Austria

BELGRADE - State Secretary with the Interior Ministry of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) Bakir Dautbasic said Friday that the departures of citizens of Western Balkan countries to join wars in foreign countries, notably Syria and Iraq can be prevented by regional cooperation.

They march in their thousands every Monday evening, wave German national flags and angrily protest against "criminal asylum seekers" and the "Islamisation" of their home country.

In recent months, Germany has witnessed the emergence of a far-right populist movement that has drawn support from hardcore neo-Nazis and also a small but growing anti-euro party, the AfD.

The Chairman of the Russian State Duma Sergey Naryshkin said that the West had treated Bulgaria as a colony in case of the South Stream pipeline, not respecting the country's economic interests.

"Full normalization with Kosovo needed," says Austrian FM

BELGRADE -- Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has said that "full normalization of relations with Kosovo" is needed before Serbia joins the EU.

This normalization, he told the Belgrade-based weekly NIN, would be "confirmed with a legally binding document."

BELGRADE - Austria's Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has told the weekly NIN from Belgrade that Serbia needs to bring its relations with Kosovo completely back to normal before joining the EU, which would be confirmed with a legally binding document.

Tomislav Donchev, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU Funds and Economic Policy, has informed that European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič has been tasked with elucidating Russia's unofficial stance on the South Stream project.

The EU's Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council is set to meet in Brussels on Tuesday, with the latest developments around the South Stream pipeline topping the agenda.

A proposal to create an internal energy market to connect all electricity and gas grids within the bloc will also be under discussion.

Bulgarian President (2002-2012) and ABV leader Georgi Parvanov has proposed that the South Stream pipeline undergo a second change in route to use the one planned for the Nabucco pipeline.

Parvanov's comments follow last week's decision of Russia to renounce South Stream and to launch an "alternative" version going to Turkey instead.

Russia is not going to participate in the EU meeting discussing the situation with the South Stream pipeline on Tuesday in Brussels.

"We are not an EU member state, so we are not planning on participating," Russia's Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak told journalists, quoted by the TASS wire service.

The family of the first victim identified among 43 missing Mexican students lamented the dashed dreams of the aspiring teacher Dec. 8, calling for justice in the case that has shocked the country.