BUCHAREST, Romania — President Traian Basescu invited all parties in Parliament and groups representing minorities to begin discussing issues of national interest on Thursday (May 24th). He said a meeting will be held on Monday to discuss changing elections-related legislation and introducing a majority voting system, amending the constitution and …

BRUSSELS, Belgium — EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn met with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha in Brussels on Thursday (May 24th) and said that the various political parties must find a presidential candidate all can support, while working together on electoral reform. Berisha agreed, saying, “It is possible to choose …

ANKARA, Turkey — Speaking to reporters Thursday (May 24th), Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed government support for the military if it decides to launch a cross-border operation against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. Erdogan said he is confident that Parliament would back it as well, …

Albanian bloggers are divided over the state of affairs in Albania. Many claim that the campaign for the return of the diaspora is not doing much, while others think corruption is a real obstacle to investment and the return of Albanian emigrants. Clearly, the mixed reviews show a country in …

During the Southeastern Europe Co-operation Process (SEECP) meeting in Zagreb earlier this month, regional foreign ministers tapped Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister Hido Biscevic as the first secretary-general of the new Regional Co-operation Council (RCC) that will be based in Sarajevo.

Corruption is undermining judicial systems around the world, Transparency International (TI) warned in a new report issued on Thursday (May 24th). As a result, citizens are denied access to justice and the basic human right to a fair and impartial trial, sometimes even to a trial at all.

Maliki nominates 6 new ministers BAGHDAD  (AFP) —  Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri  Al Maliki on Thursday nominated ministers for six Cabinet seats that  loyalists of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr vacated six weeks  ago. The move is widely viewed as a way of recasting the national government along more …

ANKARA — The suicide bomber behind a deadly attack here was a former far-left militant believed to have joined the Kurdish separatist movement fighting a violent 22-year campaign, newspapers said on Thursday.

BAGHDAD (AFP) — The US military confirmed on Thursday that a body found floating in the Euphrates was one of three American soldiers snatched by Al Qaeda 12 days earlier, as a bomb attack hit civilian mourners at a funeral in western Iraq. Lieutenant Colonel Josslyn Aberle of US command …

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) — Iran is probably three to eight years away from producing a nuclear bomb if it so chooses, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog warned on Thursday.