BULGARIA Bulgaria’s Minister without a portfolio, Bozhidar Dimitrov, said Friday he was ready to serve the three-month prison sentence of Spaska Mitrova, a Macedonian with Bulgarian passport. The 23-year-old Mitrova was jailed over failing to provide a bed in her parent’s house for her former husband who was supposed to …

Friendly talks between the leaders of Germany and Russia have been dominated by trade and investment, but also covered human rights. President Dmitry Medvedev and Chancellor Angela Merkel met in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The Kremlin has said the global economic recession presents positive bilateral opportunities. Medvedev said: …

The latest killings illustrating Russia’s difficulty with security along its southern flank were in the early hours of Friday — seven women in Dagestan, where a newspaper editor lost his life on Tuesday. Islamist rebels shot the women at around the same time as separatists killed four policemen at a …