Balkans

BELGRADE - French humanitarian organization Solidarity for Kosovo has provided 18 tons of canned food for the families badly affected by the recent heavy flooding in Serbia and the aid was delivered to a warehouse of the Red Cross in Belgrade on Saturday.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - A trial before the Basic Court in north Kosovska Mitrovica of seven members of the so-called Drenica Group of the former paramilitary ethnic Albanians’ Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), who are accused of war crimes, has continued, and three fugitive members of the group showed up before the judge on Friday.

BELGRADE - The Office for Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) condemned in the harshest terms on Friday threats issued against Tanjug News Agency correspondent from Kosovska Mitrovica Zeljko Tvrdisic on Facebook, and urged the international community to take them seriously.

The Office called on the authorities to find and punish the one behind the threats.

The winner of this year's Eurovision, Conchita Wurst, is responsible for the flooding in the Balkans, according to church leaders in Serbia and Montenegro, reports The Telegraph. 

Sami Lushtaku, Ismet Haxha and Sahit Jashari surrendered to the Kosovo Police on Thursday night, two days after they went on the run from a clinic in Pristina on Tuesday after refusing to be transferred to a prison in the northern town of Mitrovica.

The defendants surrendered in the hospital surroundings, where it is believed they had been hiding since their escape.

Three ex-KLA members accused of war crimes escape

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- A judge of the Basic Court in Northern Mitrovica has been asked to issue an arrest warrant for three fugitive defendants, former members of "the Drenica Group."

After three former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas accused of war crimes during the 1990s conflict went on the run, the Justice Ministry has blamed EULEX for allowing their escape.

Bedri Kukalaj survived the killing of over a hundred Albanian prisoners at the Dubrava prison near the town of Peja/Pec in May 1999.

Fifteen years after the killings, Kukalaj blames local and international authorities for not shedding light on the crime.

Bulgaria's humanitarian assistance to flood-hit Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina will amount to BGN 132,000.

The funds have been approved by the government through the budget of the Ministry of Interior for Official Development Assistance.

The humanitarian aid will be granted in the form of tents, blankets, clothes, beds, mineral water, and other vital items.

Serbia's Ambassador to Bulgaria, Vladimir Curgus expressed his gratitude for the aid his country has received in the devastating floods.

"Our neighbor countries have helped and continue to help tremendously. This reminds us of the closeness between people on the Balkans, where neighbors help neighbors", Ambassador Curgus told Standartnews in an interview.