Legislatures

An Israeli-backed Cypriot fund's deal to buy a Lukoil-owned refinery in Italy is hanging in the balance ahead of a Cabinet meeting in Rome possibly this week, when veto powers would be weighed against energy hub aspirations that could replace Russian gas and put the final nail in the coffin of a proposed EastMed pipeline.

Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon and her Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani committed to further cooperation between the two counties in the management of illegal migrations as they met in Ljubljana on 17 March. They said they were in agreement about the need for the issue to be addressed at the EU level.

Croatia's prime minister says he sees no prospect of cooperation with the country's president. The president says the PM has not shown "even the slightest interest" in resolving a raft of issues where their jurisdictions overlap.

That Andrej Plenkovic, the premier, and Zoran Milanovic, the president, do not see eye to eye has long been apparent.

ROME - Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic met with Italian Deputy PM and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini in Rome on Tuesday.

After the meeting, Vesic said that, in the period to come, the two countries would work together on abolishing transit permits.

Australia's defense minister said Tuesday a deal to buy nuclear-powered attack submarines from the United States was necessary to counter the biggest conventional military buildup in the region since World War II.

Australia is briefing neighboring Asian countries on its plan to build nuclear submarines ahead of an announcement about it in the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, as local media reported the program could generate 20,000 jobs.

The Homeland Party has nominated its chairman Muharrem İnce as the presidential candidate amid growing pressure from the opposition alliance for supporting the joint candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).

There were calls for flexibility but also for a clear set of rules as the Finance Ministry and the European Commission Representation in Slovenia hosted a high-profile event to discuss efforts for the EU's new economic governance framework at Brdo pri Kranju on 9 March.

Speaking to reporters ahead of a ministerial meeting in Stockholm, Reznikov said Ukraine urgently needed shells to defend itself against Russian forces and launch a counterattack, Reuters reported.

The possibility of general elections being called for April 9, as widely speculated in recent weeks, is growing increasingly remote as the government deals with the fallout from last week's deadly train crash in Tempe, central Greece.