Government

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic will visit Riga on March 6 and 7 where he will attend an informal meeting in the Gymnich format that will gather ministers of foreign affairs of EU members and candidate countries.

Croatia's FM says she could run for top UN job

ZAGREB -- Croatia's Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic has announced the possibility of running for the office of secretary-general of the United Nations.

British lawmakers say the country's intelligence agencies, which inspired James Bond, are not doing enough to promote real-life Jane Bonds.

A report on women in the intelligence services says female staff are being held back by a layer of middle managers, dubbed "the permafrost," who have "a very traditional male mentality and outlook."

BELGRADE - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic conferred on Thursday with Russian Ambassador in Belgrade Alexander Chepurin concerning the political and economic cooperation between the two countries.

Bulgaria's top judicial body has rejected the resignation of Petyo Petyov, who heads the Sofia Investigative Service.

The motion was tabled on Thursday morning by Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov, but was turned down by an overwhelming majority at the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS): 12-4, 2 abstained.

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Interior Affairs Nebojsa Stefanovic and European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos agreed on Thursday that control on the Serbian-Hungarian border needs to be intensified so as to tackle the problem of illegal migrations from Kosovo.

There has been intense activity at the Air Force base in Diyarbakir, Turkey, as Ankara is considering whether to help Iraq in the fight against Islamic State, media sources say.

Aircraft are being regularly scrambled, and troops have been instructed to "react" in case of hostility from IS, according to reports.

The European Union is ready to arbitrate in the worsening dispute in Macedonia over claims of mass eavesdropping by the government, the EU's foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, and Enlargement Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, said in Brussels on Wednesday.

TIRANA - Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama agreed in Tirana on Wednesday that both countries were willing to improve their cooperation in the new stage of their relations.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov announced Thursday that he will propose Rumyana Bachvarova for the position of Minister of the Interior to replace Veselin Vuchkov after his resignation.

Borisov made the announcement at his unexpected visit to Bulgarian Parliament. He said that he will make the proposal for the new minister position to stop speculations on the matter.