Balkans

KOSOVO Human Rights Watch, HRW, and Amnesty International have called on Kosovo and international authorities to stop a wave of attacks and incidents of harassment targeting the Roma community. In the town of Gjilan/Gnjilane, four Roma were physically assaulted and injured in separate incidents in mid-August, HRW said.

BULGARIA Former agriculture minister Valeri Tsvetanov has been officially charged with corruption offenses related to his time in office, it emerged Tuesday, hours after he was called for interrogation at the National Investigation Service. Tsvetanov and Stefan Yurukov, the former head of the forestry agency, allegedly made illegal land swaps, …

KOSOVO Kosovo self-determination movement Vetevendosje repainted its “EULEX made in Serbia” slogan on the wall in front of the EU rule of law mission, EULEX, headquarters on Monday, after the mission painted over the previous graffiti. The hardline nationalist movement says this act expresses their revulsion for EULEX.

ALBANIA Albania’s opposition Socialist Party boycotted the first session of parliament on Monday, and says its will maintain its absence unless its demands are met. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the head of the party, Tirana mayor Edi Rama, warned that the Socialists would have a conditional relationship with the …

SERBIA For the first time in 25 years, a Chinese defense minister has arrived here on an official visit this Monday. Liang Guanglie was welcomed with military and state honors before he met with his Serbian counterpart Dragan Šutanovac. In a joint news conference held afterwards, Šutanovac reminded reporters that …

SERBIA The revised agreement on continuation of the strategic partnership was signed in by Interior Minister Ivica Dačić and head of OSCE in Serbia Hans Ola Urstad. The altered memorandum of understanding envisages the provision of expert help and advice in the area of responsibility of police work, fight against …

KOSOVO Fatmir Sejdiu says all political parties in Kosovo should urge voters to refrain from any kind of action that could jeopardize the electoral process. The Kosovo Albanian spoke about the local elections scheduled to be held in November after his meeting with Ramus Haradinaj, the leader of the opposition …

SERBIA Interior Minister Ivica Dačić stated that Serbia will in September meet all the remaining criteria for abolishing visas. This will be necessary for Serbian citizens to travel to all the Schengen area countries.

SERBIA Rasim Ljajić reacted today to reports in some Belgrade media that the Serbian police (MUP) recently carried out an operation in Novi Sad to arrest Ratko Mladić. The head of the Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribinal said that “there is no use reporting on fruitless operations”.

BiH The Bosnian Interior Ministry and the country’s Prosecution office have no knowledge of an alleged plan to assassinate RS PM Milorad Dodik. Dodik is heading the government of Bosnia’s Serb entity, and his life was reportedly threaded by the recently arrested criminal group led by Darko Elez.