Balkaninsight.com

Sarajevans are now able to travel to the south by train again, more than a year after the line was closed for reconstruction – although the route will no longer reach the Croatian coast.

So-called Islamic State has vowed to decapitate ‘infidels’ and kill Serbs, Croats and Muslim ‘traitors’ in the Balkans in a new threat to the region published in the Bosnian version of the jihadists’ magazine.

The UN war crimes tribunal has stepped up its demands for the extradition of three wanted members of the Serbian Radical Party, but Belgrade officials responded by saying that the case is closed.

The movements that emerged from Belgrade’s anti-government protests in April are now taking direct action to combat individual cases of social injustice - but the authorities have been fighting back.

Two judges' associations have launched a fresh Constitutional Court challenge to parts of Albania's judicial reform package – including the key law on vetting judges and prosecutors – threatening to derail the process.

Singer Marko Perkovic ‘Thompson’, whose concerts have been banned across Europe, is to play in the ethically-divided town of Mostar in support of Bosnian Croat ex-officials on trial for war crimes.

Female ex-soldier Elfeta Veseli and former Bosnian Army unit commander Sakib Halilovic were charged with involvement in the killing of a 12-year old Serb boy in the Zvornik municipality in 1992.

Kosovo-born Lavdim Muhaxheri, also known as Abu Abdullah al Kosova, who became notorious after being pictured beheading a prisoner, is reported to have been killed by a US drone strike in Syria.

The chief war crimes prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia warned the UN Security Council that nationalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina are still denying the truth about crimes committed during the 1992-95 war.

Making fruity brandy in the backyard is common in the Balkans - but two enterprising young men, including one from Belgrade, have launched a successful ‘rakija’ business in the US.

At some point, Washington will be forced to re-engage with the Balkans and work out a new policy that is in tune with political reality.

With a new government in place, Macedonia’s compromised chief Public Prosecutor Marko Zvrlevski, who was seen as a puppet of the former regime, can't hope to stay in office much longer.

Russian and Bosnian Serb leaders Vladimir Putin and Milorad Dodik have met yet again, but questions remain about whether their frequent get-togethers serve propaganda purposes or will deliver economic benefits.

The president of the Hague war crimes tribunal told the UN Security Council to take action to ensure that Belgrade finally arrests three wanted members of the nationalist Serbian Radical Party.

Macedonia's former ruling VMRO DPMNE party accused new Prime Minister Zoran Zaev of lying about finding an almost-spent budget and a big hidden debt when he took office last week.

The largest coalition campaigning in the Kosovo elections is divided over a controversial proposal to reintroduce criminal penalties for defamation.

A collection of photographs of the Croatian fascist-run concentration camp Jasenovac taken after WWII tackle unsupported claims that the Communists also killed many prisoners there.

Under pressure from NATO, Bulgaria’s leaders have agreed to restore the country’s defence capacities as fast as possible, but their plans – and how to fund them – have yet to be worked out. 

A sacked former minister’s appointment as head of the Serbian Security Agency has raised eyebrows, while concerns over alleged political cronyism in the public sector have resurfaced.

Croatian NGOs told BIRN that police only stop using violence against refugees at the country’s border after alleged misconduct by officers is made public.