Balkaninsight.com

Two of Washington's closest friends in the Balkan region, Albania and Kosovo, have recognised the new self-declared president of Venezuela, Juan Guaido – in line with a host of other US allies around the world.

Journalists' associations in Bulgaria have condemned rapidly adopted law amendments that give a state regulator, the Data Protection Committee, the power to fine journalists and media outlets.

A Constitutional Court ruling against two cooperation protocols between prosecutors and intelligence services has raised concern among Romanian justice experts and analysts that it could undo a raft of cases against politicians and undermine the fight against corruption.

The US has invested a lot of political capital in Kosovo President Hashim Thaci in the hope of securing a Pristina-Belgrade peace deal - but a potential war crimes indictment could torpedo Washington’s strategy.

A new tour of Belgrade is designed to give tourists ‘a taste of what it was like to live in Yugoslavia’.

Journalists in Moldova have exposed corruption, fraud and embezzlement by politicians, and they are increasingly coming under attack because of it.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council has elected Gordana Tadic as the new chief state prosecutor, making her the first woman in the country’s history to hold the position.

Bosnia’s biggest Bosniak party said it will launch a challenge to use of the name ‘Republika Srpska’ before the state’s Constitutional Court on the grounds that it is discriminatory against non-Serbs.

The European Commission has criticised loopholes in Bulgaria's fast-track citizenship schemes – which Sofia has said it will now drop, as they failed to lure the expected investment.

Four international companies have already indicated their interest in buying the troubled state company Kosovo Telecom, before the actual bidding process has formally opened.

Moldova opposition leaders have asked Romania to help resolve the 'grand theft' of a billion US dollars from the Moldovan banking system – saying their own authorities have failed to clear up the matter.

Almost eight decades after Hungarian forces murdered Serbs, Jews and Roma during a three-day massacre in the occupied city of Novi Sad, some of the few remaining survivors tell BIRN how they managed to live through it.

An independent MP says Croatia’s state broadcaster, HRT, is using court action to intimidate journalists. 

Kosovo last month appointed 11 new delegates to take part in talks with Serbia, but not a single woman made the pick.

Government predictions of a major economic upturn in 2019 may be over-optimistic, but calmer political waters after the turbulence of 2016-2018 do present an opportunity, experts say.

Serbian journalists criticised President Aleksandar Vucic for making a speech at a media freedom event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, accusing him of being responsible for deteriorating freedom of speech in his own country.

The state authorities expect to earn between 600,000 and 700,000 euros in 2019 by charging people to give up their Bosnian citizenship as the outflow of emigrants from the country continues.

Screenwriter Marjan Alcevski says the plot of HBO hit Success is not unique to “the crazy Balkans”, but the insecurity of growing up in 1990s Yugoslavia permeates everything he writes.

Eight former Bosnian Army servicemen accused of the killings of more than 14 Croats in the village of Krizancevo Selo near Vitez in 1993 were charged with war crimes against prisoners of war and civilians.

Former Bosnian Serb soldier Sasa Perkovic, who was acquitted of expulsions, killings and lootings in Rogatica, is suing the state because he was kept under house arrest for more than 800 days during the proceedings.