Eurasia

The heavy snow fall across the Balkans during the New Year holiday has left mountainous areas of Macedonia and Albania cut off and running low on food, with traffic bottlenecks affecting the rest of the region. The Albanian government called up army engineers and police special forces to free up …

Two Kosovo Serbs were attacked by a group of Albanians in Mitrovica, local police say, the latest skirmish in the tense divided town. The town of Mitrovica has been a flashpoint since Kosovo’s Albanian majority declared independence from Serbia in February. Some 20,000 Serbs live in the north of the …

Kosovo’s ethnically-divided town of Mitrovica could face bloody conflict if inter-ethnic tensions continue unchecked, a local Serb politician says. The town of Mitrovica has been a flashpoint since Kosovo’s Albanian majority declared independence from Serbia in February. Some 20,000 Serbs who live in the north of the town reject the …

MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) – The European Union on Monday scheduled talks with Russia to press for a speedy resolution of a dispute with Ukraine that has hit gas supplies to countries in eastern and southern Europe facing freezing temperatures. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Ukraine on January …

BOSANSKI BROD, Bosnia (Reuters) – A flare at the top of a 50-meter high tower in the Balkans shows Russia building political capital in a notoriously fractured part of Europe. The flame in late November marked the restart of operations in Brod, Bosnia’s sole oil refinery which had been out …

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – There is no immediate danger to Russian gas supplies to European Union industry or households for now from the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, the EU Commission said on Monday, but cautioned that the situation could change. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Ukraine on January …

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Russian natural gas supplies to Romania remained at reduced levels on Monday as a result of the Russia-Ukraine gas row, the head of the Black Sea state’s state-controlled pipeline operator Transgaz said. “Gas inflows are still around 30 percent lower than contracted levels,” Transgaz director Ioan Rusu …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran and Pakistan will hold another round of dialogue on the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project and the provision of oil on deferred payment to Pakistan, Pakistani Petroleum Ministry officials said. “Talks will be held in the next three to four weeks in Islamabad,” an official in …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Parliament speaker Ali Larijani plans to travel to Turkey to attend the Islamic Inter-Parliamentary Association (IPA) meeting, a lawmaker said on Sunday. The meeting will be held next Wednesday to discuss the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, Rapporteur of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy …

KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian gas flows to four European Union countries dipped below normal on Saturday after Moscow cut off supplies to Ukraine in a pricing row, and there were no talks in sight to resolve the dispute. Temperatures were under zero overnight in Europe, and Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz joined energy …