Balkans

It is either a new step of the North Atlantic Alliance towards the annexation of the countries of the Western Balkans to its structures or a mere modernization of technical capacities, Sputnik writes.

Explaining this thought, he said the Western Balkans could become a new multiethnic entity made up of "six states", closely linked to the EU, headed by Belgrade.

Politicians, actors and public figures across the former Yugoslavia are paying tribute to the famous Bosnian actor Mustafa Nadarevic who died on Sunday after a long battle with illness at the age of 77.

Sefik Dzaferovic, the Bosniak member of the state presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, called Nadarevic's death a great loss for Bosnian culture.

Nineteen organisations from Southeast Europe have joined forces in a newly-established network that aims to advance the protection of digital rights and address the growing challenges posed by the widespread use of advanced technologies in society.

The Ministry for Veterans' Affairs of Sarajevo Canton told BIRN that it set aside 2,680,000 Bosnian marks (1,370,000 euros) from 2013 to 2020 to help mainly Bosniak former Bosnian Army soldiers and police officers who are on trial for war crimes and their families.

The appointment last month of Drasko Milinovic to head the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina has sparked criticism because of his controversial record in charge of RTRS, the public broadcaster in Bosnia's Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity.

The trial of Mile Ujic, who is accused of persecuting Bosniak civilians during a widespread and systematic attack in the Rogatica area, opened at the Bosnian state court in Sarajevo on Thursday.

Serbia's war crimes prosecutor said in his closing statement to Belgrade Higher Court on Thursday that all the evidence showed that Husein Mujanovic was guilty of abusing Serbs held at a wartime prison that he commanded in Hrasnica.

Prosecutor Mioljub Vitorovic said the evidence "indisputably established that Husein Mujanovic committed the criminal act with which he is charged".

According to him, he believes that it is questionable whether international forces and internal Kosovo-Albanian divisions will enable that.
He points out that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, is the only person in the region who has the strength and desire to reach a good solution to this problem.

Despite harsh words, the Bosniak-Croat power tandem of SDA and HDZ is expected to survive a corruption scandal involving Chinese ventilators, analysts say.