Southeast Europe

Fortunately, this retard (nicknamed Kopeikin after the Russian coins that he is known to receive) does not have the means to do it.

Kostadin Kostadinov, leader of the far-right pro-Russian Vazrazhdane party, said on January 9 that North Macedonia and the Ukrainian part of Southern Bessarabia should be added to Bulgaria.

Kostadinov compared his aims to the statement by US president-elect Donald Trump that he wants to annex the Panama Canal and Canada.

While this does not prove anything, it is an indication of the background before the elections.

Over the past year, we have recorded an increasing presence of synthetic or digitally altered disinformation aimed at financial fraud or stealing personal data. Most commonly, these are synthetic or digitally altered videos, made with the assistance of generative AI tools, which present the likings of journalists, politicians, or scientists trying to convince citizens to buy stocks, bitcoins, or some miracle cure. Besides scams, the only detected cases of AI-generated content involving political figures were humorous and satirical audio and video clips. There were no appearances of AI-generated disinformation intended to malignantly influence the election process. One political party created an “AI politician” for the parliamentary elections campaign, as an educational tool to highlight the dangers of AI.

The accounts posting pro-Milanović content were diverse, posting in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Serbian and Croatian. They appeared to mobilise in two waves: following Milanović’s first-place finish in the first round of voting and after his statements opposing potential Croatian involvement in the Ukraine War.

Researchers also analysed news media relating to the presidential runoff and found that several Kremlin propaganda outlets and Kremlin-aligned media outlets in other countries took a favourable stance toward Milanović .

The English website of Al Mayadeen, widely recognised as a Hezbollah-affiliated platform, published two articles falsely asserting that Milanović had won the first round of elections which were further amplified by bot accounts.

Croatian and regional fringe outlets previously flagged for peddling disinformation about the war in Ukraine have also promoted Milanović, including Epoha, Projekt Velebit, and Maxportal.hr, researchers found.

Sad but true...

Not sure who would want to go to the US after 10 January, but the waiver should remain after the Trump-Musk fiasco.

Many residents of Cetinje and other Montenegrins believe that police mishandled the situation and haven’t done enough to boost security since the first massacre, which happened in August 2022.

Wednesday’s shooting resulted from a bar brawl. A 45-year-old local man went home to get his gun before returning to the bar and opening fire. He killed four people there and eight more at various other locations before killing himself.

The Novi Sad District Heating Company secured financing for its solar thermal project, for an innovative hybrid system for seasonal energy storage that would combine solar collectors, thermal storage and heat pumps. The investment is aimed at decarbonizing the city’s district heating and enabling conditions for balancing the power system.

According to the Organized Crime Control Directorate, the operation aimed at dismantling criminal gangs resulted in the capture of 10 Turks and one Lebanese national.

The protesters have been actively demonstrating following the tragic collapse of a concrete canopy in the northern city of Novi Sad’s central train station on Nov. 1, which resulted in 15 fatalities.

The tragedy has been attributed to corruption and substandard construction practices by the populist Serbian leadership, leading to a widespread public outcry and demands for accountability.

Hristijan Mickoski, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, commented on the challenges of EU accession, stating that the process has been "Balkanized" rather than "Europeanized." He emphasized the need to resolve internal issues while cooperating with European partners, highlighting that the current bilateral disputes between member states undermine the accession process. He criticized the trend of using bilateral disagreements as obstacles, pointing to examples such as Croatia and Slovenia, and the longstanding disputes between Greece and North Macedonia. Mickoski argued that this approach has transformed the EU accession process into a regional issue rather than a unifying European effort.

Milanovic won 49.1 percent of the first round vote and Primorac, backed by the ruling conservative HDZ party, took 19.35 percent, according to results released by the state electoral commission from nearly all of the polling stations.

But he used the office to attack political opponents and EU officials, often with offensive and populist rhetoric.

Milanovic, who condemned Russia's aggression against Ukraine, has nonetheless criticised the West's military aid to Kyiv.

Edit: link replaced as initial seems to be gone now.

via https://libranet.de/profile/petrescatraian

Tens of thousands of people gathered in central Belgrade on Sunday to protest against President Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), whom they blame for a railway station roof collapse last month that killed 15 people. The concrete awning of the recently renovated roof of Novi Sad station caved in on Nov. 1, killing 14 and injuring three. One of the injured died later. Opposition leaders and the public have taken to the streets repeatedly, blaming the accident on shoddy construction resulting from government corruption and nepotism.

Students at state universities in Belgrade, Kragujevac and Nis have been protesting for weeks to demand the release of all documents relevant to the renovation of the station, as well as criminal prosecution of officials responsible for the disaster. Every day they block traffic in front of their faculties for 15 minutes to commemorate the 15 victims.

An important year, where nature, history and economics drove politics and society changes.

Albania bans TikTok for an year after it has been linked to a murder

"The problem today is not our children, the problem today is us, the problem today is our society, the problem today is TikTok and all the others that are taking our children hostage," Rama said.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/albania-bans-tiktok-year-after-killing-teenager-2024-12-21/
@balkanika

Belgrade will make public transport free starting from January 1, 2025, a move that will make the Serbian capital the largest European city with this initiative.

Beyond politicised questions whether Pomak is a language or a dialect, in either case it is worthwhile to study how an under-resourced language like this could be modelled and preserved. Basing these on standardised Bulgarian carries risks of biasing the local redaction towards the central language.

North Macedonia's Sekerinska beats Bulgaria's Gabriel to become 2nd in NATO

According to anonymous officials, candidates included Bulgarian Mariya Gabriel, Croatian Kolinda Grabar-Kititarovic, and Montenegrin Olivera Injac.

This appears to suggest that Borissov's GERB did not back Gabriel's candidacy. An update consistent with the developments after the party tanked Gabriel's attempts to negotiate a large coalition for a national government early this year.

https://www.rferl.org/a/nato-sekerinska-rutte-geoana-ruge/33207929.html

@balkanika

Some varieties to know if you happen to pass (or live) nearby.

А България изпусна възможността да обезпечи своите миньори.

The village managed to get through the Bosnian War of the ‘90s relatively unscathed, so it functions almost like a time capsule—albeit one without essential amenities like a market, school, doctor, or shop. Each winter, heavy snowfall forces Lukomir’s inhabitants to abandon their mountain homes, a pattern of seasonal migration that began more than 600 years ago when semi-nomadic tribes of shepherds and their families would move to the village with their large flocks of sheep in search of water and warmth.

But over the last decade, the villagers have discovered tourism—or tourism has, at least, found them. And so when they return every summer to carry out medieval traditions and Muslim religious celebrations, they now also welcome hikers from around the world with beer and a special, flaky pastry called burek pie.

Burek, the national dish of Bosnia, is a snail-shaped filo pastry filled with everything from spinach and cheese to beef mince or potatoes. Burek pie, however, is slightly different. It’s traditionally filled with spinach or cheese and is cooked under a sač, which is something like a metal or ceramic lid.