Montenegro

Storms and bad weather in January have caused serious damage to the famous Montenegrin coastal town of Ulcinj, bringing down part of the ancient town walls. Following heavy rain, part of Pinjes hill in Ulcinj also collapsed on to the local road on January 12, burying two vehicles.

"[E]very man became a judge of religion, and an interpreter of the Scripture to himself." If you thought these were the ironic words of a scholar of religion and/or philosophy in the contemporary era of social media and proliferating political narratives, think again.

A minister in a Bosnian canton bordering Croatia said the EU member state had forcibly returned over 7,000 migrants and refugees to Bosnia last year, asking why his own country had not done the same to its neighbours.

The coming year could prove the biggest test of Montenegro's new government, the first in 30 years without the Democratic Party of Socialists.

As of today, 14 January 2021, Serbia has waived the requirement for Bulgarian citizens and all arrivals from Bulgaria to Serbia to present a negative PCR test result on entry into the country.

"Renewal of military service possible next year" "This year, the Assembly would have to make a decision on renewing it, and since the budget has already been adopted, I assume that there are not enough funds for a larger number of soldiers, but if it is legally regulated within this year, then next year military service could be resumed," Miladinovic concluded.

On January 7, when Orthodox Christians mark Christmas, a Serbian Orthodox bishop in Germany gave an interview to Balkan news outlet NewsMax Adria. His remarks, however, were more political than religious.

Illustration: COVID-19 vaccination in Norwood in the US state of Massachusetts. Photo: EPA-EFE/CJ GUNTHER.

"We are also thinking about vaccines from China and Russia, although our primary negotiations are about vaccines from the EU," Borovinic Bojovic told a press conference.

The gesture makes Maradona the latest in a long list of global celebrities and political figures to be honored with an obituary in the Balkans, following the likes of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro, pop star Michael Jackson and actor James Gandolfini, late star of the popular US crime drama Sopranos.

The Turkish government has ratified several separate international agreements with seven countries in areas of sports, health, and air transportation, according to Official Gazette on Jan. 7. 

A cooperation agreement between Turkey and Montenegro in the area of youth and sports was signed on Oct 4, 2019, and ratified on Thursday at the Turkish Official Gazette.