Balkans

Authorities advise people to take precautions as the country expects a scorching blast of heat in coming days – up to 39 degrees Celsius.It may still be officially only spring, but Macedonia is already roasting under a heatwave with daily temperatures for several days in a row exceeding 37 degrees. …

Well-known artists accuse the government of trying to take over the institute charged with promoting Romania’s country’s culture abroad.omania’s new centre-left government has courted a row with the arts world after abruptly adopting changes to the running of the Romanian Cultural Institute. Modelled on the British Council and France’s Institut …

Bulgaria’s informal economy is the largest of any European Union country, over 30 per cent, according to a recent study.The study on the extent of the informal economy was conducted by the Bulgarian National Center Business. According to European Commission data, the average size of the “shadow” economy in EU …

Recent developments in Europe, where the economic crisis continues to affect the political and social life, are showing a worrying rise of the “traditional” extreme – both right and left – parties, as well as of the newer “anti-system” or  “fringe” movements that oppose the existing institutions (especially the global …

Locals in Trebinje are up in arms over the idea that their town should supply old stone for Emir Kusturica’s planned village in honour of Ivo Andric.Movie director Emir Kusturica’s plan to build a mini-town in honour of famous writer Ivo Andric has hit a new snag, after locals from …

EULEX has formally launched an investigation into the massacre of 113 people in the village of Krusha e Vogel, in the Prizren region.According to the EU Rule of Law Mission to Kosovo, EULEX, over 50 potential defendants, all of them Kosovo Serbs and former members of the Serbian armed forces, …

Two cadets of the Serbian Military Academy died and seven suffered injuries at the Pasuljanske Livade training range in the central Serbia on Monday morning.The Serbian Defence Ministry has announced that two students of the fourth year of the Military Academy were killed by “a leftover 33mm grenade” near the …

The vice-chairman of one of Montenegro’s councils for minorities accuses authorities of failing to improve status of Roma people in the country.Muhamed Ukovic, the vice-chairman of the National Council for Roma and Egyptians, accuses the government and municipalities of mismanaging the projects aimed at improving the status of this population …

The former ruling Democratic Liberal Party has decided to elect its new president on June 30With less than six months before crucial parliamentary elections, the members of the former ruling centre-right Democratic Liberal Party, PDL, has decided to vote for a new leadership in an extraordinary congress scheduled for June …

A year after the country formed a commission to resolve the issue of the national emblem, the outcome remains unclear, as a result of which both the old and new ones are still in use.A year since the Serbian government formed a commission to resolve the question of the country’s …