Balkaninsight.com

After its first choice stumbled badly in the race for the UN top job, Bulgaria has named Kristalina Georgieva, Vice-President of the European Commission as its new candidate.

Macedonia's Special Prosecution, SJO, launched a new investigation on Wednesday, probing whether four Interior Ministry and counter-intelligence staffers committed grave financial crimes.

Kosovo’s Special Prosecution announced an investigation into killings and disappearances in the village of Mushtisht/Mustiste in 1999 after locals staged a protest against what they said was official inaction.

After hooligans assaulted a minor in Podgorica whose family publicly supports LGBT rights, activists demand the maximum legal penalties for the crime to prevent similar violence in future.

The popularity of Bosnia's two biggest parties has fallen slightly in the run-up to Sunday's local elections, a poll shows - which also highlighted the large number of undecided voters.

Milos and Aleksandar Simovic, who were jailed for involvement in the murder of Serbian PM Zoran Djindjic, refused to testify in the trial of four state security officers for an opposition journalist’s killing.

British historian Rory Yeomans, who has researched the Croatian fascist Ustasa movement, says he is worried by attempts by politicians and academics to play down the crimes it committed in World War II.

After missing a deadline to ‘unbundle’ Srbijagas, Serbia faces sanctions in October that may impede its EU accession negotiations.

Over one in ten Bulgarians suffered from domestic or gender-based violence last year, with levels significantly higher among the country’s Roma population, a new study said.

As Albanian emigrants build new lives abroad, experts foresee that the money they send home to their relatives is going to shrink further, but without damaging the country’s economy.

On their way through Hungary, refugees and migrants face illegal detentions, beatings and have even been chased by dogs, Amnesty’s latest report says.

Macedonia’s junior ruling party demanded an investigation into a leak of wiretapped conversations between its senior members, which some claim may be intended to blackmail the party ahead of December's polls.

Milorad Dodik, the president of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska, said his security has been jeopardised by a Bosniak political leader who compared him to slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Moscow has been criticised for donating 100 euros to help Bucharest buy back a sculpture by Romanian artist Constantin Brancusi while not returning gold that has been held in Russia since WWII.

Popular Balkan singer Zdravko Colic angered many Montenegrins after he publicly supported the party of veteran PM Milo Djukanovic for the upcoming elections in the country.

Milorad Dodik, the president of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska, shrugged off the possibility of arrest after state prosecutors called him for questioning over a banned ‘statehood day’ referendum.

Kosovo’s Special Prosecution has admitted that it is not investigating the killings and disappearances of Albanians and Serbs in the village of Mushtisht/Mustiste during and after the war in 1999.

Milorad Ulemek, alias Legija, the former special police commander convicted of PM Zoran Djindjic’s assassination, made his first appearance as a witness in the trial of four state security officers for an opposition journalist’s murder.

Belgrade's most important theatre festival, Bitef, is celebrating its golden anniversary this year, and offers a strong programme that doesn’t compromise the seriousness and enthusiasm on which the festival was built.

Stay tuned for all the latest developments as Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity votes in a controversial referendum on its ‘statehood day’, defying a ban by the country’s Constitutional Court.