
The EU delegation head in Tirana, Helmut Lohan, said that the upcoming June 28 general election will be considered by Brussels as a litmus test for Albania’s bid to join the union. Albania has yet to hold elections that meet international standards, with all six general elections since the collapse …
Read More »Albania Adressing Police Brutality, More Needed
A report released on Wednesday by the Council of Europe lauds Albania’s improvements of pre-trial detention conditions and detainee treatment, but says the government still needs to redouble its efforts. “Improvements in various areas, in particular, in contrast to the findings made during previous visits, nevertheless, a number of credible …
Read More »Watchdog Worried About Kosovo Press Freedom
A Vienna-based media watchdog said it was “deeply concerned” about the current media environment in Kosovo, and cited a string of recent brutal attacks on journalists. The South East Europe Media Organization, SEEMO, said it had been monitoring attacks on journalists, which brought into question press freedom in the newly-independent …
Read More »Macedonia Welcomes Obama, Thanks Bush
Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski sent his congratulations to newly-inaugurated United States President Barack Obama, and thanked outgoing president George W. Bush for his support. In a letter to Obama, Gruevski stressed the importance Skopje places to its strategic partnership with Washington. He said he hopes the US would continue …
Read More »Obama Knows Albania, Balkans Well – Envoy
President Barack Obama is well informed about Albania and the region, the US ambassador in Tirana, John L Withers, said in an interview aired on Tuesday. Withers told TV Klan that he had a chance to talk to the than Senator of Illinois, at the time of his confirmation hearing …
Read More »Bosnia Hopes Obama Renews US Balkan Role
Bosnians tuned in en masse to the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, with politicians and analysts saying they hoped for renewed US engagement in the Balkans after eight years of Washington paying very little attention. Like in many other countries which are dependent …
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