International relations

Loud blasts were heard in Bulgaria's town of Kostenets shortly before 9 AM on Friday morning, reports Nova TV national channel. 

According to eyewitnesses, quoted by the television, the town is full of police, ambulances and fire engines, but there are no details as to what happened. 

Croatian food exporters faced with Russian "nyet"

ZAGREB -- A decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week in response to western sanctions has also hit seven Croatian companies.

By Nikos Konstandaras

The outgoing top IMF representative in Turkey, Mark Lewis, has been appointed as the new head of the IMF’s mission to Greek Cyprus and will lead a team that will review the country’s bailout program.

Montenegro, once a close ally of Russia, is among the countries facing Russian counter-measures, having joined Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its role in the Ukraine crisis.

On Wednesday, Russia declared a one-year ban on the import of agricultural products from those countries that had either imposed sanctions against it, or had supported those measures.

The Specialized Prosecutor's Office has pressed charges against four officials of the Veliko Tarnovo unit of Bulgaria's Automobile Administration Executive Agency (AAEA).

Within two months after presidential elections, a delegation from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will release its final report, which will also include recommendations for improving the election system in Turkey, said the head of the OSCE’s election observation team in Turkey.

The European Union is to refer Moscow's decision to restrict imports of food from the bloc to the World Trade Organization (WTO), a diplomatic source reveals.

A total 3,498 people from crisis-hit Greece took German citizenship last year, a 25 percent drop compared to 2012, official data showed.

Overall some 110,000 foreigners became nationals of Europe's biggest economy in 2013. The largest number came from Turkey, at 27,970, despite a 16 percent drop compared to 2012, followed by people from Poland, Ukraine and Greece.

The District Court in Bulgaria's town of Vidin is due to sit on a request to discharge mayor Gergo Gergov issued by the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office.

Prosecutors indicted Gergov after he was arrested in an investigation carried out by the State Agency for National Security (DANS).