Eurasia

A watchdog group of NGOs on Wednesday warned that Albania’s institution have already missed the legal deadline to publish voting lists ahead of the June parliamentary elections.“The process of preparing and announcing preliminary electoral rolls, based residence and voting centres, has not respected the legal deadline,” the Coalition of Local …

Former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic collaborated with Bosnian Serb chiefs to maximise military advantage, a witness at his trial said.“The relationship between the Bosnian Serb leadership and the Croatian Serb leadership was quite consistently good,” historian Christian Nielsen testified at Hadzic’s trial at the Hague Tribunal on Thursday. He …

Witnesses said that a serviceman on trial for wartime abuses threatened to kill Bosniak villagers unless they gave him their money.Two separate witnesses said that Zeljko Jukic, a former Croatian Defence Council fighter, had demanded cash with menaces while forcing Bosniaks out of the village of Visnjani, near Prozor, in …

Brussels officials say they expect Slovenia to ratify Croatia’s EU accession agreement on time, so that it can become a member state on July 1, Croatian and Slovenian media report.”Barrosso expects Slovenia to meet the deadline and ratify Croatia’s accession agreement by July 1,” the Slovenian daily Delo’s Brussels correspondent …

The ex-servicemen accused Serbs of turning an Orthodox Christmas party in a wartime flashpoint village into a display of nationalism.The Croatian war veterans’ association from the town of Vukovar demanded a response from the authorities after a three-minute video of the celebration in the village of Borovo Selo was posted …

The UN mediator in the Greek-Macedonian ‘name’ dispute, Matthew Nimetz, has arrived in Skopje after previously visiting Athens.Nimetz is set to meet Macedonian officials and present fresh ideas for overcoming the long-standing impasse. On Wednesday, Nimetz met Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos in Athens. After …

Confusion over whether African island state has actually recognised Kosovo or not raises wider questions about the recognitions process.Kosovo’s 98th recognition is in question after media in the small African island state of Sao Tome and Principe reported that the President had denied the validity of Kosovo’s recognition by the …

Leaders of the Albanian community in southern Serbia say they doubt Serbia will act on threats to remove a memorial in Presevo to local guerrilla fighters.Skender Destani, leader of an ethnic Albanian party in southern Serbia, says he doubts the authorities will act on threats to forcibly remove a memorial …

Authorities are predicting the imminent arrest of Serbia’s most wanted criminal, Darko Saric, who has been on the run for three years.Serbian media are reporting that the Serbian police, together with US Drug Enforcement bodies, are undertaking intensive action on locating Darko Saric, a man seen as a major drug …

As the film star visits Montenegro negotiating a deal for a film, the Prime Minister has asked him to become a cultural ambassador for the country in the world.Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic suggested after meeting Depardieu on Tuesday that the actor might become a “cultural ambassador” for Montenegro. Djukanovic …