Italy has warned that Russia is competing with the EU for influence in the Western Balkans, as the bloc underlined its old enlargement pledge. “There are other regional or global powers that are very interested in having an influence in this region,” Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni told press. He said there were geopolitical “tensions … difficulties … [and] misunderstandings” over the future of the six former Yugoslav nations. Source: EUObserver
Joint Serbian-Hungarian border police patrols started on Friday (October 15) to increase surveillance along the border and to intensify the fight against irregular immigration.
The interior ministers of Serbia and Hungary, Aleksandar Vulin and Sandor Pinter, on Friday inspected joint Serbian-Hungarian border patrols at the Horgos-Razske crossing. The patrols started Friday morning to bulk up border control and step up the fight against irregular immigration. Source InfoMigrants
Israel has approved a budget of some 5 billion shekels ($1.5 billion) to be used to prepare the military for a potential strike against Iran’s nuclear program, Channel 12 reported Monday. Source Times of Israel
- The Chinese military on Sunday condemned the United States and Canada for each sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait last week.
- It said they were threatening peace and stability in the region.
- China claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, and has mounted repeated air force missions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the past year, provoking anger in Taipei. Source CNBC
