Bulgaria has closed its airspace to Russian cargo planes with relief aid for Syria. Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Betina Zhoteva said there were “reasonable doubts the cargoes are not the declared one”. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has confirmed earlier reports by Greek mass media to this effect. Source: Tass
A Frenchman who had been on France’s terror watchlist after showing signs of having been radicalized to extremist Islam has been accepted into France’s police force. The man was placed on the terror watch list in 2012 as a known radical Islamist and France’s intelligence service DGSI kept him under surveillance for a number of years after being alerted to his behaviour. Source The Local
Violent crime in America rose in 2016 for the second straight year, driven by a spike in killings in some major cities, but remained near historically low levels, according to FBI data released Monday. Source Bloomberg
One of the main issues that has recently damaged relations between the two countries has been repeated statements by Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, claiming that Bosnia is home to up to 10,000 Islamic extremists. Source Balkan Insight
