TBILISI, Georgia Georgia said Thursday it had seized two cargo ships visiting its rebel Abkhazia region this week, as it steps up efforts to enforce a naval blockade of the Moscow-backed breakaway province. The detentions drew an angry response from Abkhazia’s separatist leadership, which warned it could offer a ‘proportional …

BUCHAREST, Romania Romania’s tourism minister said Thursday she had taken legal action against members of a parliamentary committee that is investigating whether she misused ministry funds. Elena Udrea appeared briefly before the committee Thursday to announce she had filed a legal complaint against the lawmakers on the grounds they had …

BULGARIA President Georgi Purvanov conferred the Stara Planina, first class, on outgoing Finnish ambassador to Bulgaria Kauko Jämsén. He received the highest Bulgarian state honour for his extraordinary contribution to the development of Bulgarian-Finnish relations and trade. Trade between the two countries more than tripled over the past four years, …