Europe

KOPAONIK - The crisis in Ukraine is not affecting the gas price in Serbia, Srbijagas CEO Dusan Bajatovic said on Wednesday, adding that gas reserves are enough for households during this heating season.

KOPAONIK - Serbia is setting up a domestic power exchange named Sepex, in which the French partner, Epex Spot, will have 25 percent of the stake, and the Serbian national grid operator Elektromreza Srbije - 75 percent, Nikola Petrovic, the director of the public company, announced on Wednesday.

KOPAONIK - Strengthening the rule of law, institutions, justice system and harmonizing Serbia's foreign policy with that of the EU are just some of the recommendations that ambassadors of the EU member states and the Unites States see as the priorities for Belgrade along its path toward EU membership.

BELGRADE - The first Serbia-Russia business expo and the first Belgrade business forum were opened in Belgrade on Wednesday with participation of 87 Russian and 100 Serbian companies.

The expo, which is organized in Hotel Metropol Palace, brings together companies from the sectors of traffic, energy, medical equipment and agriculture.

BELGRADE - A total of 36,295 tourists visited Belgrade in January 2014, which is by 12 percent more than in the same month in 2013, the data of the City Institute of Informatics and Statistics show.

BELGRADE - Sinisa Mali, president of the interim administration of the City of Belgrade, said that the new makeup of the City Assembly will make the final decision on whether the ashes of Nikola Tesla would be relocated from the Belgrade Tesla Museum to the churchyard of the St. Sava Cathedral.

STRPCE - Several hundred Serbs rallied in Strpce on Wednesday urging the release of five fellow nations who were incarcerated in an action by the ROSU special unit of the Kosovo police.

KOPAONIK - Tanja Miscevic, Serbia's chief negotiator with the EU, stated on Wednesday that the next government should adopt as soon as possible the legislation on labor, bankruptcy and privatization that has been prepared, as well as a great number of bylaws.

BELGRADE - The problem with issuing government guarantees needed for the construction of the South Stream pipeline leg through Serbia has emerged because the reforms in Srbijagas, a government owned company, are behind schedule, the Ministry of Energy has said.

STRPCE - Ivan Redzic, official of the municipality of Strpce, has said that five Serbs from this town, who were arrested in Tuesday's action by the Kosovo police, have been placed in custody.