Brussels

The issue of updating the Customs Union between Turkey and the EU will be on the agenda of a visit from three EU officials to Ankara, sources tell HDN The issue of updating the Customs Union between Turkey and the EU to reflect Ankara’s concerns about the EU’s free trade agreements with third parties will be on the agenda of a visit from three high ranking EU officials to Ankara on Dec.

BELGRADE - Serbian Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic said Friday that Serbia wanted the highest form of cooperation with NATO that a partner state that did not want membership of the Alliance could have, and stressed that a creation of armed forces of Kosovo-Metohija was unacceptable for Serbia.

New EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini travels to Turkey next week to highlight the "strategic importance" of ties, one week after Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rival visit during which he cancelled a huge gas pipeline to Europe.

So far the cabinet has received no formal notification for Russia's decision to abandon the South Stream project, Bulgarian Deputy PM Tomislav Donchev has said.

UNMIK chief: Kosovo needs government, talks should continue

NEW YORK -- UNMIK Chief Farid Zarif has called on the political leaders in Kosovo to finish forming a new government.

He added that the talks between Belgrade and Pristina need new momentum and that the meetings between top officials of the two sides should continue.

Russian envoy: Ethnic strife persists in Kosovo

NEW YORK -- Violence against Serbs in Kosovo and desecration of Orthodox monasteries "are a clear evidence of persisting ethnic strife in the Kosovo Albanian society."

Moscow has not received an invitation to to take part in the consultations the EU Commission is due to hold with EU states over the South Stream gas pipeline, Russian government sources say.

The meeting was scheduled for December 9 by EU Energy Commissioner Maros Sefcovic shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced South Stream would not be built.

NEW YORK - UNMIK Chief Farid Zarif has called on the political leaders in Kosovo to finish foriming a government, adding that the talks between Belgrade and Pristina need new momentum and that the meetings between top officials of the two sides should continue.

Senior career diplomat Mithat Rende of Turkey has been elected as chair of the Executive Committee of the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Foreign Ministry has announced.

Ambassador Rende has been serving as the head of Turkey’s Permanent Delegation to the OECD since the summer of 2013.

The Prosecutor General of Bulgaria Sotir Tsatsarov presented the ideas for reform in the prosecution during a meeting with EU Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Commissioner Vera Jourova on Thursday in Brussels.