Juncker: Greece's return to financial markets not solving people's problems

Berlin, 13 April 2014 (MIA) - Athens' return to the financial markets does not solve the economic and social problems of Greeks, Jean-Claude Juncker has said.

Former Luxembourg PM Juncker is the candidate of the European People's Party (EPP) for the post European Commission President.

"The step does not automatically lead to a dramatic improvement of living conditions in Greece", Juncker told "Tagesspiegel am Sonntag". ik/14:12

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Turkey's Erdogan targets Twitter taxes, blasts constitutional court

Ankara, 13 April 2014 (MIA) - In a televised speech on Saturday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced his latest objections about the social media website Twitter, saying that the for-profit company should pay Turkish taxes. The San Francisco-based company has no official presence in Turkey, although around 10 million Turks use the service, DW reports.

"Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are international companies established for profit and making money," Erdogan said. "Twitter is at the same time a tax evader. We will go after it. These companies, like every international company, will abide by my country's constitution, laws and tax rules."

Erdogan's government banned the Twitter site on March 20, in the run-up to regional elections, reinstating access after two court orders on April 3. The short messaging service, well-suited to sharing links to information elsewhere online, had become a popular vehicle for spreading information appearing to implicate members of Erdogan's government in a major corruption scandal.

After orders from two courts, including Turkey's constitutional court at appeal, the government reinstated access to Twitter. Many Turkish users - not least President Abdullah Gul who criticized the ban in a series of posts on Twitter - had already found ways to circumvent the restrictions. sk/10:02

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B&H citizens will soon be able to enter Albania with only an ID card

Sarajevo, 13 April 2014 (MIA) - Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) and Albania will soon be able to enter both countries with only their ID cards, announced the Albanian Ambassador to B&H Flamur Gasi.

According to him, the agreement on this has already been prepared, and they are only waiting for it to be signed, probably at the end of May, by the B&H Minister of Foreign Affairs Zlatko Lagumdzija and head of Albanian diplomacy Ditmir Busati.

”There will be a number of agreements between the two countries, and the most interesting relates to the free movement of citizens, which would certainly contribute to the strengthening of bilateral tourism, but also in some way be an indication that B&H and Albania are trying harder to beome part of the European family”, said Gasi.

He explained that the President of Albania Bujar Bisani will not visit B&H at the end of April, as was originally planned, but rather on 28 June, when the marking of WWI is planned.