Malian soldiers opened fire on demonstrators in the troubled northern city of Kidal Thursday, residents said, wounding five people in an altercation that highlighted tensions over the country’s new government.

Slovenia is pushing for NATO to extend its membership in the Western Balkans, Defence Minister Roman Jakicas said on Thursday. Jakic said that the stability of the Western Balkans was a strategic point for Slovenia.

The European Union (EU) on Friday signed association agreements with Georgia and Moldova, but failed to ink a landmark deal with Ukraine in its drive to boost ties with six ex-Soviet states, according to news reports reaching here.