Progressive Party

Serbian rights organisations are calling on the country's parliament to conduct a more transparent process for the selection of a new Information Commissioner - a post considered crucial for obtaining information of public importance.

The US State Department said on Tuesday that it is designating Goran Radosavljevic ineligible to enter the country due to what it alleged was "his involvement in gross violations of human rights".

Serbian media on Thursday accused Kosovo of resorting to "war" and economic "cleansing" following its decision to hike import taxes to 100 per cent - while Kosovo media supported the measure, adopted in retaliation for Belgrade's role in Kosovo's failed Interpol membership bid.

Milan Radoicic,  a leading figure in northern Kosovo close to Serbia's ruling Progressive Party, has expanded his business operations in Serbia by becoming part-owner of a construction company with another Kosovo Serb, Zvonko Veselinovic.

The Belgrade Higher Court, in a verdict published on Wednesday, has ruled that allegations published in the Serbian tabloid Informer constituted hate speech - and ordered editor Dragan Vucicevic to publish the verdict, and pay court costs.

Serbian police on Thursday said they had started a search for Stefan Cvetkovic, a journalist covering the murder of the Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic, after his abandoned car was found in his hometown of Bela Crkva in northern Serbia.

The police said they found the car Cvetkovic was using parked with the doors open and the lights still on.

Talk of a united opposition front in Serbia against the ruling Progressive Party has intensified with the election of the low-key academic Zoran Lutovac as leader of the once-mighty Democratic Party.

Zoran Radojicic, the director of the University Children's Hospital Tirsova, who is not a Progressive Party member, was chosen as mayor on Monday ahead of Belgrade city manager Goran Vesic and municipal official Irena Vujovic, who were previously rumoured to be the preferred candidates.

Serbia's fact-checking web portal Istinomer has taken a dim view of the Serbian President's record for telling the facts.

After it analysed 33 statements Aleksandar Vucic has made since being sworn in as Serbia's President on May 31, 2017, it has rated only 9 per cent of them as correct or true.

Serbian officials have continued to hint that citizens will be given an opportunity to declare their views on any proposed settlement of the Kosovo issue.

Many believe a referendum is the most likely solution, as Serbia's constitution mentions Kosovo as part of the national territory.