Balkaninsight.com

Edi Rama is being urged to withdraw two media bills that rights groups say pose a serious threat to freedom of the media and democracy in the country.

The Serbian President’s plan to introduce life prison terms without parole won’t cut the crime rate – and is gross abuse of his constitutional powers.

Macedonia’s government has pushed on with publishing a new law extending the official use of Albanian – although the President has refused to sign it, and the opposition is up in arms.

Dimitri Tsafendas became just a footnote in history after killing South Africa’s apartheid prime minister, Hendrik Verwoerd. He was dismissed as a mad man, but a new book argues he knew exactly what he was doing.

Balancing precariously between East and West, the authorities are likely to continue this high-wire act, while delaying a final solution to the perennial issue of Kosovo.

Bosnian institutions and public companies last year launched tenders to procure 1,666 official vehicles, worth about 46 million euros, data reveal.

In spite of freezing winter conditions, many migrants and refugees in Bosnia are still attempting to cross from the non-EU Bosnia into EU-member Croatia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his visit to Serbia that he shared Belgrade’s concern over Kosovo’s intention to form an army, which he called a violation of UN Resolution 1244.

All manner of political bets and diplomatic calculations seem to be in the focus of this week’s selection of premium stories as politicians, parties and governments jockey for positions, or, in some cases, survival. 

As Vladimir Putin visits Belgrade, BIRN journalists have used the occasion to call on the Kremlin leader to release imprisoned journalists in Russia and respect human rights.

Serbia's appeal court has acquitted those convicted of trying to set fire to the US embassy in Belgrade in 2008 in a protest against US support for Kosovo's declaration of independence.

At a joint press conference in Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Croatian counterpart both agreed that the 1995 agreement which ended the 1992-5 war in Bosnia is not working.

War crimes prosecution, ethnic tensions, threats to journalists and minority and immigrants’ rights remain the key problems in the field of human rights in the Balkans, Human Rights Watch's World Report 2019 noted.

The castle built by Romania’s first king at Peles remains a tribute to Carol I’s many achievements – and his love of the arts.

Under diplomatic pressure and in violation of its own conditions, Bulgaria’s parliament has given the green light to negotiations on the purchase of eight US fighter jets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting his Serbian counterpart on Thursday, when they will sign a series of agreements and memorandums, highlighting the warmth between the two Slavic allies.

Serbs who have been protesting against the rule of President Aleksandar Vucic for the past six weeks on Wednesday marked the first anniversary of Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic’s murder.

The Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime said it is waiting for more expertise before deciding whether to pursue the case of a man arrested on January 13 and suspected of planning terrorist attacks in the name of ISIS.

Deutsche Telekom's subsidiary in Greece, OTE, is selling its shares in the second-largest mobile operator in Albania to the Bulgarian investor Spas Roussev and the Albanian-Bulgarian investor Elvin Guri for 50 million euros.

The UN court in the Hague granted early release to Valentin Coric, one of the six leaders of the unrecognised Bosnian Croat statelet of Herzeg-Bosnia who were convicted for war crimes during 1992-1994.