Early indications in Serbia’s May 11 elections were that voter turnout would be higher than in recent elections, Serbian and international news agencies reported. Voting was reported to be proceeding calmly, and no problems were reported as Serbs in northern Kosovo’s Mitrovico joined in voting. Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence on February 17, has been backed by several Western countries in opposing the inclusion of its territory in voting for Serbian elections.

The coalition of parties headlined by president Boris Tadić' Democratic party (DS), won the Serbian parliamentary election on May 11, according to the preliminary data released by the country's election body RIK, but faces difficult talks to form the new government. The coalition, which ran under the name For a European Serbia, won 38.75 per cent, RIK said, having counted 97.8 per cent of all ballots. That would give it 102 MPs in the 250-seat assembly.

Security is being beefed up in the run-up to the visit of Queen Elizabeth II of England and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, to Turkey on May 13 on an official visit. The 82-year-old monarch and her 86-year-old husband have accepted an invitation from President Abdullah Gül. The Queen will be visiting Turkey for inly the second time; her first visit was back in 1971.

A letter sent by the European Commission to Bulgaria on May 8 2008 showed the EC's firm position on how Bulgaria managed its EU funds spending. The full text of the letter was published by Bulgarian news agency Focus on May 13 2008 and shows the EC's attitude towards Bulgaria's efforts in overcoming the problems that led to EC halting payments under all pre-accession programmes.

The infrastructure unit of international financial group Morgan Stanley is screening opportunities for investment in infrastructure projects in Bulgaria, company sources told Investor.bg on May 12. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure was interested in airports, ports, investments in the energy sector, telecommunications and social infrastructure, among others.

Pending official results expected in the next two days, as polls closed in Serbia’s May 11 elections, the outcome was expected to be close with a relatively low turnout seen as likely to boost nationalist forces seeking to turn the country’s back on the West. The snap parliamentary elections were held on a date originally meant only for local elections, and were called after the Serbian government foundered over divisions about the country’s possible future with the European Union. Serbia’s EU policy hit turbulence after Kosovo declared independence on February 17 2008.

An Israeli committee that oversees the implementation of the country’s 1957 law on compensation for persecution by Nazis during the Holocaust ruled on May 11 that any Jew who lived under curfew in Bulgaria and Romania in World War 2 would be classified as a survivor, even though they were not sent to death camps. Reporting the decision, Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz and news agency ynetnews said that the decision could have an impact on thousands of Jews in Bulgaria and Romania.

Bulgarian government has been warned that the country could lose its right to take part in European Union voting procedures, Elmar Brock, chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee of the European Parliament (EP) told Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily on May 16 2008. Other than that, Bulgaria could face financial and political sanctions imposed by the EU, Brock said. This would include the freezing of funds Bulgaria was entitled to as an EU member Dnevnik said.

Bulgaria and Romania would likely join the euro zone in 2013-2014, the analytical unit of UniCredit Group said in its latest report titled The Euro goes Eastwards. It also warned that the main challenge to euro zone hopefuls was soaring inflation. Once all aspirants from Central and Eastern Europe adopt the single European currency, the euro zone will expand by a third. Currently, the euro is in use by 320 million Europeans in 15 countries.

A decline in the number of Bulgarian, and Romanian, seasonal workers is threatening to spoil Britain's soft fruits harvest, British newspaper The Independent reported on May 12. Once a lucrative business, which drew thousands of labourers, many of them students, this year British producers struggled to recruit enough people to pick the 50,000 tons of strawberries, raspberries and other soft fruits grown in the country for the local market.

May 12 is the national day for anonymous and free screening and prevention of skin cancer. Throughout the day, dermatologists from many Bulgarian towns and cities will conduct free checks of people, who have doubts for skin cancer. The campaign is called Euromelanoma 2008 and is part of the European initiative for prevention and screening of skin cancer. In Bulgaria, it aims to increase awareness about the issue.

State-run tobacco firm Bulgartabac Holding closed its cigarette plant in Plovdiv on May 12, a company spokesperson told The Sofia Echo on the same day. The holding did so despite the fact that until a day earlier, the plant's employees worked in three shifts due to many orders from Bulgaria and abroad, private broadcaster bTV reported. Bulgartabac Plovdiv is the oldest tobacco factory in Bulgaria. The information memorandum for the unit sale has to be ready within three months. However, some of the employees fear that the future buyer would not receive licence for cigarettes production. In such case, the huge building fund of the factory could be split up and sold piecemeal.

An earth tremor measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale shook northern Bulgaria soon after 1pm on May 12 2008, the Geophysical Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences said. The epicenter was in Bulgaria, some 270km to the northeast of the capital of Sofia, near the town of Strazhitsa, Focus news agency said. The town has a sad fame because of the 1986 earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale and

Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) deputy governor Roumen Simeonov dismissed media reports that First Investment Bank (FIB) had run into liquidity or solvency problems and was about to launch bankruptcy proceedings, the bank said in a statemetnt on its website on May 15. The bank is not facing any penalties nor is in violation from regulations.

Headmasters that are supposed to organise the May 13 2008 national-level external evaluation tests in Bulgarian literature and grammar for 4th and 5th graders were faced with serious problems in doing so, the headmaster of a school in the Sofia region told The Sofia Echo on May 12. The tests are supposed to start at 10am. For fear of any leaks headmasters were given CDs with the tests in advance, but without the password for accessing them.

Year-on-year inflation in Bulgaria rose to a new 10-year high of 14.6 per cent in April, according to the preliminary data released by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) on May 13 2008. April inflation was 0.9 per cent, edging higher from 0.8 per cent a month earlier. Food prices remained the main driver of inflation, rising by 1.3 per cent for the month. Services prices went up by 0.2 per cent and non-food goods were 0.8 per cent higher.

Bulgaria’s economy will expand by about six per cent, economic think-tank Centre for Economic Development (CED) said in its quarterly economic report released on May 12. The January-March 2008 data give grounds to believe that economic growth would be higher than in the same period a year ago, CED analysts told a news conference. While last year it was at 5.5 per cent, in the first quarter of this year it was expected to reach six per cent.

German energy giant RWE is still interested in acquiring 49 per cent in the company that will build and operate Bulgaria's second nuclear power plant on the Danube, Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov said on May 14, after meeting Holger Bietz, the head of RWE Power's merger and acquisitions unit. RWE, along with Electrabel of Belgium, were picked by the ministry as the finalists in the tender to pick a strategic investor, but reports in German media last month claimed the company was ready to withdraw from the race over safety concerns and doubts regarding the Russian technology that will be used at Belene.

Bourgas-based rail car producer TransWagon Holding won a 50 million leva deal from ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steel maker, Dnevnik daily reported on May 12. Under the terms of the contract, TransWagon will build 540 noise-free and extra-long cargo platforms over the next two years and a half. The platforms are 25m long, with a cargo capacity of 62 tons and will be used by Luxembourg railways.

Serbian Radicals (SRS), currently headed by deputy leader Tomislav Nikolic, and the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) – New Serbia (NS) coalition, led by outgoing Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica reached on May 13 a draft agreement on the character and goals of the future Serbian government, DSS spokesperson Andreja Mladenović told reporters, as quoted by Serbian broadcaster B92. Mladenović also said that the DSS would officially meet representatives of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) on May 13 for talks on forming the next cabinet.