Birn

The end of 2017 was also the end of Malcolm Simmons' career as an international judge in the Balkans.

Data that BIRN has obtained show that while only three cases of indoor cannabis cultivation were recorded during 2021, the number of cases rose to 18 by May this year.

BIRN asked police for data over the last five years, but they did not have records for before 2021.

Sali Berisha appeared to be back in charge of Albania's main centre-right opposition Democratic Party after nine years, after he won 93 per cent of votes cast by around 40,000 party members on Sunday.

"Children are not sufficiently recognised as victims in the context of gender-based violence because it is not sufficiently recognised how violence affects children's emotional, physical, psychological development, their behaviour and the process of socialisation," Padejski Sekerovic told BIRN.

A lack of capacity in social welfare centres means that many children - mainly from Kosovo's Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities - are left to fend for themselves, forced into work from an early age despite the dangers. Despite the odd police operation against human traffickers or abusive parents, Kosovo's state institutions largely turn a blind eye.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday night said Russian air traffic control had told him that a NATO fighter jet tracked an Air Serbia passenger plane within Russian airspace on Wednesday near the Latvian border.

Making it clear he accepted the Russian claim, Vucic said Serbia would seek additional information from Russia and from NATO.

In the past, Anna and Karoly say, the town was full of theatre and music festivals, among other cultural activities. Now, a new football stadium has become a substitute for cultural life. They are vocal about the lack of job opportunities and polluted air, which carries a pervasive stench of apathy and hopelessness.

NATO says the upgrade will bring the base - once home to Soviet- and Chinese-made MiG fighter jets - up to alliance standards by renovating the runways, taxiways, and storage facilities.

Ukrainians march in Kyiv amid tensions on the Ukraine-Russia border. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

Ukraine's Consul in Podgorica, Mykhailo Shmatov, told BIRN that similar marches were being organised by the Ukrainian diaspora worldwide, stressing that the rally in Podgorica has no provocative intentions.

In a movie-like scene, a powerful Belgrade-backed politician and businessman, Milan Radoicic, escaped arrest on Thursday at the Brnjak crossing point between Kosovo and Serbia.