Burundi

BUJUMBURA - Serbian FM Ivica Dacic announced in Bujumbura Thursday Serbia would step up cooperation with Burundi in the future and that it was planning to sign more agreements with the country.

Dacic, who is visiting the east African nation, said his trip to Bujumbura was a historic one as there had been no relations with Burundi.

The East African state of Burundi has recalled its recognition of Kosovo's independence the day before the 10th anniversary of Pristina's unilateral secession from Serbia, Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said on Saturday.

Dacic was in this African country on Thursday.

"These days the tenth anniversary is marked in Pristina of the unilateral proclamation of Kosovo's independence. I wish to make my contribution. I brought with me a note from Burundi's Foreign Ministry, revoking the recognition of Kosovo," Dacic told an unscheduled news conference in Belgrade.

According to the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affair (MFA), Dacic was received by top officials of that country.

Dacic met with President of the Republic of Burundi Pierre Nkurunziza, Minister of External Relations and International Cooperation Alain Aime Njamitwe, and with Secretary General of the country's ruling party Evariste Ndayishimiye.

Norway has been declared the country with the happiest population in the world. The evaluation is contained in the World Happiness Report published on Monday and drafted by the organisation Sustainable Development Solutions Network at the request of the UN.

The report was published on International Happiness Day - March 20.

How happy are the people of the Balkans? Not so much, if a new table released in New York on Monday on International Day of Happiness - which the UN has promoted since 2012 - is anything to judge by.

There are practically no areas where we don't enjoy dense and excellent cooperation, but this does not mean there is no room for deepening relations, Austria's Ambassador to Bulgaria, H.E. Roland Hauser, has told Novinite.

At least 74 journalists have been killed around the world in 2016 while doing their job, Reporters Without Borders said on Dec. 19.

The press freedom group said that this figure had declined from 101 from 2015, but "this significant fall is due in part to the fact that more and more journalists are fleeing countries that have become too dangerous."

The conditions for entrepreneurship in Bulgaria are not good, compared to the rest of the Balkan countries, according to the estimate of the Global Entrepreneurship & Development Institute (GEDI).

Gambia has notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which will take effect on Nov. 10, 2017, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said on Nov. 14, making it the third country to quit The Hague-based tribunal.