Montenegro

The soft rays of the morning sun fall upon her pale hands as they rest on the stack of papers on the table. She does not raise her eyes as she looks down at the documents in front of her.

President Milo Djukanovic said on Monday that he will not allow anyone to take away what belongs to Montenegro and warned of what he called "external" interference in the country's affairs.

Djukanovic insisted that the new draft law on freedom of religion was not intended to baselessly take away anyone's property.

Under former prime minister Ahmet Davutaglu, Turkish foreign policy shifted towards its current "zero problems with neighbours" policy, and to win-win policies that allow Ankara to spread its influence politically, economically and culturally.

The boom in Turkish soap operas throughout the Balkans during this time provides a good example of this influence.

At a solemn ceremony with raising its national flag, Bulgaria joined NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. The Centre is located in Tallinn, Estonia, and currently has 25 members.

Media in Serbia have accused the government of Montenegro of planning to "rob" the Serbian Orthodox Church, SOC, of its assets, while Serbian officials warn that a proposed law on Church property will worsen diplomatic relations.

Thousands of anti-fascists from former Yugoslav countries gathered on Sunday at the Sutjeska memorial in Tjentiste in Bosnia and Herzegovina to pay tribute to the soldiers killed during the crucial battle during World War II.

Saturday's Church council comes after the Montenegrin government adopted a draft law which included a register of all religious objects and sites that were formerly owned by the independent kingdom of Montenegro before it became part of the Serb-dominated Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918.

The bishop reacted after the government of Montenegro said it wanted to pass a law that will declare all ancient property belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church built before 1918 as the state property, without offering any valid reason for this in the public interest, or eminent domain (defence, energy, infrastructure) or any compensation.

Albanian police said on Wednesday they had broken up a criminal gang trafficking Syrian, Turkish and Iraqi migrants to western Europe from Greece and had arrested eight people including the Turkish ringleader.

The latest Global Peace Index published by the International Institute for Economics and Peace, an independent think tank that aims to measure peace and stability in the world, says the world was a slightly more peaceful place last year.