Wales

Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev has said that the army would be inefficient in operations involving guarding the Bulgarian-Turkish border.

In a Friday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, Nenchev commented on the proposal for joint patrols of the Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry at the Bulgarian-Turkish border.

The Montenegrin parliament is shortly to discuss a government proposal to retire all existing intelligence officers aged 50 and older by March 1.

Under an amendment to the law on the National Security Agency, employees with 30 years of work experience, of which at least 15 have been spent working for the Agency, will be retired "under favourable conditions".

At this year's public cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said he expected economic growth of about 2 per cent in 2015, which is lower than was planned but higher compared to the region, the eurozone and the EU in general.

"In the historic Land of Maramures, the hills are alive with ways long forgotten elsewhere in Europe," says the latest issue of US-based travel magazine National Geographic Traveler.

A record 1,020 rhinos have been poached in South Africa this year, the government said Nov. 20, scuppering multiple efforts by authorities to curb the slaughter of the endangered species.
      
The vast Kruger National Park, has been hit the hardest by poachers, with 672 killed inside the park, which is roughly the size of Wales.
      

BELGRADE - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has expressed confidence that KFOR will remain fully committed to implementing its mandate in keeping with UN Security Council Resolution 1244, acting in the interests of all communities in Kosovo.

Bulgaria will increase defence spending in line with decisions of the recent NATO summit in Wales to address global challenges, President Rosen Plevneliev said on Friday.

"The crisis in Ukraine returned us to harsh reality," Plevneliev said at a defence industry forum in Sofia attended by senior NATO officials and representatives of Bulgarian military plants and research institutes.

The "Better Together" camp is leading on the "Yes Scotland" campaign, with partial results showing between 54 and 55 percent voted "No".

Results quoted by the Guardian suggest support for Scotland to remain part of the UK was at 1.397 m as of 05:15 BST (06:15 GMT), and those wanting the country to secede from Britain were 1.176 m.

BELGRADE - Serbia's attendance of the NATO summit in Wales underlines the fact that the country is assuming the position of a reliable and credible partner and that it is clearly committed to adopting the highest standards in specific fields in cooperation with different countries, Serbian Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic said on Tuesday.

Greece said Friday that it is willing to provide non-military backing to the group of countries that is willing to take on the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.