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News from Serbia |
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8 December 2007
Montenegro has set up a Fund for Minorities to help them preserve their religious, cultural and linguistic identities. The Minister for Human and Minority Rights told journalists that the Fund was “necessary not just for the minorities, but also for the whole of Montenegro”.
Montenegro has a population of 630,000. Of the total, 43 percent are Montenegrins, 32 percent Serbs, 14 percent Bosniaks/Muslims, 6 percent Albanians and 1 percent Croats. (BIRN)
8 December 2007
The Topola Municipal President said that the future Roma community would be put behind barbed wire to prevent them walking the streets, as residents opposed such neighbors moving in. “I can’t allow Roma into the center of the town, money has already been wasted once. I guarantee that you won’t have any undesired contact with them,” he concludes. (B92)
15 November 2007
Four men robbed a Belgrade bank. But when they tried to cross the Sava River, they fell victim to infamous traffic congestion in the capital, allowing the police to catch up with them, make arrests and recover all the money. (B92)
11 November 2007
The leader of New Serbia (NS) and minister Velimir Ilić said a journalist was in the area "to sodomize sheep". The minister accused a reporter after he tried to photograph a private clinic built on his estate. Ilić has since abandoned plans to build the hospital, faced with public criticism over its illegal construction. He said said local villagers had reported this to the police, but when asked, the police did not to confirm these claims (B 92)
1 October 2007
Serbia's trade with African partners has recorded a deficit, the latest statistics show. Compared to the first eight months of last year, the deficit has doubled in 2007.
Along with coffee and cocoa, and other products exclusive to the continent, Serbia also imports gas masks, garlic and clothing, most of which, according to IZIT official Saša Ðogović, is unnecessary.
As for Serbian exports to the continent, they mostly consist of tin, wood and rubber, he added.
Serbia would improve its trade balance with Africa if it offered agricultural machinery, automobiles, seed products and the services of construction companies. (Beta)
28 September 2007
According to Agriculture Minister Slobodan Milosavljević, Serbia received a certificate from the European Union for this plum brandy, with a protected brand name and geographic origin, to be called “Serbian Slivovitz.”
“Only we will be able to export under that name,” Milosavljević told daily Večernje Novosti, adding that “no-one else in the world will be able to make and sell that brand of slivovitz.”
He said that while slivovitz has always been a Serbian brand, the European Union certification had made it official. (Beta)
August 5, 2007
Kosovo police find counterfeit water bottler in a small factory in central Kosovo. The factory had neither a license for bottling this branded water nor a permit to function as a business. More than 3000 liters of water was confiscated together with the equipment used in the plant. (Birn)
July 10, 2007
The inhabitants of Belgrade spend around 70 liters of water more per day during the summer than citizens of North and West Europe, and 50 liters more than people from Mediterranean countries, where most drinkable water, as in Serbia, is used for cooling. While the average Belgrader consumers 220 liters of water per day during the summer, the French use up 150 liters and the Italians 170 liters on average. (Danas)
June 24, 2007
The Council of Europe Ministers’ Deputies held their 1000th meeting in Belgrade, with representatives of the CoE’s 47 member states adopting a declaration for a Europe with no divisions, reasserting joint values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. The “One Europe-Our Europe” document also calls for achieving greater unity among CoE member states and promoting economic and social progress. (Danas)
June 14, 2007
A municipal judge has asked for police protection after receiving threatening letters in relation to the Baby Affair. . The letter was sent by the husband of a nurse sentenced to six months in prison. Several babies were declared dead at birth, only to later be put up for illegal adoptions. (B 92)
April 30, 2007
Around 4,000 Independent Union members will hold protests in downtown Belgrade. Union members said they would demand urgent formation of a new government and state institutions so as to improve the position of Serbia’s workers. The workers suffered due to the parties’ constant bickering and stalling with the creation of a government. The Union announced organizing mass protests throughout the country in case May 14 saw no government in office. (B 92)
April 29, 2007
2000 ex-Army soldiers sue the Army to obtain their outstanding salaries from 1999. They participated in the Kosovo war. Several hundred have already received their money, of which the judges and court officials of the responsible courts. The president of the court confirmed this, but said that the procedures have been put on hold to wait for a decision of the supreme court.
A doctor was banished for five years to exercise his medical profession. He was condemned because he treated patients only when paid bribes. The litigation took four years. (B 92, a critical radio & TV station)