Page 7 - bne_newspaper_April_27_2018

The Regions This Week
April 27, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 7
Southeast Europe
Prison will no longer disrupt the working lives
of Romanian convicts under a draft law approved by the lower house of parliament. MPs backed plans to allow those with sentences of up to five years to serve them at home or at the weekends.
Angry protesters accused the Serbian government of plotting to destroy Nis airport, in the country’s second city. Plans to transfer ownership of the airport from the city to the central government have sparked mass protests.
Albania’s only urban waste recycling plant burned down. No one was killed or injured in the huge fire that broke out at Everest’s plant near Tirana but the fire released huge clouds of toxic gases from burning plastic.
Japanese trading house Itochu is pulling out of a nuclear power plant project in Turkey due to a surge in safety-related costs, casting uncertainty over the plant's future. The project in the Black Sea city of Sinop was agreed on by the Japanese and Turkish governments in 2013.
The new Bosnian airline FlyBosnia will launch its first flight on June 10, connecting Sarajevo
to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Bosnia is becoming an increasingly popular destination for tourists from the Middle East.
Bulgaria and Romania will ask for Chinese funds for a new bridge over the Danube. This will be the third bridge linking the two countries, which have seen a hike in trade recently.
Pristina will not pay the debts of state-owned Kosovo Telecom, but will find a way to recover the company and prepare it for privatisation. Once Kosovo’s most profitable company, Kosovo Telecom is currently in a deep financial crisis and risks falling into bankruptcy.
Macedonia sold its first 30-year T-bond issue
worth MKD1.2bn (€19.5mn) in an auction on April 24, the finance ministry said. The issue of long-term bonds is expected to lower the risk of refinancing the country's public debt.
A Turkish court sentenced 14 staff of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper to prison
on terrorism charges and acquitted three. The sentencing came on the same day that Reporters Without Borders issued its latest annual World Press Freedom Index and slated Turkey for having become the world’s biggest jailer of journalists.
US private equity firm KKR is acquiring television channels in Bosnia and Montenegro, Pink BiH and Pink Montenegro. KKR entered the region though its acquisition of Serbia-based United Group in 2014.
A Bulgarian study confirmed food producers’ double standards for Eastern and Western EU member states. Differences were spotted in the ingredients and nutritional values of products sold in Bulgaria and other EU countries for products including formula milk, mozzarella, soft drinks, pasta, chocolate and confectionary.
Freight transportation in Moldova rose 23% in Q1 to 3mn tonnes. The increase follows an improvement in the performance of Moldova’s industrial sector.
Croatian oil and gas group INA will close its catalytic cracking facility at the Sisak refinery and will use it for other industrial purposes, said the company’s newly appointed CEO, Sandor Fasimon. INA owns another refinery in Rijeka.