Eurasia

The Bulgarian head of state, President Georgi Purvanov, will travel to Turkey, on April 7 where he will participate in the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations – a forum designed to promote intercultural understanding – reports the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency, the BTA. “Since the United States president Barack Obama announced …

The Bulgarian government is to allocate an additional 190 million euro on training and job creation to offset the risk of a more negative impact on the labour market, Social Minister Emilia Maslarova said. The new funds, under the Human Resources Operational Programme will be available to make people more …

The US State Department cleared on Wednesday the US ambassador in Tirana, John L Withers and his staff of allegations that they helped cover up a murky arms deal between a pentagon contractor and the Albanian Ministry of Defence to supply the Afghan army. “The Inspector General has reviewed all …

One of the leading figures and symbols of the unrecognized Macedonian minority movement in northern Greece, the orthodox priest Nikodim Carknjas claims he is a victim of classic state sponsored repression. He was recently sentenced to six months in prison for beating of a 12 year old seven years ago. …

Hague Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz will visit Belgrade in late March to speak with Serbian officials, said his spokeswoman Olga Kavran. At a regular Tribunal press conference, Kavran said that this would be a regular, working visit, during which the chief prosecutor would be meeting Serbian officials responsible for cooperation …

The Bulgarian government will allocate an additional 190 million euro to training and job creation in an attempt to offset the effects the economic slowdown is having on the labour market, Social Minister Emilia Maslarova said. The new funds, under the Human Resources Operational Programme will be aimed at improving …

`When we collect enough evidence about concrete people, we will raise charges,` said Sofia City Prosecutor Nikolai Kokinov. Bulgaria’s national security agency and prosecutors raided the Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday and seized documents in an investigation into large-scale illegal land deals. The raid was part of Bulgaria’s drive to assure …

Dmitry Medvedev, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin and separatist leader Igor Smirnov signed a joint declaration after talks. Russia’s peacekeeping force in Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region may be replaced by an international mission after a political solution to the crisis is found, Russia’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. It said Russian …

Turkey has some 12-14 million Kurds out of a total population of 70 million, but public use of the Kurdish language is still banned. Islam’s holy book the Koran is to be translated into Kurdish as part of Turkey’s efforts to boost the rights of Kurds and to meet European …

A tiny sliver of land on the Dniester river, Transdniestria declared its independence from Moldova in September 1990. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was on Wednesday brokering peace talks between the Moldovan president and the leader of the ex-Soviet state’s separatist Transdniestria region. For a story on the talks, click on. …