Birn

As Kosovo imposed new restrictions to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, thousands of its citizens spent a "long weekend" in Albania, as Friday was a holiday in Kosovo, as it was constitution day.

On April 10, 1941, Slavko Kvaternik, the deputy leader of the Croatian World War II-era fascist Ustasa movement, proclaimed on Zagreb Radio the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia, NDH.

Locals in Montenegro's coastal resort towns fear another bad tourist season lies ahead, as most of the resorts on the Adriatic are still almost empty. The country is recording a high number of COVID-19 cases, restrictive health measures remain in force and curfew is enforced from 10 pm to 5 am. Intercity traffic is also prohibited.

Montenegrin riot police during clashes with protesters in the Podgorica, October 2015. Photo: EPA/BORIS PEJOVIC

Martinovic was beaten by members of Montenegro's Special Anti-Terrorist Unit, SAJ, during an opposition protest but was not arrested or accused of any crime during the demonstration in the capital, Podgorica.

For five generations, Ahmet's family has farmed the rich agricultural land of Thrace in northwestern Turkey.

On 15 acres, the family for years grew sunflower, sugar beet and wheat.

After the poor tourist season last year caused by the pandemic, some Balkan countries are hoping to lure tourists from Israel, which has vaccinated much of its population, by recognising its so called "Green Pass" for fully vaccinated people.

More than half of all Israelis have now received both COVID-19 jabs, making the country a world beater in vaccination.

COVID-19 patients and their families have told BIRN of spending hundreds of euros, in some cases up to 1,500 euros, on oxygen equipment for home use. Some said they subsequently offered the equipment for sale on social media.

Sitting around 60 kilometres north-west of Prague, the former garrison town of Terezin - known as Theresienstadt in German - served as a WWII internment ghetto for European Jews, where some 155,000 were imprisoned from November 1941, around 35,000 people died and some 90,000 were deported to other camps to die.

"Fewer cases are being left for the following year, but the essence is in the manner in which the cases are resolved," said Driton Demhasaj, director of the NGO 'Cohu', which has spent the past five years monitoring corruption cases in Kosovo.

The Montenegrin government and local authorities in Ulcinj have promised to restore the walls, but Lulgjuraj said the problems run deeper. And it's not only Ulcinj that is in danger.