Politics by country

As the President Hashim Thaci on Kosovo launched talks on Monday with party leaders on the formation of a government of national unity - "to avoid an institutional vacuum", as he said - legal experts told BIRN that his hands in the formation of a new cabinet are largely tied, and success in this venture looked unlikely.

Politicians from across the spectrum paid homage to Manolis Glezos, the veteran leftist and resistance fighter who died at the age of 98.

Greece is reportedly in a heightened state of vigilance at all levels, so that in the coming period of its forced introversion to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic the conditions are not created that would allow Ankara to spring any surprises.

Two tweets by Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro in which he questioned quarantine measures aimed at containing the novel coronavirus were removed on March 29, on the grounds that they violated the social network's rules.    

The AHEPA University Hospital in Thessaloniki, northern Greece will get 17 new intensive care unit beds Monday.

Last week, staff at the hospital, which is at the forefront of the effort to fight the new coronavirus in the northern port city, had made an urgent plea for more supplies of protective gear to help them cope, highlighting shortages in surgical masks and antiseptics.

The resounding nature of Plenkovic's victory, however, glosses over internal divisions that plagued the conservative HDZ leading up to this race.

The Greek Foreign Ministry has congratulated North Macedonia for becoming the 30th member of NATO.

"We congratulate the Republic of North Macedonia that joins NATO as the 30th member of our alliance. We welcome our neighbors to the NATO family and look forward to working together as allies," it tweeted.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on March 28 called for a stay-at-home order after coronavirus cases jumped by a third in a day.

"At this stage, it is evident that we need a comprehensive, wide and effective stay-at-home and quarantine," Kılıçdaroğlu said in a statement.

The total number of hospitalizations is 302, and 42 people have recovered from coronavirus, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said.
At the beginning of his address, Vucic cited the number of people who died in Europe today, with particular emphasis on Italy, in which 969 people died in the last 24 hours.

Afghanistan's government late on March 26 announced a 21-member team to negotiate with the Taliban in a tentative sign of progress for the United States-brokered peace deal.