Languages of Europe

BELGRADE - Trade between Serbia and Switzerland in 2013 saw an annual growth of 18.6 percent and totaled USD 316 million, said participants at a meeting held at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS) Thursday to celebrate the setting up of a Swiss-Serbian chamber of commerce.

BELGRADE - An international conference on World War I, which will bring together prominent scientists, academicians, historians and military experts from 20 European and Asian countries, will begin in Belgrade on Thursday.

Croatian war veterans, who want a referendum to limit minority rights and end official use of Serbian Cyrillic script in parts of Croatia, accuse the government of ignoring their initiative.

A 48-year-old Albanian man who escaped from a prison in the neighboring country where he was serving a 20-year sentence for murdering his cousin nearly two decades ago, was apprehended by police in the western Greek port city of Patra on Saturday.

The fugitive, who was not named, had been at large since 1997.

CACAK - Serbian Minister of Justice and Public Administration Nikola Selakovic stated in Cacak on Friday that the core of the new government's program will be the creation of jobs and addressing burning issues of the Serbian economy.

Romanian border police intercepted a Bulgarian truck with 2 tons of spoiled chicken meat, reports Mediafax.

The driver is also Bulgarian. He refused to provide any documents for origin and ownership of the cargo.

The meat, packed in 200 boxes, was supposed to be delivered to two companies in Oltenica and Bucharest. 

PANCEVO - There has been no pressure on Serbia aimed at getting the country to alter its stance towards Russia over the situation in the Crimea, and there would be no benefit from any pressure, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said on Tuesday.

Croat PM: Referendum on Cyrillic script "disgrace"

ZAGREB -- Croatia PM Zoran Milanović has said that parliament should decide on the initiative to call a referendum on the use of Serbian Cyrillic in this country.

"I think that this referendum is a disgrace," he said, and added:

"I congratulate those who won such excellent election results," Pusic in Brussels, referring to last weekend's general election in neighbouring Serbia, in which the Serbian Progressive Party won a landslide victory.

Bulgarian freelance journalist has been held up at gunpoint by masked men in Crimea's Simferopol, Thursday.

Dimitar Kenarov, who works for Bulgarian, European and American media, was attacked by an unknown man while taking photos on his mobile phone.