Euobserver.com

The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are meeting in Brussels Thursday (18 August) in the hopes of resolving a spike in tensions over border issues.

While some experts have played down the risks of a disaster concerning nuclear facilities in Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict, these assessments understate the threat.

When a pro-western coalition swept to power in Slovak elections in 2020, many saw it as the start of a new era. Yet fast forward two-and-a-half years, and the four-party coalition is teetering on the brink of collapse.

Inflation will be lower than predicted three months ago, and economic contraction also less than expected, according to the Russian economy ministry on Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported. Russia's February invasion of Ukraine triggered unprecedented Western sanctions, plunging the energy-dependent economy into turmoil. But GDP is now forecast to shrink 4.2 percent in 2022, compared with a 7.8 percent prediction in May, and inflation hit 13.4 percent, rather than 17.5 percent.

Germany's anti-discrimination agency on Tuesday said it had received the second-highest number of discrimination cases over a 12-month period in 2021. The agency started recording cases in 2006. The agency's chief Ferda Atama said a total of 5,617 cases were reported of discrimination, noting that 37-percent were related to racial discrimination, 32-percent to disability and chronic diseases, followed by 20-percent on gender and 10-percent on age.

Both candidates running to be next British prime minister rejected Scotland's plans for an independence referendum in 2023, instead pushing back with plans to subject the pro-EU government of first minister Nicola Sturgeon to greater scrutiny. Boris Johnson departs as PM in September, with Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak fighting for his job. Both appeared at Tuesday Scottish campaign event, promising to attack the Scottish government's health and education record.

Spain's prime minister Pedro Sanchez said he was hopeful that a new gas pipeline running through the Iberian Peninsula, central Europe and France could soon become a reality. "This is something the Spanish government has been demanding from Europe for a long time now… and we hope we can soon make this dream into a reality," he said. Spain currently has six liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.

German soldiers have returned to Bosnia for the first time in a decade, Reuters reported, as fears of instability from the Ukraine war could spread to the Western Balkans. The troops are part of the European Union's peacekeeping mission (EUFOR), and were greeted in Sarajevo on Tuesday at a ceremony at the HQ. Some 30 troops are expected by mid-September. Bosnian Serb separatists are suspected of being supported from Moscow.

Russian citizens were circumventing the European airspace ban by driving to Helsinki airport, which was being used as a hub to fly to other tourist destinations. Finland is now restricting those border crossings.

After more than a year of false starts, US and EU officials are now signalling a deal could emerge as the Biden administration is weighing Iran's response to a proposal aimed at reviving the 2015 international nuclear agreement. The US so far has refused to comment in detail on the proposal, but state department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday that it was close to what the US wants.

Thousands of Jews living in Russia are planning to leave. At least one-in-eight is planning to leave, according to the Jewish Agency, which says 20,500 of Russia's estimated total of 165,000 Jews have left since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with many going to Israel where the law of return gives anyone who can prove they have at least one Jewish grandparent the right to citizenship.

Russia's defence ministry has warned Britain against a planned spy plane flight over Russian territory, saying its air force has been given orders to prevent an intrusion. The ministry said on Tuesday that the UK had sent a notice informing about a planned flight of an RC-135 reconnaissance plane along a route that partly passes over Russian territory. "We regard this action as a deliberate provocation," the ministry said.

Conditions have been met for the German government to allow a temporary lifetime extension of three remaining nuclear reactors, according to the Wall Street Journal, as the country is facing a likely shortage of gas this winter.

It's a year since the Western military presence in Afghanistan ended. A year since panic-stricken people flocked to Kabul airport, trying to flee the country, and girls and women waited fearfully for the disintegration of their hard-won rights.

It is a strange, strange summer. The war in Ukraine continues, 60 percent of Europe is in danger of drought, and Covid is still around and could rebound in the autumn. At the same time, everyone is desperate for normalcy.

Nordic leaders on Monday vowed to step up cooperation on defence. "Finland and Sweden applying for membership of Nato is a historic shift for Nordic security policy and co-operation on defence. It makes it possible to see Nordic cooperation on defence in a broader and more binding context," said Jonas Gahr Støre, prime minister of Norway when he received his colleagues from Sweden, Iceland, Finland, and Denmark.

Scientists are investigating the cause of a "catastrophic" mass death of fish in the River Oder, between Poland and Germany, the Guardian reported. Polish scientists have traced high salt levels, but rejected German claims of mercury pollution, but with both governments suspecting an untraced chemical spillage. German authorities have banned fishing and bathing in the river. Some 2,000 police, 300 firefighters and 200 soldiers have been deployed to remove carcasses.

Ukraine says it has hit a base being used near the occupied city of Melitopol by Russia's mercenary Wagner group. The governor of the Luhansk region said the target was destroyed "by a precision strike", after the address was inadvertently revealed by a Russian journalist, according to Ukrainian website Ukrainska Pravda. The shadowy Wagner group is believed to have hundreds of mercenaries fighting in Mali and elsewhere in Africa.

Households in Germany are set for an annual €480 increase for gas as part of levy to wean the country off Russian supplies. German gas market operator Trading Hub Europe said it had set the charge at €2.419 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). The levy will be imposed from October 1 and until April 2024 in an effort to ease the costs for its Russian gas importers.

France has withdrawn its last troops from its Barkhane operation in Mali, ending a nine-year struggle against jihadist forces. France started withdrawing its troops after the junta seized power in Mali in 2020. France still has around 2,500 personnel in the Sahel, with many posted in Niger. "The French army forces continue to fight terrorism in the Sahel, in close coordination with our African and international partners," it said.