Eurasia

CHISINAU – Moldova has ordered the Romanian ambassador to leave the country within 24 hours, the Moldovan foreign ministry said on Wednesday after officials blamed Bucharest for bloody riots a day earlier.

Moldova sank deeper into political crisis on Wednesday when its government accused Romania of organising an “attempted coup” and ordered its ambassador out of the country. Mobs ransacked Moldova’s parliament and its presidential office on Tuesday after the Communist party won a general election. President Vladimir Voronin, a Communist, said …

Sweden’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that Bosnia would not be able to apply for European Union membership as long as it was supervised by an international peace envoy. Carl Bildt said the country was not ready to apply during his country’s EU presidency in the second half of this …

Moldovan authorities and opposition leaders agreed on Tuesday to a recount of votes cast in Sunday’s parliamentary election, Russian news agencies reported, after demonstrators seized the president’s offices. Some 10,000 demonstrators massed for a second day in the capital of Europe’s poorest country to denounce the victory by the Communist …

Russia threatened to fine Ukraine on Tuesday for failing to buy enough gas in the first quarter, increasing pressure on its neighbour at a time when the World Bank said Kiev’s economy was contracting fast. Alexei Miller, chief executive of Russia’s state-run gas giant Gazprom, told Reuters the corporation was …

Jailed Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Tuesday challenged President Dmitry Medvedev from the dock of a Moscow court to stand by his promise to keep the judiciary independent of the Kremlin. The former boss of oil group YUKOS, on trial on new charges that could keep him in jail for …

ANKARA, Turkey – Incoming NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark said on Monday (April 6th) he will maintain close co-operation with Turkey during his term of office.

TIRANA, Albania – A four-year-old Albanian boy is among the victims of the earthquake that rocked central Italy early on Monday (April 6th), according to the Albanian Embassy in Rome. Four Macedonian nationals of Albanian ethnicity are also among the victims.

SKOPJE, Macedonia – Sunday’s second round of presidential and local elections went in accordance with “most international standards”, the OSCE said in a statement Monday (April 6th). We were pleased to see a peaceful environment and a well-administered Election Day, although some aspects of the campaign period seriously detracted from …

ATHENS, Greece – Parliament voted early on Tuesday (April 7th) to form a special committee to investigate former Aegean Minister Aristotelis Pavlidis for bribery, a move that may threaten the ruling New Democracy (ND) party’s one-seat majority.