Balkan News

A small boat carrying ten migrants who were intending to illegally cross the Drina River from Serbia and crossing into Bosnia capsized on Wednesday morning.

Older people in Kosovo’s capital Pristina still remember why a landmark building was given the nickname of Yugoslav singing star Lepa Brena, but post-war changes mean the younger generation know little about her.

A Moscow court has approved the arrest of a Moldovan-born energy executive accused of spying for Romania, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported.

A new survey by the International Republican Institute shows that the vast majority of Bosnians are gloomy about the future – though most still back the country's European integration.

Bosnia’s state-level Constitutional Court faces everyday pressure from political forces that don’t want to accept rulings that go against their ethnic base, its newly-appointed president Zlatko Knezevic told BIRN.

Under its controversial premier Viktor Orban, Hungary is bolstering its influence in several Balkan countries, either through direct investment or by ‘soft power’.

Security experts suspect that the violent protests in Skopje against the ‘name’ deal with Greece - key for unblocking Macedonia’s progress towards the EU and NATO - may be part of an attempt to destabilise the country.

While America’s hardline policy towards refugee and migrant families grabs world attention, the number of child refugees unaccompanied by or separated from parents in Balkan countries is quietly growing.

Sofia expects an increase in ‘cohesion’ funds from the EU in the next seven-year period – but experts say this money has downsides as well as benefits.

The prosecution is launching an investigation into whether Stefan Cvetkovic, a Serbian journalist who went missing for two days last week, faked his own kidnapping.

Former Serbian security service chief Jovica Stanisic’s defence told the UN court that Serbian paramilitary units operating in wartime Croatia were controlled by the Yugoslav People’s Army, not Belgrade’s security service.

The settlement deal with the hugely-indebted Croatian food and retail company Agrokor was unanimously approved by the conglomerate’s temporary creditors’ council.

Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo are among the top 25 countries in the world in terms of the percentage of firearms owned per civilian, according to the global Small Arms Survey.

The UN court rejected a request from former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic’s defence to have three judges removed from his appeal against conviction because of their rulings in Srebrenica genocide trials.

In a tense atmosphere, Macedonian legislators launched the procedure for the swift adoption of the 'name' agreement with neighbouring Greece - key for unlocking country's EU and NATO integration.

At least 200 more border police officers will be deployed in order to maintain control over the country’s borders after an increase in the number of migrants entering Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Five political parties proposed changes to Bosnian electoral law to avoid an institutional crisis scenario in which October’s general elections go ahead without any legal basis for electing the Federation entity parliament’s upper chamber.

Romania’s Social Democrat-led parliament adopted changes to the country’s criminal codes, ignoring warnings from experts and international institutions that they threaten the rule of law and prosecutors’ independence.

In the second of a two-part series, BIRN tells the story of how Croatia convicted the last surviving WWII concentration camp commander, Dinko Sakic - who was unrepentant about the victims of the Jasenovac camp.

With the right climate for such crops and rising demand on international markets, more and more farmers in Kosovo see their future in small fruits.