Balkan News

A Bosnian court has found an Imam (local Islamic priest) guilty of sexually abusing an underage girl and sentenced him to 18 months in prison, in a case that shocked Bosnia and stirred up tensions between local media organizations and the country’s influential Islamic Community. The family of the girl …

Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska opened a representative office in Brussels on Thursday, triggering a new round of criticism from Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) officials who see this as yet another proof of its distancing itself from Bosnia and Herzegovina. All top Republika Srpska officials attended the official opening ceremony …

Serb health workers have started leaving Kosovo after Serbia decided to halve the so-called ‘Kosovo allowance’ part of their monthly pay, a controversial benefit amounting to a de facto double wage for those who worked in the civil service and recognised Belgrade, not Pristina as their capital. Belgrade has vowed …

The case of Rufi Osmani, a popular ethnic Albanian former local leader who has been barred from running from mayor in the western town of Gostivar, has injected controversy into Macedonia’s local election next month. The local election commission found him unfit to run as an independent candidate on the …

The Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim)-Croat federation will privatize parts of its 11 biggest public companies this year, including BH Telecom, Energoinvest and Hidrogradnja Sarajevo and Aluminijum Mostar, which are estimated to be worth at least 500 million euros, the government decided at its session on Thursday. The government has officially abandoned …

The European Union will decide whether to accept Serbia’s application for candidate status based on its progress and efficiency in implementing the pre-membership agreement and trade deal, EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said on Thursday. Rehn was in Belgrade to discuss the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, cooperation with the United …

Romania’s unemployment rate rose by half a percentage point in January to 4.9 percent compared to the previous month, the National Employment Agency, ANOFM, said on Thursday. In January 2008, the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent. The number of unemployed people in January stood at 444,907, while in January 2008 …

The trial of an Imam (local Islamic priest) on charges of sexually abusing an underage girl in a Bosnian village has stirred up tensions between local media organizations and the country’s influential Islamic Community. The family of the girl pressed charges against the Imam last year, accusing him of sexually …

BUCHAREST,  – Romania may need external funding in the second half of this year, when a large part of short-term foreign debt falls due, central bank chief economist Valentin Lazea said on Thursday. Many economists have said the European Union state may be next in line to seek financial aid …

BUCHAREST -Romania’s Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu vowed Thursday to continue judicial reforms after the European Union warned Romania to step up the fight against corruption following a recent drop-off in efforts. “Our priority is still to promote and back the adoption by parliament of the ( civil and penal) codes,” …