The cause of the fault has yet to be established, `but the doors of the launch service tower did not open,` said Franco Bonacina of the ESA. The European Space Agency (ESA) on Monday postponed the launch of its most sophisticated Earth observation satellites to date because of a technical …

A separatist official said the economic slump was slowing the reconstruction effort. South Ossetia’s separatist administration said on Monday Russia was failing to honour a pledge to spend millions of dollars repairing the devastation from last year’s war in the breakaway Georgian region. A separatist official said the economic slump …

Ahmed Bashev, mayor of the town of Garmen, and Murat Boshnak, a teacher were questioned for formenting racial and religious hatred. Bulgaria’s national security agency on Monday launched an investigation into a local mayor and an Islamic studies teacher, on suspicion of spreading of radical Islam and fomenting religious hatred. …

Skopje – Social-Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) presented late Monday in Skopje municipality Gazi Baba presidential candidate Ljubomir Frckoski, Gazi Baba mayor hopeful Milentie Janevski and Skopje mayor front-runner Tito Petkovski of NSDP, as well as the councillor list. “We have an obligation to change the image of Gazi Baba. …

Washington – NATO currently has more important priorities than the Balkan enlargement, said Monday Anthony Cordesman, leading military analyst from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked about the NATO membership perspectives of Macedonia, Serbia, B&H and Montenegro, Cordesman said the Alliance is dealing with new candidates at …

The Hague – Bosnian Serb leader Momcilo Krajisnik will hear on Tuesday afternoon if his appeal against a 27-year jail sentence for war crimes has been successful at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Krajisnik was found guilty in 2006 of various war crimes during the 1992-95 …

Podgorica, Montenegro – Montenegro’s political opposition on Monday accused Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of “meddling” in the Balkan country’s current election campaign. Nebojsa Medojevic, head of the Movement for Change, made the statement in reaction to Berlusconi’s one-day visit with Montenegran Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic in Podgorica. 

Belgrade – More than a 1,000 visitors flocked to the opening of an exhibition in Belgrade dedicated to former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito at the weekend in a sign that fascination with the former communist is still alive nearly 30 years after his death. The Belgrade Museum of the …

RUSSIAN President Dmitry Medvedev last night ordered a large-scale Russian rearmament – including its nuclear arsenal – from 2011. Mr Medvedev said Russia’s forces needed to be modernised to respond to international terrorism and NATO expansion. Speaking before a meeting with defence chiefs, Mr Medvedev said a modern military “is …

MOSCOW – RUSSIA on Tuesday agreed to give $226 million dollars (114 million euros) of aid to two rebel regions of Georgia. Moscow will give 2.36 billion rubles (52 million euros) to Abkhazia and 2.8 billion rubles to South Ossetia.