Balkans

MACEDONIA Zoran Kostovski and Fuad Hasanovic are the new government propositions for Ambassadors in Hungary, actually Qatar, Makfax news agency reported. Kostovski, who is the General Director of the Consulting House “Motiva” and Hasanovic, who is former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, have been proposed on yesterday’s government session.

BULGARIA The cooperation between the U.S. and Bulgaria in revealing drugs trafficking have been producing good results recently, John Ordway, interim chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria, said at a roundtable discussion. The U.S. helps Bulgaria in security sector in two ways: tactical assistance (trainings and preparation of …

GREECE The wildfires that ripped through the suburbs of Athens forcing residents to flee their homes are now under control. Thousands of hectares of virgin fir and prime forest have been destroyed and hundreds of houses burnt to the ground. The fire broke out last Friday in the village of …

KOSOVO Demonstrators from the Vetevendosje self-determination movement have been arrested after overturning 25 EU rule of law mission, EULEX, cars in central Pristina, Kosovo. Some 21 protestors were taken into custody by Kosovo police after the incident, which occured behind the Palace of Youth at 11am on Tuesday. Spokesperson Karin …

SERBIA IMF representatives believe that increasing VAT is the only adequate measure the Serbian government can take to address its budget deficit, but are willing to accept other propositions, daily Blic reports. The IMF officials argue that public sector cuts proposed by the Serbian government, while laudable, are only a …

BULGARIA Bulgaria’s Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov has named a new director for the Kozloduy nuclear facility after yesterday’s controversial resignation of the previous plant director, The Sofia Echo reports. Traikov appointed Dimitar Angelov as the new executive director of Bulgaria’s only nuclear power station on Tuesday. Angelov replaces …

SERBIA A group of young men threw two Molotov cocktails at the Greek embassy in Belgrade late Monday night, Tanjug news agency reports. No one was hurt in the incident. A window was broken and the fire-bombs caused minor damage to the facade, but otherwise the building was unscathed. A …

KOSOVO New US Ambassador Christopher Dell presented his credentials to Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu on Monday, reiterating his country’s strong support for Kosovo’s independence. This is the second time Ambassador Dell has led the US diplomatic mission in Kosovo. He was chief of mission in Pristina from 2000 to 2001. …

SERBIA Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic has expressed hope that the remaining war crimes fugitives, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, will be arrested by the end of the year, daily Vecernje Novosti reported Tuesday. “The action team, and the state’s top officials work hard every day on realisation of …

KOSOVO Several people have been injured after around 100 Serbs and 20 Albanians threw stones at each other in the troubled Kroi i Vitakut//Brdjani neighbourhood of Mitrovica, northern Kosovo. Serbs were protesting on Tuesday against the resumption of reconstruction work on homes in Mitrovica, which has long been a flashpoint. …