Airline passengers in Romania and Bulgaria welcomed their countries' partial accession to the Schengen Area on March 31. Both nations are now part of the visa-free travel zone when traveling by air or sea, but document checks remain on their land borders. "This is a historic moment," one traveler told reporters at Bucharest airport, and the same positive mood prevailed at the airport in Sofia.
The European Union’s border-monitoring mission in Armenia (EUMA) has reported no unusual movements of the Armenian military after Azerbaijan earlier on March 31 claimed Armenian troops had massed along the border.
A Pakistani man who allegedly filmed his brother strangling their sister to death has been arrested as part of the latest "honor" killing that has outraged the country, police said on March 31.
North Macedonia has admitted that four shipments of produce containing dangerous levels of banned pesticides were headed for the EU. Croatia stopped them at the border.
Diplomats accredited in Russia laid flowers at the site of the Crocus City Hall terror attack in Krasnogorsk, just outside Moscow. U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy and envoys from other countries that Russia labels as "unfriendly" were among the dozens of diplomats joining the ceremony on March 30. A day earlier, Tracy issued a video statement pledging U.S. readiness to help investigate the mass shooting. She also said "several Russian officials" had downplayed an earlier U.S. warning of a threat from the Islamic State extremist group.
Russian security forces arrested several Tajik citizens in the wake of the March 22 attack on the Crocus City Hall outside Moscow that left more than 140 dead, claiming they were the perpetrators of the massacre. The news touched off a wave of xenophobia against Central Asian migrant laborers in Russia, with most of the suspicion and hostility directed toward ethnic Tajiks. This overt racism is also spilling over into Tajik-Russian relations. Joining host Bruce Pannier to discuss these matters and more are Edward Lemon... Читать дальше...
Three people have been detained after Russia launched what it described as a “counterterrorism operation” in the southern region of Daghestan, Russian state news agencies reported, quoting the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC).
Romania and Bulgaria have formally joined -- at least partially -- Europe’s visa-free Schengen travel zone as of March 31, a move widely hailed in both countries as well as the EU after years of painful negotiations.
