Kosovo police seized a record 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of cocaine that originated in Brazil, and arrested seven people suspected of drug trafficking offenses, authorities said Tuesday.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, sentenced to life for war crimes and genocide, will serve his sentence in a UK prison, the British government announced on Wednesday. Karadzic, 75, is one of the chief architects of the slaughter and devastation of Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, AP recalls.

The high level of North Macedonia’s alignment with EU Foreign and Security Policy was highlighted by EU High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell on Tuesday during his meeting in Brussels with RNM’s PM Zoran Zaev. 

The Foreign Affairs Council on Monday held a strategic discussion on the Western Balkans and the reinforced EU engagement in the region. 

Serbia on Sunday honoured 2019 Nobel Literature Prize winner Peter Handke, who is known for his apologist views over Serbia's nationalist policies and Serb war crimes during the 1990s wars in the Balkans, AP reported. The Austrian novelist and screenwriter received a state decoration from Serbia President Aleksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist who now says he wants his country to join the EU.

People in Turkey stocked up on groceries, filled markets and left cities for their hometowns or the southern coast Thursday as the country prepared to enter its strictest lockdown of the pandemic.

President of the Republic of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski is on a two-day visit to Brussels, where he is holding a series of working meetings, including with the EP's standing rapporteur for the country, Ilhan Kyuchyuk (Renew Europe Group, Bulgaria).

Albania's PM Edi Rama declared victory in parliamentary elections on Tuesday and claimed a record third term in office, but the opposition has refused to accept the result, AFP reported. Rama held a victory rally in front of thousands of supporters after the election commission said his Socialists were on course for 74 seats in the 140-seat parliament following Sunday's vote.

During his meeting on Tuesday with President of the RNM Stevo Pendarovski in Brussels, HR/VP Josep Borrell reiterated North Macedonia’s clear and uncontested EU perspective and looked forward to the adoption of the negotiating framework by the Council so that the first intergovernmental conference can be held as soon as possible.

The European Union and the United States on Monday rejected the idea of redrawing borders in Western Balkans, after an unofficial diplomatic note proposing to break up Bosnia and merge Kosovo with Albania was circulated among EU officials, Reuters reported.