Balkans

Croatian police have discovered several dozen migrants hidden in a truck and detained two suspected people smugglers.

As the EU confirmed it was spending taxpayers’ cash on migrants seeking to break into the bloc, Bosnians have pleaded for the Balkans migration route to be shut down amidst increasing “militancy” from newcomers.

The Slovenian government has taken new measures to increase border security by arming border agents as an estimated 20,000 or more migrants attempt to break out of the Balkans into Central Europe.

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) – Polls have opened in Bosnia for a general election that could install a pro-Russian nationalist to a top post and cement ethnic divisions drawn in a brutal war more than 20 years ago.

Contents: Diplomats fear that proposed Serbia-Kosovo peace deal will lead to Balkans war; Former Balkan diplomats say that land swap proposal ignores 1,000 years of bloodshed

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister says it’s in the European Union’s “strategic interest” to expand in the Western Balkans because otherwise China and Russia will gain regional influence instead.

Austrian troops will carry out war games preparing the nation’s border defence against a migration influx later this month after Balkans police warned 80,000 third-world migrants are heading towards Western Europe.

Nine people were injured after a van carrying 29 illegal migrants from Afghanistan and Iraq attempted to ram a police checkpoint on the border between Bosnia and Croatia.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Marina Stevanov never doubted she would leave her native Serbia as soon as she earned her medical degree with top grades. Now, the 25-year-old doctor is packing her diploma, thick medicine books and a German language

Contents: Greece and Macedonia negotiate a contentious name change to replace FYROM; Massive protests in Thessaloniki Greece threaten Tsipras government

Bosnian prosecutor Goran Glamocanin has claimed that Sweden is the number one market in Europe for illegal weapons from the Balkan region after yet another explosion occurred in Malmö over the weekend.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The prime ministers of Greece, Bulgaria and Romania have pledged support for Serbia’s membership in the European Union, saying it would boost stability in the Balkans.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – Serbian officials warned on Friday of another war in the Balkans if Albanians try to form a joint state with Kosovo in the war-weary European region and the West does not reject such a plan. The angry

The leader of the free-market opposition in Albania told Breitbart News Friday that democracy in his country is in great danger, as the left-wing prime minister Edi Rama has allowed corruption and crime to flourish there.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The European Union’s enlargement commissioner urged Balkan leaders Thursday to stop stoking regional tensions and fully embrace their European future.

Austria is joining forces with 15 other Eastern European countries to stem the flow of migrants northwards, as they believe the EU has failed in its duty to protect the region’s borders.

The Switzerland-based Centre for Security Studies (CSS) has published a report, focusing on the “Dynamics of Radicalization and Violent Extremism in Kosovo”, which claims that “foreign-funded extremist networks” are active in states applying to join the European Union (EU).

According to an Italian intelligence report quoted by the UK Daily Mail, former NATO soldier-turned Islamic State (ISIS) commander Lavdrim Muhaxheri has fled the Syrian battlefield and returned to Europe with up to 400 of his savage troops in tow, posing as refugees.

PODGORICA, Montenegro – For the first time in more than six years, Israel was allowed to participate in a NATO exercise this week.

BELGRADE – Serbia’s Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday he did not believe he had been subject to an assassination attempt, seeking to calm tensions after the discovery of a cache of heavy weapons on a route regularly taken

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has put out an appeal for millions of dollars’ worth of extra charitable funding to help migrants in the Balkans, claiming that their original target of $555 million is now not enough. In January, the

The Justice Secretary Michael Gove has warned of the dangers of staying in an ever expanding European Union (EU). Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey joining the EU over the next few years would open the door to 88 million people,

(AFP) – The German and Greek leaders blasted Balkan countries for shutting their borders to migrants ahead of an EU ministers meeting Thursday, with Greek Premier Alexis Tsipras warning that the EU “has no future if it goes on like

(AFP) – EU interior ministers were set to meet in Brussels Thursday to discuss the migrant crisis after western Balkan nations slammed shut their borders, exacerbating a dire humanitarian situation on the Macedonian frontier. The scheduled two-day meeting will tackle

An explosive leaked document from the Austria intelligence agency has revealed they expect a “repeat” of the 2015, resulting in Austria becoming a “huge asylum waiting zone” with up to half a million migrants stuck in transit. Austria took in 68,000

Austria hosts talks Wednesday with countries along the well-trodden migrant path through the western Balkans to northern Europe, as tighter border controls raise fears of a humanitarian crisis, particularly in Greece. But Athens has angrily protested at being excluded from

Contents: Decaying stadiums from 2004 Athens Olympics have new lives housing migrants; Greece transports migrants from Macedonian border back to Athens; Migrants blocked from Macedonia face difficult choices

Lt. General Michael Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, has been outspoken in his criticism of the Obama administration’s handling of the Islamic State before, but his new interview in Der Spiegel contains some of his toughest words yet, and he offers stern criticism of the Bush administration as well.

IDOMENI, Greece (AP) — Migrants on the Greek-Macedonian border attacked police with stones Saturday, enraged by the sight of Macedonian authorities erecting a fence along the border and an accident that injured a young Moroccan man. Authorities said 18 Macedonian

Contents: Germany to deport thousands of Afghan and Balkans migrants home; President Obama orders American special forces into Syria