Opposition Social Democrats threaten to intensify road blockades after Friday, if the government has not by then accepted their terms for taking part in the next elections.If the government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski does not show real interest in dialogue by Friday, the opposition says its supporters will increase …
Read More »Swarovski to Build Factory in Serbia
The Austrian company is to start construction of a factory in the town of Subotica in northern Serbia in June.The construction of the new Swarovski factory will start in June and should be complete by late 2014, Mladjan Dinkic, Serbia’s finance minister, said on January 16, after meeting Swarovski managers …
Read More »EU backs France in Mali action, says french foreign minister
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said that France is backed by all European Union states for its Mali intervention. EU ministers met in Brussels earlier on Thursday and agreed to help Mali by preparing government troops to fight Islamist rebels. “All the European countries brought their solidarity to Mali, and all my colleagues …
Read More »French jets strike Mali’s most important cities
Fighting erupted between rebels and Malian soldiers in the city whose capture by militants first prompted French military intervention, while French forces kept up their bombardments of another key town, fleeing residents said on Thursday. Mali soldiers claimed to
Read More »35 hostages and 15 kidnappers killed in Algeria
Thirty-five hostages and 15 kidnappers have been killed in southern Algeria. 41 hostages (from United States, Japan, Norway, France, Romania) and Algerians were taken hostage by armed militants near the Amenas gas field. The kidnappers motivated their action as a response for Algeria
Read More »Pakistani government to have dialogue with cleric that leads protests
Tahir ul Qadri (the leader of the anti-government protesters) gave the President of Pakistan a deadline for negotiations on Thursday, but the president hasn’t responded to his demand. However, the government recognized the protests and decided to send a delegation on Thursday to hold a dialogue with Qadri. Four ministers, …
Read More »France pledges to stop jihadist expansion in Mali
France vowed to stop jihadists of Ansar Dine and their supporters in Mali, but highlighted it will not be an easy task even with the logistical support of United States and several African states. The military operation seeks to push Islamist groups out of the most important cities and
Read More »Serbia, Albanians in Showdown over Guerrilla Monument
Belgrade warned it could deploy police to help remove the memorial to ethnic Albanian fighters in south Serbia but local authorities vowed to legally resist.Serbia’s justice ministry said on Wednesday that the deadline to take down the controversial monument in the town of Presevo had already passed at midnight the …
Read More »Freedom House Ranks Balkans ‘Partly Free’ and ‘Free’
Annual report on the state of global freedom by Freedom House, shows Balkan countries remain divided into ‘partly free’ and ‘free’, with only Bosnia moving up the table a notch.The US watchdog Freedom House has ranked Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Macedonia “partly free” countries, while Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, …
Read More »Kosovo Arrests Serbian Grave Desecration Suspect
Police have detained a man suspected of destroying Serbian Orthodox graves in Kosovo Polje but insisted that he wasn’t motivated by ethnic hatred.A police statement said that a 48-year-old man, named as M. Buzuku, an ethnic Ashkali, was arrested on Tuesday afternoon for allegedly vandalising more than 50 gravestones. Police …
Read More »