The two main parties — the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Republican People’s Party (CHP) — are at odds over whether the next president must be a member of the new parliament, according to local press reports Wednesday (July 11th).

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says authorisation of a military incursion into northern Iraq is not on the immediate agenda, but he did not rule it out after the July 22nd general elections.

In his first major step as High Representative in BiH, Miroslav Lajcak ordered the dismissal Tuesday (July 10th) of a senior Bosnian Serb police commander and the suspension of 36 officers suspected of involvement in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

Parliament’s latest round of voting for a president failed on Tuesday (July 10th) evening because none of the candidates managed to attract the required 84 votes.

The Libyan Supreme Court on Wednesday (July 11th) upheld the death sentences of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who has been given Bulgarian citizenship.

Kosovo will inevitably gain independence, and it would be better if the transition to its new status is orderly, a senior US diplomat said on Tuesday (July 10th) after a meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

Two years after Macedonian authorities started transferring responsibility to the local level, the second phase of the country’s decentralisation plan is under way. Earlier this month, five municipalities, out of a total 85, asked to take over financial responsibility in several areas.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has a new top international envoy. Slovak diplomat Miroslav Lajcak took over the post of high representative and EU special representative (EUSR) on July 1st, succeeding Germany’s Christian Schwarz-Schilling.

An international journalist rights group is calling on Iran to re-open a trial into the murder of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi.

Aftenposten, the Norwegian daily reported today that Norway’s Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called the stoning on an Iranian man “inhumane and barbaric.”