News archive of March 2014

BELGRADE - As an EU membership candidate, Serbia must coordinate its foreign policy with the EU's positions, Serbia's chief EU negotiator Tanja Miscevic has said, but added that preparations for membership leave enough room for the country to resolve some issues on its own.

Banks will no longer charge fees for the utilization and management of consumer loans, after Bulgarian lawmakers adopted on second reading amendments to the Consumer Credit Act.

BELGRADE - The Office for Kosovo -Metohija (KiM) has stated that no referendum on independence was carried out in the territory of KiM, adding that neither Albanians nor Serbs or any other ethnic community living in KiM took part in it.

Five carriages of a freight train have derailed at Todor Kableshkov station near Bulgaria's city of Plovdiv Friday morning.

The incident happened at 8:25 Friday morning, Standartnews reports. The railway segment between Plovdiv and Stamboliyski has been temporarily closed, and passengers are being transported by buses instead.

Hungary opposed to sanctions against Russia

BUDAPEST -- Hungary opposes a new series of economic sanctions that the EU would impose on Russia because of its intervention in Ukraine, said Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

A few days after thousands of Cretans protested against the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons off the coast of their island, Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos has written to local authorities to suggest that their protests could damage tourism.

Bulgarian sports journalist Vladimir Zarkov was attacked by an unknown man, using a spray substance.

The incident happened Thursday night, as Zarkov was leaving from his work, near Sofia's Universiada Hall. The man allegedly followed the journalist and attacked him from behind, spraying him in the eyes, Standartnews reports.

The Quebec provincial police arrested on Thursday four Canadian citizens of Bulgarian origin for alleged ATM fraud. 

Their names are Vassilina Dimitrova, 48, Borislav Petrov, 53, Iren Vasilev Atanasov, 42 and the alleged ringleader Martin Antonov Kuzov, 52.

The arrests took place near Montreal and Toronto. Four other suspects are still on the loose. 

United Nations General Assembly has condemned Crimea's incorporation into the Russian Federation.

A US and EU-backed resolution, which was proposed by Ukraine, was approved with an overwhelming majority of 100 votes, the New York Times reported.

Only 11 voted against, but a considerable number of states, as many as 58, abstained.

New Democracy lawmaker Yiannis Tragakis, who is also a deputy parliamentary speaker, has fired his driver after a photograph of the man performing a Nazi salute was made public.