Eurasia

In the first war crimes trial to be held under the auspices of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, EULEX, judges found a Kosovo Albanian guilty of murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, sentencing him to17 years in jail. Gani Gashi, 59, from Komoran in central Kosovo …

Romania’s parliament on Wednesday decided to allow criminal proceedings against former prime minister Adrian Nastase on corruption charges. With 158 votes for and 128 against, MPs in the second chamber of parliament, the Camera Deputatilor, decided to strip Nastase of his parliamentary immunity from prosecution and probe two corruption cases. …

Greece’s warning against traveling to Macedonia is an over reaction to an isolated incident, Macedonia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, in a response to Athens’s decision to caution those traveling to their northern neighbour. The Greek Foreign Ministry on Tuesday issued what effectively amounted to a travel warning to its …

Albania Deputy Prime Minister, Genc Pollo, was fined by a Tirana court on Tuesday for slander over comments made toward the publisher of a local newspaper. Pollo was fined 300,000 lek (€2307) over comments he made during a press conference while serving as Albania’s Minister of Education in 2007. In …

NATO sought to put an end to media speculation that it plans an imminent reduction of troops in Kosovo when the organisation’s Secretary General Jaap to Hoop Scheffer said nothing of the sort has been decided. “I want to be clear. Those speculating of a possible KFOR troops reduction in …

The UN Security Council will discuss the UN’s mission to Kosovo on March 23, a statement from UN said. The Libyan ambassador to the UN, Ibrahim Dabashi, whose country will lead the Security Council in March, said the Council will discuss the report of the Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon on …

Dialogue between officials in Pristina and Belgrade is key to the stability of the Balkan region, International Civilian Office chief Pieter Feith on Tuesday. Serbia has vowed to never recognize Kosovo’s seccession and relations between Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Albanians are tense and occasionaly hostile. Serbia has blocked imports coming …

Refusing to recognise the authority of the Hague Tribunal to try him, Radovan Karadzic, who is charged with genocide and war crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-95 war, once again declined to enter a plea. “This Court has no right to try me,” Karadzic said, again invoking …

A non-commissioned officer within the Romanian Defense Ministry (MApN) and a Bulgarian citizen were arrested on Tuesday on charges of espionage and treason for allegedly passing on classified information to Ukraine. Romanian prosecutors say officer Floricel Achim passed classified military information, between 2002 and 2007, to Bulgarian citizen Marinov Zikolov …

In a keynote speech delivered at an annual forum of Serbian economists the country’s president Boris Tadic delivered an impassioned call for an end to links between business, the state and crime. Addressing what some sections of the media have dubbed “Serbia’s Davos”, Tadic told delegates that without greater development …