News archive of November 2017

Aleksandar Vucic says he would "neither mock nor call cowardly" Slobodan Praljak's "act"- i.e., his suicide on Wednesday before the Hague Tribunal.

Praljak was one of the leaders of Bosnian Croats during the 1990s war convicted of war crimes by the tribunal.

Croatia "was not an aggressor," Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said in Zagreb on Thursday, Beta reported.

Instead, Grabar-Kitarovic continued, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) were "attacked by Milosevic's Serbia" and "the so-called JNA (Yugoslav People's Army)" - and these, according to her, are "notorious facts."

President Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday EU representatives in Belgrade that Serbia has understood "the messages and the demands, as well as it obligations."

Beta reported this citing a press release from Vucic's office.

Bitcoin and other digital currencies have failed to stay at record highs on Thursday. The market has seen a correction with digital coins falling from 17 to 30 percent.

The leader bitcoin plunged to $9,300, losing about $2,000 from record highs. Ethereum lost more than 20 percent and was trading at just above $400.

Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of a large town from the time of the Roman Empire hypothesizing that it might be the Ancient Thracian and Roman settlement of Scaptopara, the predecessor of today's city of Blagoevgrad in Southwest Bulgaria, whose name is known from a stone inscription of a petition by the locals to Roman Emperor Gordian III.

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Two second-division teams, OFI and Trikala have made it to the knock-out stages of the Greek Cup after seeing off Apollon Smyrnis and Kerkyra respectively at the groups phase that concluded on Thursday.

The European Parliament named one of its chambers after the late former conservative prime minister Constantinos Mitsotakis in a special ceremony on Thursday. A marble plaque was unveiled by German MEP and head of the European People's Party Manfred Weber and European Parliament President Antonio Tajani.

Alpha Bank on Thursday reported lower third-quarter profit compared to the previous quarter after booking higher provisions for impaired loans.

Alpha's net profit from continuing operations was 35.6 million euros, down from 70.7 million in the second quarter.

Greek retail sales by volume declined 0.8 percent in September compared to the same month a year ago after an upwardly revised 0.8 percent increase in August, statistics service ELSTAT said on Thursday.

Retail sales were led lower by fuels, lubricants, pharmaceutical products, tobacco, foods and beverages, the data showed.

The future of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) holds major challenges as well as huge opportunities that Greece could utilize, Tassos Chaniotis, director of Economic Analysis at the European Commission's Directorate General for Agriculture, said in Athens on Thursday.