BANJA LUKA Chief of the EP’s Southeast Europe delegation, Doris Pack, said that the existence of the Republic of Srpska (RS) is not slowing down Bosnia’s progress. “The existence of RS is not an obstacle, political verbal attacks are, and that is present in both entities. RS is not a …

TURKEY Thousands swarmed the streets of cities and towns of the northwestern Marmara region early Monday morning to commemorate the memories of those who died in the Aug. 17, 1999 Marmara earthquake. The earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale hit Turkey’s northwest, its epicenter in the Gölcük region in …

TURKEY Interior Minister Beşir Atalay has said the government’s new Kurdish initiative — a general term to refer to new Kurdish policies announced in late July and based on a model unique to the country’s own history and current conditions — is a long-term state project. During a meeting with …

MACEDONIA Macedonia builds a professionally, well trained army as a guarantee of the territorial integrity and state sovereignty and therefore ARM is one of the greatest Ambassadors of our country, the President Gjorge Ivanov said. After 2001, Macedonia become security importer, but now it became security exporter, due to it …

ALBANIA Edi Rama, the current leader of the Socialists – the biggest opposition party in Albania, said he would run again for another term at the upcoming party’s congress scheduled for end of August. Despite facing numerous accusations from other parties and his Socialists as wells, Rama said he strongly …

ALBANIA The burial place of more than 4,000 political prisoners executed during the Albanian communist regime of Enver Xohxa, remains unknown up to this day. The secretary of the association for integration of political prisoners of Albania made public this information. This association accused all previous governments that held power …

BULGARIA Four of the nine last-minute diplomatic appointments made by Bulgaria’s former government would be cancelled, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Daragovest Goranov said as quoted by Bulgarian BTA news agency on August 18 2009. These were Boyan Choukov, who was supposed to take the post of Bulgaria’s ambassador in Macedonia; Atanas …

SOFIA, Bulgaria In August half of the respondents in a poll by National Center for Studying Public Opinion (NCSPO) describe as successful the first steps of the government of Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria /CEDB/. The respondents who label the government’s first steps as unsuccessful are five times less. …

MOSCOW Russia has ordered two Czech diplomats out of Russia, Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday, in a spying row between two countries at odds over U.S. plans to install an anti-missile system in Europe. The expulsion follows Czech media reports on Monday that two Russians have been ordered out …

MOSCOW Sixty-four people missing after a massive pressure surge flooded part of a Russian dam are most likely dead, its owner said on Tuesday, indicating a likely death toll far higher than the 12 confirmed so far. “Finding anyone alive in the flood zone is unlikely, but the search continues,” …