Politicians

World Leaders Bid their Farewell to Merkel

The German army will honor with a farewell parade Chancellor Angela Merkel for her 16 years of rule, DPA reported.

Merkel, who is stepping down, will deliver a short speech ahead of a ceremony scheduled for tonight.

Belgrade Higher Court on Thursday found four former Serbian state security employees guilty after a retrial of the murder in 1999 of journalist and editor Slavko Curuvija, who was known for his opposition to the regime of Slobodan Milosevic.

After 16 years in power, Merkel resigned as chancellor. Here is what world leaders have to say about it, synthesized by Deutsche Welle

Barack Obama: "I was lucky to be her friend"

According to a document from the Office obtained by Bloomberg, Merkel recommends that people who have not been fully vaccinated be banned from going to restaurants, cinemas and shops that are not necessary.
She also calls for mandatory vaccinations against COVID-19 starting in February 2022.

"When I came to [daily newspaper] Borba in 1990, he was a reporter and political analyst, and known for writing a couple of pamphlets, one of which I remember was about the people from Goli Otok [political prison in Socialist Yugoslavia]," Gunjic recalled.

The official Kremlin claims that at least 120.000 Ukrainian soldiers were sent to Donbas.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred to the statement of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that there is a need for Moscow to end the war in the region, saying that the situation in Donbas is "an internal issue of Ukraine" and that it can only be resolved among Ukrainians.

Ljubljana – An initiative by the opposition Left to call a consultative referendum on a long-term programme for the development of the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) was voted down by eight votes to one on the Defence Committee on Tuesday. The vote is not binding on the plenary.

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) should be closed and its top officials should be banned from politics, the Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Bekir Şahin has said, reiterating his call once again.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has issued a state of emergency over Omicron, the new version of Covid-19.

The move comes after President Joe Biden announced restrictions on travel from South Africa and seven other countries in the region on Monday.

Ljubljana – Prime Minister Janez Janša held a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday. The issues discussed included the situation in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood and the Polish-Belarusian border, the EU’s common position on migration pressure, and the build-up of Russian military on the border with Ukraine.