The US Secretary of Commerce, Gary Locke, has congratulated Bulgarian Foreign Minister Kalfin on Bulgaria’s stable economy and banking system. Kalfin completed his two-day visit to the USA with a meeting with Locke, thus becoming the first high-ranking foreign official that the US Secretary of Commerce has welcomed since assuming …

An arsenal of surveillance equipment – including bugging and tracking devices and night-vision telescopes for sniper operations – is being assembled by the EU rule of law mission in Kosovo, EULEX. The EU rule of law mission has issued a 162-page tender for the high-tech tools, to be used in …

Serbian President Boris Tadic has emphatically condemned the theft of the Croatian flag from the country’s embassy in Belgrade. Tadic said he was in contact with all the necessary institutions “in order to arrest and punish the extremists and hooligans who did this”, according to the president’s press service. The …

The Afghan government won’t allow any law that would force women to have sex with their husbands or prevent them from leaving their homes, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Washington said yesterday. “Definitely not,” Ambassador Said Jawad said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” airing this weekend. …

Afghanistan  – Taliban insurgents attacked a police post in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province Friday, killing six policemen and wounding another seven, the provincial government said.mi The attack occurred in the Nawa district, just outside the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, provincial government spokesman Daud Ahmadi said. “This morning (the) Taliban …

The prime minister of Moldova said on Thursday that authorities in the former Soviet republic were prepared to use all means including weapons, if new opposition protests turn violent. Zinaida Greceanii, in a television address to the nation, said the opposition was planning to stage new rallies on Friday and …

Bosnia must speed up European integration reforms to catch up with neighbours and unite political forces against the economic crisis, the EU presidency chairman said on Thursday. Foreign ministers of the current Czech, previous French and future Swedish EU presidency visited Bosnia this week to review reform progress and tell …

BUCHAREST, Romania Lawmakers chose Mihnea Constantinescu as new ambassador to Moldova on Wednesday (April 8th) after the expulsion of the previous ambassador, Filip Teodorescu. The move came after Chisinau accused Bucharest of interfering in the country’s domestic affairs by backing the riots that broke out on Tuesday following Sunday’s elections.

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia During a meeting in Ljubljana on Wednesday (April 8th), Serbian Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac said Belgrade has no plans to apply for NATO membership. The issue was raised in light of neighbours Croatia and Albania joining the Alliance last week.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark Denmark is lifting labour restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians effective on May 1st, the Romanian Employment Agency announced on Wednesday (April 8th). That means Bulgarians and Romanians will have the right to work in the country without the permits currently required and under equal terms with Danish citizens …