Stories from Quick Reads and Serbia
HRW Research Finds Media Freedom in Western Balkans Under Serious Threat
After almost a year of research in the region and in-depth interviews with over 80 journalists, editors, and independent media owners, Human Rights Watch released a report in July 2015 stating that media freedom in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia are under threat. The report's findings include impunity and lack...
Serbian Intelligence Agency Caught Inquiring to Purchase Surveillance Software
Serbian NGO SHARE Defense reported in July 2015 that leaked emails and files belonging to Milan-based software company Hacking Team (HT) published on Wikileaks reveal that at least one Serbian security service inquired about and negotiated the purchase of surveillance software from this company in 2012. There is also evidence...
Serbian Authorities Take Control of A Man's Facebook Account Following Alleged Threats Against PM Vucic
Police in Serbia seemed to have overstepped boundaries in search and seizure proceedings, taking over a personal Facebook account without a court order.
Hungarian PM: Immigration Crisis Should be Solved by Building Wall along the Border with Serbia
While the European immigration crisis is not showing any signs of dying down, the EU has been taking some much needed measures related to saving the lives of the people who are trying to enter Europe trough the Mediterranean. Aside from the Mediterranean Sea, migrants have also been fleeing their home...
Human Rights Activist Begins Hunger Strike for Migrants in Front of Macedonian Parliament
The growing migration crisis has recently also affected countries in southeastern Europe, with new issues arising almost daily. Reacting to the inhumane treatment of migrants who pass through Republic of Macedonia, renowned human rights activist Suad Missini started a hunger strike in front of the Parliament building in Skopje. He began...
Serbian Government Agency Publishes Personal Data of Over 5 Million Citizens
A link from the official website of the Privatization Agency of the Republic of Serbia began circulating on social networks in early December 2014. The link led to 19 gigabytes of text files on the agency's site that revealed the personal information of over 5 million Serbian citizens who had...
The Art Nouveau Windows to Belgrade's Soul
Aleksandar Lambros, a Serbian-born photographer currently living and working in Monaco, has been snapping photos of tell-tale details of Belgrade's architectural history and collecting them on his blog. While the city still retains snippets of Roman and Ottoman architecture, as parts of the city were under both Roman and Ottoman...
Serbian Artists Create “Neighborly Hanger” for Handouts
The image of the poorest segments of the population rummaging through trash cans has, unfortunately, become a common one in many Balkan countries in the past few years. From some of the 38,000 pensioners who currently receive the minimum monthly pension of barely 120 euro in Serbia, not enough to...
Serbian Insurance Company Refuses to Pay Damages to Roma Family
Serbian daily Blic reports on a curious case in which Serbian insurance company Takovo Osiguranje has, in writing, refused to pay damages to the widow and children of a car accident victim, based on his ethnicity. Blic journalists and an attorney representing the victim's family claim that the insurance company...
Information Hub for Humanitarian Aid for Bosnia and Herzegovina Floods
POINT, the international conference on political accountability and new technologies in Sarajevo, has used its skills to aid in relief of the ongoing disaster affecting three Balkan countries – Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia. BosniaFloods.org, the first tool developed by the participants, specifically targets Bosnia, because the situation in this country...
Serbia Mourns British-Serbian Legend Timothy John Byford
Author, actor, educator, television and film director Timothy John Byford died in Belgrade on May 5, 2014, after a long illness. Born in Salisbury, England, Byford spent most of his life in Belgrade, where he moved in 1971 and later became a naturalized citizen of Serbia. As news portal InSerbia...
VIDEO: Serbian Child Prodigy's Drawings Stun the Art World
Dušan Krtolica is an 11-year-old artist from Belgrade that has taken the local and regional art world by storm with his exquisitely detailed pen and pencil drawings of complex animals, dinosaurs, knights, and people. Mainstream media in Serbia, and now other countries, discovered Dušan in February of 2014, but the...
Online Magazine Publishes Leaked Emails of Serbian Government Agency
Online magazine Balkanist was among several media to receive over 300 leaked emails from the Investment and Export Promotion Agency of the Republic of Serbia (SIEPA) that allegedly reveal corruption, nepotism, misappropriation of Agency funds and several other malpractices of the government agency's top officials and employees. SIEPA Director Božidar...
Serbia Questions Whether Church Should be Exempt from Taxes
InSerbia reports and adds details to a poll carried out by Serbian daily Blic on whether the Serbian Orthodox Church, whose clergymen have recently been in the media often due to reports of visible overspending, should begin paying taxes. The Serbian Orthodox Church and all other religious institutions are exempt...
Hungary Criticized for Lenient Naturalization Policy
With unemployment and economic concern growing in the European Union, Hungary is among some of the EU member states being criticized by its Union neighbors for more lenient laws passed in 2011 for attaining Hungarian citizenship. Charles Richardson explains why on Crikey's blogs: Hungary has been giving some grief to...
Former Croatian President Mesic Says Tudjman and Milosevic Set Out to Divide Bosnia
Former Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, who was in this office as Croatia's second President from 2000 to 2010, recently gave an interview for Serbian weekly NIN, in which he claims to have found maps of a divided Bosnia in the presidential safe of Franjo Tudjman. BalkanInside.com quotes a portion of...
UNESCO Patron of First SEE Science Promotion Conference in Serbia
The Center for the Promotion of Science (CPN), under UNESCO patronage, is hosting the First Regional Science Promotion Conference with the aim of gathering science promotion professionals, practitioners and enthusiasts from Southeast Europe. The conference program will discuss science from a scientific, but also from an educational and economic point...
Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia and Brazil on Winning Streak at Girls’ U18 Volleyball World Championship
As the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) blog reports, the Serbian, Turkish, Slovenian and Brazilian under-18 girls’ national volleyball teams showed outstanding results on the weekend of July 27-28, some with a perfect win-loss ratio. Full stats and results are available and regularly updated on the Federation's website.