Nikola

Caretaker Defense Minister Velizar Shalamanov described maritime security as "more and more important" due to the complicated environment in the Black Sea.

Shalamanov also argued its significance was also increasing on a global scale, with the number of operations against terrorism and piracy on the rise, the Bulgarian news website Mediapool.bg reports.

BELGRADE - The Serbian government decided on Thursday to set up a coordination body for implementing the national anti-corruption strategy by 2018, which will be headed by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

UN envoy says his mandate concerns only name dispute

SKOPJE -- UN secretary-general's envoy Matthew Nimetz has said that he has no mandate to negotiate about "the identity of the Macedonian people."

On arrival in Skopje on Monday, UN mediator Matthew Nimetz said he was bringing no new proposal on his two-day visit, but rather old ideas that were worth considering further.

“I don’t have a new proposal but I have some things in my head," Nimetz told reporters.

United Nations mediator Matthew Nimetz arrived in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on Monday and confirmed that he does not have any concrete proposals to make regarding the name dispute with Greece.

“I have not brought a new proposal but I do have some ideas,” Nimetz said as he arrived in Skopje, according to the Athens-Macedonia News Agency.

Witnesses told the trial of Bosnian Croat ex-fighter Nikola Maric that the defendant took six prisoners from a secondary school in Prozor, who then disappeared without trace.

PODGORICA - The illusion that drug lord Darko Saric was hiding in Montenegro was maintained for years by someone in Serbia, Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic said on Monday.

Macedonia's parliament was expected to endorse the PM's new cabinet since the ruling parties led by Nikola Gruevski's VMRO DPMNE won a solid majority in the assembly at the April general elections.

The vote was 77 in favour and 6 against. No one abstained.

The session passed without almost any opposition MPs present in the chamber.

A witness told the trial of Bosnian Croat ex-fighter Nikola Maric that the defendant beat him up, burned him with cigarettes, pulled out his fingernails and assaulted his teenage son.

The Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Chernomorets will not change its name to Sveti Nikola (Saint Nicholas), according to the results of a local referendum.

The referendum was unsuccessful due to the low voter turnout.

A total of 788 people went to the polls and there were 770 valid ballots.