Eurasia

Albanian Escapes Greek Jail In Chopper, Again

An Albanian convict and the Greek ringleader of his gang escaped from an Athens high security prison using a helicopter for the second time in three years, one day before they were due to appear in court. In a prison break worthy of a Hollywood action movie, Alket Rizai and …

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Bosnia Anthem Gets Lyrics After 10 Years

After near 10 years of interethnic deliberations, a commission has agreed on the text of Bosnia’s national anthem. The melody of the Bosnian national anthem was adopted in June 1999, but politicians were unable to agree over its text. The new anthem, with both melody and lyrics, was performed for …

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Macedonia PM Slams Greece, Athens Rebuffs

Greece decided to block Macedonia’s NATO accession a year before the April 2008 Bucharest summit but kept its intentions secret, Macedonia PM Nikola Gruevski said on Friday, adding fuel to the fire sparked by reports of a controversial statement by Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis. Athens has denied the statement …

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New Status Conference In Karadzic Case

“Due to the fact that the Defence team has not been formed”, Radovan Karadzic said he cannot respond to the Hague Prosecution’s proposal to reinstate the Susica incident into the indictment. At a status conference the Hague Tribunal Chamber ordered Radovan Karadzic to respond to the Hague Prosecution’s motion requesting …

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Russia Won’t Recognise Kosovo- Lavrov

Russia will not recognise Kosovo as an independent and sovereign country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday, in response to statements by Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci that the Kremlin would eventually accept Kosovo’s secession from Serbia and recognise it as independent. “Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci mistakes …

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Bosnia Fraud Probe Triggers Political Clashes

Bosnia’s State Investigation and Protection Agency, SIPA, has pressed charges for fraud and misuse of public funds against the Premier of the Serb-dominated Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik and several other Bosnian Serb senior officials. The move, apparently done outside the usual legal channels and standard criminal procedures, …

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Serbia Closer To Mladic, Hadzic – Prosecutor

Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic says Belgrade authorities are closing in on Hague war crime fugitives Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic each day, while especially Mladic’s arrest could come this year. In an interview with Serbian daily Danas, Vukcevic said authorities were checking every bit of information that came …

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“Kosovo Serbs Warming To Ahtisaari Plan” -ICO

Serb inhabitants of the flashpoint town of Mitrovica have apparently reacted positively to partsof the “Ahtisaari Plan” that aim to create a multiethnic society in Kosovo, said David Slinn, Mitrovica representative of the International Civilian Office, ICO. The ICO’ brief is to support implementation of all status settlements that initiated …

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Ahtisaari Keen On Croatia- Slovenia Mediation

Nobel Peace Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari would be ready to chair a working group aiming to settle an 18-year border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia, enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn confirmed. “Ahtisaari would be in principle ready to chair this group, but for the group to set up we need agreement …

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Macedonia’s Gruevski Sees Approval Rating Melt

After reaching record approval numbers late last year, Macedonia Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is seeing his popularity fall drastically in the last one and a half month, shows a survey by the International Republican Institute. The survey shows he went from a 61 percent approval rating in December to 51 …

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