Balkans

The five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya in a controversial HIV infection case must be freed and allowed to return home as quickly as possible, US President George W. Bush said on Monday (June 11th) in Sofia, the final stop on his eight-day European tour.

US President George W. Bush’s visit to Albania was an “historic day, the culminating event for relations between Albania and the United States”, according to Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha.

SOFIA (Reuters) — President George W. Bush said on Monday it was a high priority for the United States to win the release of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya for infecting children with HIV.

RUDNICA, Serbia — The Belgrade war crimes court’s investigative judge, Milan Dilparic, announced Friday (June 8th) that no evidence of a mass grave was found during a three-day search at a quarry on the border between Serbia and Kosovo.

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik and Bishop Vasilije Kacavenda have agreed to remove a church that was built in the yard of a Muslim woman who lost 22 relatives in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

NEW YORK, United States — UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe acknowledged on Friday (June 8th) that the world organisation has received legal papers in connection with a suit filed by relatives and victims of the Srebrenica massacre.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) — High Representative Christian Schwarz-Schilling has begun consultations with the leaders of the BiH political parties on the issue of constitutional reform.

BUCHAREST, Romania — Bucharest on Friday (June 8th) rejected a new report by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s rapporteur, Dick Marty, that suggests Romania hosted secret CIA detention centres from 2003 to 2005.

ST PETERSBURG, Russian Federation –Russia’s position on Kosovo is well-known and has not changed, Russian leader Vladimir Putin told Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica in St Petersburg on Saturday (June 9th).

President Bush visits Albania, backs Kosovo independence TIRANA, Albania — US President George W. Bush arrived in Tirana Sunday (June 10th) to an enthusiastic welcome, with thousands turning out in the capital’s main square to greet him.