Eurasia News

Opposition to Boycott Local Elections in Macedonia

Political crisis continues in Macedonia as Social Democrat-led opposition says it will boycott local elections in March.Opposition parties led by the Social Democratic Party, SDSM, said they will not take part in the March local elections on the grounds that the Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, plans to rig the polls. …

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Kosovo Slaps Visas on 87 Countries

Pristina says new regime will improve internal security and ease the path leading to eventual EU membership.Kosovo has established a visa regime for citizens of 87 countries, starting from July, which it says will have a positive impact on internal security and on the path toward EU accession. The system …

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Croatia Rejects Serbia ‘Genocide’ Indictments

Zagreb has sent back Serbian indictments for war crimes against three top Croatian military officials, saying they aren’t valid.The Serbian war crimes prosecutor’s office issued the indictments against former Croatian interior minister Ivan Vekic, his top adviser Tomislav Mercep, and Vladimir Seks, the head of the war crisis headquarters in …

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Spain to Hand Over Djindjic Assassin to Serbia

Spanish courts have approved the extradition to Serbia of Vladimir Milisavljevic, convicted in Serbia of involvement in the assassination of the late Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.Spanish authorities have approved the handover of Vladimir Milisavljevic, aka Vlada “Budala” (“Fool”), to Serbia, 11 months since his arrest. Courts in Serbia have …

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Albania Seizes Haul of Contraband Cigarettes

Customs in the port of Durres on Wednesday sequestered a container with contraband cigarettes coming from Singapore with an estimated value of €500,000.Media reports said customs agents became suspicious about the cargo after the company that had ordered the shipment failed to carry out customs procedures for several days. Inside …

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Serbia Threatens To Demolish Albanian Monument

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic says if local authorities in south Serbia don’t remove a memorial dedicated to ethnic Albanian fighters, the state will do so “by force”.Dacic ordered the authorities in the mainly Albanian towns of Bujanovac and Presevo in South Serbia to remove a monument dedicated to ethnic …

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Nikolic Visit to Banja Luka Upsets Sarajevo

Serbian President’s visit to the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska, has ruffled feathers in the Bosnian capital.President Tomislav Nikolic and Prime Minister Ivica Dacic met top officials of Republika Srpska, RS, in Banja Luka on December 26 and discussed the “special relations” between Serbia and the Serb-dominated entity. Nikolic and …

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Serbia to Adopt Kosovo Platform in New Year

As Kosovo Serbs lend support to Serbia’s ‘platform’ on Kosovo, the document is to go before parliament by January 7.After several hours of discussion, 150 representatives from the Serb-run north of Kosovo on Tuesday offered to support the Serbian government’s official platform for Kosovo. The platform demands a high level …

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Albanian Reds See Nothing Green in Tirana Plan

Opposition Socialists says the city’s first urban plan in more than two decades will destroy its few remaining green spaces.Tirana city council on Sunday, after a heated debate, approved the city’s first urban plan since 1989. The plan was adopted with the votes of centre-right Democratic Party, to which Mayor, …

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Albania’s Greeks Plead For Athenian Pensions

Ethnic Greek minority leaders in Albania have urged Greece not to scrap their pensions as part of the austerity drive imposed by the IMF and the EU.“We understand the difficulties that our fatherland is passing through and support the efforts of the Greek government and its people to strengthen the …

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