Balkan

Hungarian oil and gas company MOL has officially expressed interest in acquiring Lukoil's refinery in Bulgaria. This was confirmed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who stated during a briefing in Budapest that MOL had submitted a bid for the refinery in Burgas and was among seven potential buyers.

A recent Gallup International Balkan survey conducted for Bulgarian National Television provides insights into electoral attitudes in Bulgaria as of early May.

During his rich career, he also spoke a lot about the Western Balkans, judging that Kosovo and Metohija are a "national temple" for Serbs.
Kissinger thus questioned American policy in the Balkans, saying that "there is no clear definition of US interests in the Balkans".
"Europeans should deal with events in their own backyard," Kissinger said, the Guardian recalls.

Special operations forces formations from eight Balkan countries took part in the international exercise "Strong Balkan - 23" (B-9). The exercise of the special operations forces of the countries of the region took place from October 31 to November 10 on the territory of the Republic of Albania.

The EU Council's vote last December to admit Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania into the Schengen area for free travel should have been a triumphant moment for the bloc.

The website "Flight Radar 24" showed a little after noon that one or more transport helicopters of the U.S. Army "Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk" were flying south of Belgrade.
An aircraft or a group of them entered Serbia from Romanian airspace and is moving at a speed of about 250 km/h, Russia Today Balkan reported the telegram of the "Combat Effectiveness" channel.

As Friday's opening ceremony for the XXXII Olympic Games in Tokyo looms, Balkan athletes are bracing for the quest to bring home glory with medals round their neck.

The Olympic Games in Tokyo starting this Friday were scheduled to be held in 2020 but had to be postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The region needs more proactive transparency, open contracting and political will to deal with freedom of information, FOI, speakers from the region and internationally told BIRN's panel discussion Platform B: Freedom of Information in the Balkans, held on Thursday.

Ljubljana – The Slovenian Press Agency (STA) will celebrate its 30th birthday this year only days before the country observes the 30th anniversary of its independence in June. From its humble beginnings as a single-desk agency, the STA has grown to become a modern media service provider.

More than three quarters of children living in state institutions in Serbia are children with disabilities, according to the latest United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty.

At 77 per cent, Serbia ranks joint third with Hungary behind Turkmenistan and China in a total of 57 countries analysed.