Latvia

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg inaugurated a NATO Forces Integration Unit (NFIU) in Bucharest as part of his visit to Romania on Thursday.

NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was due in Romania on Thursday on his first official visit, to discuss consolidation of the Alliance's capacities on its eastern flank and open a NATO Force Integration Unit, NFIU.

Stoltenberg was due to meet President Klaus Iohannis, acting Prime Minister Gabriel Oprea and the Foreign and Defence ministers.

A move in Russia to review the legality of a 1991 decision formally granting Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia independence from the Soviet Union has alarmed the Baltic States and stoked tensions in ties with Moscow. 

The draws for the first and second qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League, which took place in Nyon on Monday, determined the opponents of the Bulgarian teams participating in the top two European tournaments.

Germany on Wednesday lifted the last remaining working restrictions on Croatian nationals, thereby enabling them to work without hindrance in the country.

The Pentagon is proposing to deploy heavy military equipment enough for 5,000 American military in several Baltic and Eastern European states, the New York Times has reported.

According to US and allied officials of the newspaper, the plan is "a significant move to deter possible Russian aggression in Europe," the newspaper said on Saturday.

Turkey kept their Euro 2016 qualifying hopes alive with a hard-fought 1-0 win away to bottom side Kazakhstan thanks to a late Arda Turan strike in their Group A game on June 12.
   
The visitors, who handed Kazakhstan their heaviest ever home defeat when they beat them 6-0 last time the teams met in Almaty in 2006, dominated the game but missed several chances.
   

By Olga Sella

The Bulgarian city of Ruse hosts an international sand sculpture festival dedicated to cinema between June 9 and 20.

A total of 613 tonnes of sand will be crafted into ten sculptures, each measuring two metres in height, daily Dnevnik reports.

Results of the research MyPlace, published on Wednesday and conducted in two Zagreb neighbourhoods, shows that young people are showing growing dissatisfaction with parliamentary democracy and feel open to more authoritarian alternatives.