BRUSSELS: Senior European Union officials, worried by growing Chinese and Russian influence in the Balkans, accused France on Friday of making a “historic error” by refusing to let North Macedonia and Albania start talks on joining the EU. North Macedonia, Albania and four other Balkan countries - Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia - are trying to join the world’s biggest trading bloc following the ethnic wars of the 1990s that led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia. But though the 28 EU governments see Balkan membership as inevitable one day, French President Emmanuel Macron opposed the start of entry talks with Albania and North Macedonia in what one envoy said was an emotional six-hour debate at an EU summit. Macron later told reporters that the membership bids could not progress until the EU, with its complex decision-making structures, changed - though he did not say how it must do so.
Liberal Justice Elena Kagan on Sept. 13, 2016. — Slate website WASHINGTON: U.S. Supreme Court justices, wading back...
A representational image of inmates behind jail bars. — Unsplash/FileMOSCOW: A Russian court on Wednesday ordered...
Sudanese soldiers guard the surrounding area of the UNMIS compound in El-Fasher, the administrative capital of North...
US quietly shipped ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. — Report news agencyWASHINGTON: The United States in recent weeks...
US President Joe Biden during his address in California. — AFP FileWASHINGTON: President Joe Biden signed a...
The World Meteorological Organisation flag. — AFP FileGENEVA: Global temperatures hit record highs last year, and...