News archive of July 2014

Iraq's new parliament, charged with approving a new government and facing a blistering offensive by Sunni militants, descended into chaos Tuesday, with some lawmakers threatening each other and others walking out.
      

BELGRADE – Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic and his Montenegrin counterpart Dusko Markovic have signed in Podgorica an annex to the memorandum of cooperation between the respective ministries of the two countries.

A club in Kosovo on Monday offered Luis Suarez 1,500 a month to boost their forward line while he serves his ban for biting.
      
Kosovo is not covered by Suarez's worldwide suspension as it is not an official member of UEFA or FIFA so Suarez could theoretically play in its Super League.
      

NOVI SAD - Leaders of the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV) Nenad Canak, Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) Istvan Pastor and New Democratic Party (NDS) Boris Tadic agreed that changes to the constitutional and legal position of the Serbian province of Vojvodina are needed.

Bulgaria's energy watchdog DKEVR decided to increase the electricity and central heating and hot water prices and to cut the natural gas price as of July 1. 

On Monday evening it transpired that DKEVR will increase the central heating prices by an average of 2.6% throughout the country – much less than the initially expected average of 10%. 

Serbian and Hungarian cabinets hold joint session

BELGRADE -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is visiting Belgrade on Tuesday where he will meet with his Serbian counterpart, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić.

The two countries' governments will hold a joint sitting, during which several agreements will be signed.

Russia expressed "regret" on Tuesday over Ukraine's decision to restart a military operation against separatists and urged its foreign partners to stop using the ex-Soviet country as a pawn in geopolitical games.
      
Moscow also stressed that peace talks should start as soon as possible, pledging to "fully facilitate" the process.
      

MEPs are to convene Tuesday for the first session of the new European Parliament in Strasbourg.

They will have to decide on the Parliament's leadership and also to set up different Committees, with the latter activity to continue at the next sitting on Wednesday.

Fashion house Fendi kicked off the restoration of Rome's famed Trevi Fountain Monday, unveiling a transparent suspended walkway which will give tourists a whole new vantage point of the historic monument.
      

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) firmly condemns the killing of the three Israeli teenagers and conveys condolences and sympathy to the bereaved families, as well as solidarity with the entire people of Israel, reads a press release issued to AGERPRES on Tuesday.