Eurasia

Albania’s government has ratified an agreement which unifies consular services and practices with Kosovo and halves costs for both countries. “Albanians should feel the same in Tirana and Pristina,” Prime Minister Sali Berisha during a cabinet meeting yesterday. He added that similar practices should be followed in other areas like …

Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc has vowed to closely monitor the European Council summit on Sunday 23 October, adding that he expects a vote to be held on Bulgaria and Romania’s Schengen bids. On Thursday Boc acknowledged that both countries were facing certain political obstacles to their Schengen entry but …

The Turkish military launches a massive campaign to hunt down militants from the outlawed PKK responsible for the deaths of 24 soldiers as the country mourns and protests erupt in dozens of cities. Thousands of elite Turkish troops went on the offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in …

The Hague Tribunal prosecution on Thursday submitted for the judges’ confirmation the third amended indictment against Ratko Mladić. The former military leader of Serbs in Bosnia is facing the added count for the execution by a firing squad of around 30 Muslims in the Šekovici municipality

Russia and Georgia failed again to reach an agreement on Russia’s accession to the WTO at the next round of talks on Oct. 20, head of the Georgian delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergi Kapanadze told Georgian journalists.

Moldova has set November 18 as the date for a presidential election in a fresh bid to end a leadership crisis which has paralyzed reform in one of Europe’s poorest countries for more than two years.

Eight international peacekeepers were injured on Thursday during an operation to remove barricades set up by Serbs in northern Kosovo, the NATO-led Kosovo peacekeeping force (KFOR) said. “Eight KFOR soldiers were injured so far in the operation,” KFOR’s press office said in a statement. “They were injured by tear gas, …

KFOR started removing ethnic Serbs’ barricades in North Kosovo on Thursday morning. At 5:45 a.m. local time NATO headed to the barricades with armored carriers and started removing them. The peacekeeping troops called on Serbs to withdraw, saying they would use force. The Serbs refused to leave the site and …

Romania’s government has approved a draft law allowing the stationing of elements of the US and NATO missile defense system in Europe at a Romanian air base. The legislation in question permits the building of an anti-ballistic interceptor site at the Deveselu Air Base located in Southwestern Romania, less than …

He also called on northern Kosovo Serb leaders to make decisions that are in citizens’ best interest. “I demand from KFOR and EULEX to restrain themselves from the use of force and from local leaders to make decisions that are exclusively in the vital interest of our people in Kosovo …