The U.S. Marines are supposed to be relocated. There is a halt to the project. The dispute over the facility is traceable to 1995 after Marines raped a 12 year old girl. The incident sparked massive anti-base protests. It forced to begin a formal process of reducing the U.S. presence in Okinawa, Source The Japan Times
Hundreds of truck drivers blocked roads across Bulgaria on Thursday (17 May) as European Union leaders met in Sofia, protesting against proposed EU rules they say would cost them their jobs and put their firms out of business. Source: Euractiv
At the 23 March EU summit, Rajoy told his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borissov that he would not attend the EU-Western Balkans summit organised by the EU Bulgarian Presidency in Sofia because he did not want to sit on the same table with Kosovo. Source: Euractiv
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has begun talks with President Vladimir Putin on her first visit to Russia since 2015. The meeting, at Mr Putin’s summer residence in Sochi, comes with bilateral relations in a trough over the war in Syria and Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Source: BBC
