Bosnia's chances of joining the European Union could be jeopardized if it fails to conduct a census next year, a tangled issue in a country still divided 14 years after war, a top official has said.
Serbia has appealed to African states to back its efforts to block diplomatic recognition of Kosovo independence, warning the continent's own multiethnic countries could be threatened by the move.
The unexpected election of moderate Bishop Irinej Gavrilovic of Nis as the new patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church does not mean the influence of more radical priests, like Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro, will subside. That's according to Milorad Tomanic, a Belgrade-based expert on the Orthodox Church and author of a recently published book, "The Serbian Church In the War, and The Wars Within It." RFE/RL's Podgorica correspondent, Dimitrije Jovicevic, spoke to Tomanic about the future role of the church in Serbia.
Nearly two years after Kosovo declared independence, the UN's special representative to the region reports that peace in the country’s north remains fragile, and tensions are high between ethnic Serbs and ethnic Albanians.
The Montenegrin government said in a statement today that diplomatic relations were established by exchange of letters of the respective foreign ministers.
Kosovo police refused to allow a Serbian minister to visit a Serb-dominated town and escorted him back to the border today, saying he had not sought permission beforehand.
At a confirmation hearing in Brussels, the EU's enlargement and neighborhood policy commissioner-in-waiting today gave strong backing to the EU's existing commitments to welcome the western Balkan countries and Turkey, but stopped short of endorsing the membership hopes of Ukraine and other eastern neighbors.
The U.S.-based human rights watchdog Freedom House says 2009 saw more setbacks than improvements, with 40 countries and territories covered in its latest survey experiencing declines in democratic freedoms, including most of the post-Soviet area.
Russians and others are marking the Eastern Rite Christmas today, with the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill leading Russian Orthodox Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Serbian President Boris Tadic is celebrating Orthodox Christmas at a 14-century Serb monastery in Kosovo, according to RFE/RL's Balkan Service, and came offering "a message of peace to all people, wherever they are."
Kosovo and EU police arrested seven people today in connection with the death of illegal migrants whose boat sank in a river between Hungary and Serbia two months ago, police said.
The United States and Russia, deeply divided over the legality of Kosovo's declaration of independence, have presented opposing arguments about the move to the International Court of Justice.
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