Rio Tinto told BIRN it had invited “various bidders” to take part in a tender to create a brand campaign in response to what it called a “disinformation campaign against the project in Serbia”. It confirmed hiring ESBR Consulting. Asked about Eisin’s connection to Vucic, the company said only that …

Investigators have documented the use of foreign exchange offices in Albania to move drug money, either in crypto or via a centuries-old, trust-based system called Hawala. The area is known as Dollari – a narrow row of currency exchanges opposite Albania’s central bank in downtown Tirana. Here, cash is king, …

“We work here as psychotherapists, you know. You have to know their problems at work, conflicts with their wife, their dreams,” says Branko*. “You talk to them about how long they work, what they plan to do with the money, what their children do and what school they go to. …