Berlin

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Economy Zeljko Sertic will travel to Berlin Tuesday for a two-day working visit during which he will participate in a conference of ministers of Western Balkan countries.

BERLIN - European activities aimed at halting the influx of asylum seekers from Southeast European and Western Balkan countries need to be stepped up, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Friday.

Mistreatment, accommodation centers that are unfit for human beings and month-long detentions are just some aspect of Bulgarian authorities' attitude to refugees, a German NGO argues.

In a 50-page report [DE], it outlines numerous stories of immigrants from the Middle East who were not properly treated upon their arrival in Bulgaria as asylum seekers.

By Nikos Chrysoloras, Marcus Bensasson & Rainer Buergin

European officials said Greece is running out of time to unfreeze the aid needed to keep the country afloat as they consider contingency plans should negotiations collapse.

NATO commander wants Russia "to stop fueling conflict"

NATO commander in Europe, U.S. General Philip Breedlove, "has expressed his concern over the renewed fighting in Ukraine," reported Tanjug.

A message posted on his Twitter account reads:

"Concerned by renewed fighting in Ukraine. Vital all sides pull back verifiably, Russia stops fuelling conflict."

According to weekly newspaper Die Zeit, Germany is working on a plan that will keep Greece in the Eurozone even if it defaults.

Citing government sources in Berlin, the German newspaper claims that such a scenario is being examined by the German Chancellery, as there are fears that Greece will not be able to fulfill its obligations in the coming months.

Russia's top gas producer Gazprom warned the European Union on April 13 against moves to block Moscow's plans to bypass Ukraine as a transit country for its gas to Europe and said it needed guarantees on gas purchases.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine has escalated over the past 24 hours, leaving six government troops dead and 12 wounded, a Ukrainian military spokesman said on Tuesday.

Moscow and Kiev representatives have agreed to demand the continued withdrawal of weapons in Eastern Ukraine in a new multilateral meeting aimed at winding down tensions.

The cost of the future Turkish Stream gas pipeline project is comparable to the cost of the abandoned South Stream project, according to Gurkan Kumbaroglu, President-Elect of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE).