March, 2009

• 4 March

  NATO set to green-light formal ties with Russia

  NATO foreign ministers are set Thursday to green-light the resumption of formal high-level ties with Russia while reassuring Georgia and Ukraine they have a future in the military alliance. NATO diplomats confirmed Wednesday an in-principle agreement to end the freeze, sparked by Russia’s war with Georgia last August, in an …

  Read More »
• 4 March

  Latvia Government Named, Differences Emerge

  Valdis Dombrovskis is forming a government after the old one collapsed last month, a victim of the global financial crisis. The former finance minister nominated to form a new Latvian government named his cabinet on Wednesday, but disagreements immediately emerged with a key coalition partner over who should join the …

  Read More »
• 4 March

  Greece Attack – Attackers Throw Firebombs At Bank In Athens

  The devices exploded, causing a fire, which seriously damaged the Piraeus Bank branch in the northern Athens suburb of New Psychico. Arsonists threw gas canisters and firebombs at a bank branch office in Athens on Wednesday, causing serious damage to the building but no injuries, Greek police said. There has …

  Read More »
• 4 March

  Bosnian Serb Softens Breakaway Talk

  Milorad Dodik, the Prime Minister of the Serb-dominated Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska, has seemingly softened his radical rhetoric and temporarily abandoned plans for his entity’s independence, local media reported on Wednesday. The apparent shift in Dodik’s attitude came after his meeting on Tuesday with Stuart Jones, the deputy US …

  Read More »
• 4 March

  EULEX Sentences Albanian for Murder

  In the first war crimes trial to be held under the auspices of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, EULEX, judges found a Kosovo Albanian guilty of murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, sentencing him to17 years in jail. Gani Gashi, 59, from Komoran in central Kosovo …

  Read More »
• 4 March

  Ex-Romanian PM to Face Criminal Charges

  Romania’s parliament on Wednesday decided to allow criminal proceedings against former prime minister Adrian Nastase on corruption charges. With 158 votes for and 128 against, MPs in the second chamber of parliament, the Camera Deputatilor, decided to strip Nastase of his parliamentary immunity from prosecution and probe two corruption cases. …

  Read More »
• 4 March

  Greece Overreacts to Incident, Macedonia

  Greece’s warning against traveling to Macedonia is an over reaction to an isolated incident, Macedonia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, in a response to Athens’s decision to caution those traveling to their northern neighbour. The Greek Foreign Ministry on Tuesday issued what effectively amounted to a travel warning to its …

  Read More »
• 4 March

  Albania Deputy PM Fined For Slander

  Albania Deputy Prime Minister, Genc Pollo, was fined by a Tirana court on Tuesday for slander over comments made toward the publisher of a local newspaper. Pollo was fined 300,000 lek (€2307) over comments he made during a press conference while serving as Albania’s Minister of Education in 2007. In …

  Read More »
• 4 March

  KFOR Will Remain in Kosovo

  NATO sought to put an end to media speculation that it plans an imminent reduction of troops in Kosovo when the organisation’s Secretary General Jaap to Hoop Scheffer said nothing of the sort has been decided. “I want to be clear. Those speculating of a possible KFOR troops reduction in …

  Read More »
• 4 March

  UN SC to debate Kosovo on March 23

  The UN Security Council will discuss the UN’s mission to Kosovo on March 23, a statement from UN said. The Libyan ambassador to the UN, Ibrahim Dabashi, whose country will lead the Security Council in March, said the Council will discuss the report of the Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon on …

  Read More »