Syria

Bulgaria was among the authors of the UN resolution, condemning the annexation of Crimea by Russia, said a diplomatic source, quoted by the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR). 

Bulgaria, together with all EU member states voted in favour of the resolution of the UN General Assembly, which called the act “illegal” and affirmed Ukraine's territorial integrity. 

Turkey has blocked access to YouTube, a day after the ban on Twitter has been revoked, according to international media reports.

The national telecoms authority announced taking an administrative measure against the site in Turkey.

The European Union was set to press U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday to help reduce Europe's reliance on Russian energy by exporting U.S. natural gas, as relations with Moscow chill over its intervention in Ukraine.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish fighter jets had shot down a Syrian warplane which had violated its airspace on Sunday.

Addressing his supporters at a rally on Sunday, Erdogan congratulated his air force on its actions on Sunday and vowed a harsh response to any violation of Turkey's airspace.

Militant Islamists living in the European Union have tried to cross Greece’s borders on their way to back the armed struggle against the Assad regime in Syria, Greek security officials have told Sunday’s Kathimerini.

Kosovo is our Jerusalem, minister tells Israeli daily

JERUSALEM -- Aleksandar Vulin, minister in charge of Kosovo in Serbia's caretaker government, has said that Kosovo has both economic and strategic significance for Serbia.

But above all, he told the Jerusalem Post in an interview given ahead of last weekend's elections, it is "the soul of the Serb people."

The UN refugee agency issued a report saying there was a sharp rise in asylum claims in 44 industrialized countries in 2013. driven primarily by the crisis in Syria.

UNHCR's "Asylum Trends 2013" report says 612,700 people applied for asylum in North America, Europe, East Asia and the Pacific in 2013, which is the highest total for any year since 2001.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu News Agency reported on Friday that Interior Minister Efkan Ala had said two of the arrested "terrorists" were Albanian nationals, while the third was from Kosovo. 

The shoot-out in the central Turkish province of Nigde on Thursday left three people dead, including a soldier and a police officer.

Albania arrests alleged jihad recruiting group

Officials are trying to prevent imams and others from recruiting Muslims to fight in foreign conflicts.

Muslims arrive at a Tirana mosque whose imam, Genci Balla, and six others were arrested on charges of recruiting believers to join the Syria conflict. [AFP]

NATO terminates its practical cooperation with Russia, because of the tensions in Ukraine. 

According to NATO's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, quoted by the Russian wire agency ITAR-TASS, currently NATO is reconsidering its cooperation with Russia.