Member states of the United Nations

BUDVA - The National Tourism Organisation of Serbia (TOS) will give a comprehensive presentation of Serbia's tourism potential at the METUBES International Tourism Exchange, Tourism Fair, Equipment for Hotels and Catering in Budva on April 3-5.

Balkan countries train together for ISAF

Joint preparation contributes to regional co-operation and Euro-Atlantic integration.

Croatia and Montenegro troops work together in a training exercise. [NATO]

Soldiers from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia and Montenegro are working together to join the NATO mission in Afghanistan (ISAF).

BELGRADE - The leader of the Coalition of Refugee Associations Miodrag Linta announced on Tuesday that he will request that UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres reject the Croatian initiative aimed at rescinding the refugee status of Serb expellees, adding that this would be the final act of the ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Croatia.

Montenegro's parliamentary speaker Ranko Krivokapic will visit Moscow and Kiev this week as part of the OSCE's efforts to help mediate in the Ukrainian crisis.

The Romanian defence ministry said in a statement on Monday that a vehicle carrying explosives crashed head-on into the military vehicle in which Claudiu Constantin Vulpoiu and his five fellow servicemen were travelling.

The Romanian troops were on patrol in Zabul province, on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. Vulpoiu, 41, had served in six missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Trade turnover between Bulgaria and Romania has exceeded EUR 3 B for 3 years in a row, according to the director of the Commercial Section of the Bulgarian Embassy in Bucharest.

VIENNA - The ties between Austria and Serbia are better than ever and can only be expected to become stronger, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic has said.

"In many areas our cooperation has been exemplary," Mrkic told Tanjug on Thursday after a Serbian delegation headed by President Tomislav Nikolic ended the first day of its official visit to Vienna.

Many Albanians could be let without pensions because so many people have emigrated, a new report from the Ombudsman's office warns.

An estimated one-third of Albania’s 3.2 million population has emigrated in the last two decades, following the collapse of Tirana’s reclusive Communist regime, which did not allow travel abroad.

Bulgarian pensioners become more frequent visitors to Greek islands for Easter. 

A survey of Bulgaria's Darik national radio among tourist agencies found that this spring Greece and Turkey are more preferred by Bulgarians above middle age. 

Bulgaria had the lowest hourly labor costs in the EU in 2013, yet it was the country to register the highest increase in the segment since 2008, according to Eurostat.

According to Eurostat data, in 2013 Bulgaria registered the lowest hourly labor costs among EU member states, at EUR 3.7, followed by Romania with EUR 4.6.