Politics

The National Democratic Institute, NDI, said that it wanted to change the current practice in Macedonia where candidates usually do not take part in proper televised debates with each other ahead of polls.

The Russian Parliament is expected to pass legislation in the coming days regarding Crimea’s accession into its federation.

On Sunday, over 96% of Crimeans voted in favor of splitting from Ukraine, in a referendum, which was not internationally recognized.

Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev has formally approved the partial mobilization of 40 000 reservists.

The move, which was initiated by a presidential decree, is in response to the "war-time" situation, as lawmakers described Crimea region's vote to join Russia.

A Russian state TV anchor described Russia as the only country capable of turning the United States into "radioactive ash", Sunday.

Bulgaria's Government is considering the introduction of mandatory inscriptions in Bulgarian on the packaging of imported goods. 

Currently the labels and instruction manuals in Bulgarian are also mandatory, but some of the goods have additional Bulgarian labels, pasted on the package.

In impoverished Bosnia, MPs are to be envied. Parliamentarians earn no less than than six times the average wage.

It makes them the best paid parliamentarians in Europe in terms of comparison to average wages, the Banja Luka-based Center for research and studies, Gea, said.

BELGRADE - Leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) Ivica Dacic stated that the coalition centred on SPS achieved very important results in the early parliamentary elections and that he is willing to conduct talks on the constitution of the future government in case the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) as the winner in the elections proposes such an initiative.

BELGRADE - Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) leader Aleksandar Vucic has said that fiscal consolidation and structural reforms will be among priorities for the new government, adding that he will talk with everyone and that he is only interested in the essence of things in this concern.

PRISTINA - Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo Jean-Claude Schlumberger said that the voting procedure in the early parliamentary elections in Kosovo-Metohija on Sunday was conducted in keeping with regulations and the data of the organisation show 34.42 percent of citizens with the right to vote cast their ballots in the course of the day.

BELGRADE - Russian Ambassador in Serbia Alexander Chepurin expressed the expectation that the Serbian government would realise what Serbia needs most, primarily in terms of economic development.