Budva

BELGRADE - The new film festival "Cinemafest" will be held at Belgrade's Sava Center from October 29 to November 2, and the audiences will have the opportunity to see features by famous authors and Hollywood stars, the organizers announced Tuesday.

The films were chosen by Ivan Karl and the new Woody Allen film "High Society" will open the festival.

The Montenegrin Health Ministry has dismissed criticism by the Union of Medics, which claims that public healthcare in the country will be subjected to the whims of the free market after the government announced plans to ask private companies to manage healthcare institutions. 

The ex-president of the former state union of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic, was released from custody on Tuesday after he signed a plea bargain with the special prosecution for organised crime and corruption and agreed to serve three years and eight months in prison.

The Special Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime in Montenegro ordered the arrest of the former president of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro Svetozar Marovic on Thursday.

Marovic, who chairs the political council of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, was arrested in connection to corruption cases centred on the resort of Budva.

The Montenegrin state prosecutor on Monday charged ex-mayor Lazar Radjenovic and several other officials from the scandal-hit resort town of Budva with abuse of office and costing the local budget eight million euros.

The Higher Court in Belgrade has acquitted three former members of the former State Security (DB) accused of helping in an attempt to assassinate Vuk Draskovic.

The attempt on the life of the leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) took place in Budva, Montenegro, in 2000.

50-year-old Budva resident Gojko B. has been arrested for using a pistol to force an Albanian tourist "to speak Montenegrin."

According to the Podgorica daily Vijesti, the incident happened in a cafe near the bus station in this Montenegrin seaside resort.

Police on Thursday arrested several leaders and officials in the scandal-hit municipality of Budva on suspicion of abuse of office and of damaging the local budget to the tune of several million euros, local media reported.

Several high ranking officials of the Budva municipality, including Mayor Lazar Radjenovic and city manager Milena Marovic-Bogdanovic, have been arrested.

On the orders of Montenegro's Special Organized Crime Prosecution, adviser to the prime minister Aleksandar Ticic and former municipal leaders Rajko Kuljaca and Dragan Marovic have also been detained.

This year's EXIT festival will bring together over 1,000 artists performing on a total of 30 stages in Novi Sad, Serbia, and Budva, Montenegro, July 9-18.

"The 15th edition of one of the best music festivals in Europe promises to draw the largest crowds in the past decade and the greatest acts ever," EXIT Director Dusan Kovacevic told Tanjug.