All News from Balkans

Macron says France will not recognise Crimea 'annexation'

President Emmanuel Macron said Monday France refuses to recognise Russia's "annexation" of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, AFP reported.
Speaking after talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Paris, Macron said: "France is committed to Ukraine's sovereignty with its recognised borders."/FOCUS News Agency/

Ekaterina Zaharieva: No change in Bulgarian stand on languages in friendship treaty with Macedonia

There is no change in Bulgaria's stand on the languages in the friendship treaty, to be signed with Macedonia, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said in response to a question from a reporter of FOCUS News Agency.

Anarchists vandalize banks in show of solidarity for jailed robber

Groups of self-styled anarchists vandalized the facades of banks on Akadimias Street in central Athens on Monday during a protest to express solidarity with the jailed robber Tasos Theofilou.

Theofilou has been in prison since his arrest for an armed robbery on the island of Paros in 2012 and a final ruling on his case is expected in the coming days.

Irish naval ship rescues 712 people near Libya

An Irish naval ship rescued 712 people including pregnant women and infants off the coast of the Libyan capital of Tripoli as part of an international migrant rescue effort, Ireland's Defence Forces said on Monday.

China releases Nobel laureate Liu with terminal cancer

China's jailed Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo has been granted medical parole after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer last month, his lawyer told AFP on June 26.

Liu, who had about three years of his 11-year sentence to serve, was diagnosed on May 23 and was released days later, said lawyer Mo Shaoping.

Trump eager for big meeting with Putin; some advisers wary

U.S. President Donald Trump is eager to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin with full diplomatic bells and whistles when the two are in Germany for a multinational summit next month. But the idea is exposing deep divisions within the administration on the best way to approach Moscow in the midst of an ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. elections.

UK fire fears continue as 60 buildings deemed unsafe

The fallout from London's devastating tower block blaze has continued with the government announcing 60 high-rises have failed safety tests, as an insurance body said they had warned officials of the fire risks.

The massive operation to test tower blocks follows the Grenfell Tower inferno earlier this month that is presumed to have killed 79 people after it spread at shocking speed.

German shoppers drive business morale to 'jubilant' record high

German business confidence unexpectedly rose in June to a record high, as strong domestic consumption and robust exports combined to make company executives increasingly upbeat about the growth outlook for Europe's largest economy.

Southeast Asian nations torch $1 billion of seized drugs

Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia torched nearly $1 billion worth of seized narcotics on June 26, a defiant show of force as police struggle to stem the rising flow of drugs in the region.

The burnings, to mark the U.N.'s world anti-drugs day, follow another year of record seizures of narcotics from the remote borderlands of Myanmar, Laos, southern China and northern Thailand.

Female chef listed for top award with project to improve lives of Turkish, Syrian women

Ebru Baybara Demir, a chef and social entrepreneur from the southeastern province of Mardin, has been selected as one of the 10 finalists of the Basque Culinary World Prize, which is given to chefs who improve society through gastronomy.

Talks between gov't, unionists on trash jobs collapse

Talks between Interior Minister Panos Skourletis and unionists representing striking municipal garbage collectors failed to yield a compromise on Monday as a prosecutor launched an investigation into whether anyone should be charged over the piles of rotting trash on city streets.

One soldier killed, another injured in clash with PKK in Turkey's east

One soldier was killed and another was injured in an operation conducted against outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants at a rural area between the eastern province of Elazığ's Karakoçan district and the provincial border of eastern Bingöl on June 26, Doğan News Agency has reported.