Poland

Bulgaria's national team manager Peter Hubchev announced a group of 23 football players for friendly matches against Bosnia and Herzegovina on March 23, 2018 at the Ludogorets Arena Stadium in Razgrad and Kazakhstan on 26.03.2018 at Pancho Arena in Felchut, Hungary.

There is also an absolute debutant in the face of Kamen Hadzhiev from Beroe.

Hungary aims to coordinate more closely on refugee policy with Austria and Italy after elections there boosted anti-migrant parties, broadening an alliance of EU states focused on internal security.

National Defence Minister Mihai Fifor told a joint news conference on Tuesday with his Polish counterpart Mariusz Blaszczak that he wants to make the Multinational Brigade in Craiova operational by the end of 2018.

Senate Chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said on Tuesday that the meeting he had with defence ministers from the Bucharest 9 (B9) cooperation format dealt with defence and security issues, taking into account the "the challenges faced by NATO's eastern flank countries."

NATO membership and strategic partnership with the United States are security guarantees for Romania, but at the same time there is need for consistency in national approaches to defence and national security, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea said Tuesday at the end of a meeting with heads of delegations from the Bucharest 9 Initiative format, as well as representatives of NATO,

The states on the NATO Eastern flank share several same and particular concerns, from the view of perceiving risks and threats to security, on Tuesday said the Defence Minister Mihai Fifor, in the opening of the Defence ministers' reunion with the countries participating in "Bucharest 9 Initiative" (B9).

British insurer Aviva is considering acquisitions in Poland and Turkey, its chief executive said on March 8, as it reported a 2 percent rise in operating profit and said it planned to return 500 million pounds ($695 million) to shareholders.

The European Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament will not exclude Romania's Social Democratic Party - despite several members of the group criticizing Romania's ruling party and its allegedly illiberal justice policies.

"We have had no discussions on excluding them," a spokesperson from the centre-left group in the European Parliament told BIRN.

Following a three-day-visit to Bulgaria, the head of Russian Orthodox Church has expressed annoyance over the way Bulgarian leaders have expressed gratitude to a number of nations - not just Russia - for liberating Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in the 19th century.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill said he was aggrieved by what he called the Bulgarian government's attempts to dilute his country's role during the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish war, which paved the way for Bulgaria's liberation after five centuries of Ottoman rule, reported Reuters.