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.

MITROVICA, Kosovo (AP) – Kosovo Albanians on Sunday blocked roads and burned tires on a planned route by Serbia’s president in the former Serbian province, further fueling tensions between the two Balkan foes.

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

BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia denounced Israel on Monday because its military jets and envoys took part in a ceremony in Croatia marking a victorious 1995 offensive against rebel Serb-held territories.

Chinese companies are hard at work on building a road through the mountains to connect Montenegro’s port city of Bar with Serbia. The project is incredibly expensive, leaving Montenegro struggling to pay off titanic debt to Chinese financiers. Critics call it another example of Chinese debt imperialism: the slow-motion conquest of smaller countries through the “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative by suckering them into taking loans from Beijing they will never be able to repay.

The Republic of Kosovo made a move this week to gain broader recognition as President Hashim Thaci announced continuing peace talks with Serbian President Aleksander Vucic in an effort to normalize relations between the two countries.

The U.S. Embassy in Montenegro was attacked with an explosive device around midnight local time on Wednesday. The attacker, who has been identified as a 43-year-old former Serbian soldier named Dalibor Jaukovic, was the only casualty.

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

MITROVICA, Kosovo (AP) — A leading Serb politician in northern Kosovo was gunned down Tuesday morning, an attack that raised ethnic tensions in the Balkans and prompted the suspension of EU-mediated talks between Kosovo and Serbia. Assailants opened fire on

Contents: China funds unauthorized anti-Japan comfort woman statue in Manila, Philippines; South Korea calls for renegotiating 2015 deal with Japan on comfort women

SID, Serbia (AP) — Several hundred migrants were camping along Serbia’s borders on Monday, sleeping rough in make-shift shelters from the cold as they look for a chance to cross into neighboring European Union countries.

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) — Serbia’s first-ever openly gay prime minister joined several hundred gay activists Sunday at a gay pride march that was held amid tight security in the conservative Balkan country.

Cuban migrants waiting in Serbia to enter EU territory have claimed they “had no choice” but to make the trip after then-U.S. President Barack Obama revoked Cubans’ special migration status at the beginning of this year.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s president on Thursday nominated the highly conservative country’s first openly gay prime minister, a move likely to infuriate both the Christian Orthodox church and ultranationalists. President Aleksandar Vucic announced that Ana Brnabic, 41, was nominated

Contents: European officials worry that Macedonia’s chaos could destabilize the Balkans; Macedonia comments reveal acrimonious divisions in the Western Balkans

PARIS (AP) — A French court has refused to extradite a former Kosovo prime minister to Serbia to face war crimes charges.

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

WIESBADEN (GERMANY) (AFP) – Germany on Thursday deported to his native Serbia a man whose killing of a young Turkish-German woman sparked nationwide outrage.

Serbian police have rounded up more than 200 migrants in the country’s north following reports of alleged attacks against the local population.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbs voted Sunday in a presidential election that was a test of their powerful leader’s authoritarian rule amid growing Russian influence in the Balkan region. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist now a declared pro-European

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A new fence being built by Hungary to stop migrants from entering the country will be completed by May 1 and a state of emergency giving authorities additional powers to secure the borders has been extended by six months, government officials said Thursday.

European Union (EU) countries which constructed border fences in response to the migrant crisis have seen a collapse in illegal migration, while unprotected states have seen it increase.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia on Wednesday introduced a lockdown for migrants in their refugee center outside Belgrade after an alleged attack against a woman walking with her children.

Contents: Thousands of migrants risk freezing to death as deep freeze spreads across Europe; Migrants in eastern Europe trapped in deep freeze temperatures; European Commission resettlement plan appears to be a disaster

Montenegro’s prosecutors said Tuesday they have issued international arrest warrants for two Russian and three Serbian nationals suspected of planning an anti-government attack during October’s parliamentary election. The five are wanted for “setting up a criminal organisation and attempted terrorism,”

In a country where Gay Pride parades require massive security and almost half the citizens think homosexuality is a disease, Serbia is drawing patients from around the world seeking sex change operations to become men.

Contents: Mediterranean migrant traffic to Italy and Greece continues, despite cold weather; Europeans wonder if Turkey will reopen the refugee floodgates

(REUTERS) – A group of migrants who had marched for two days from the Serbian capital Belgrade were stopped on Sunday at the border with Croatia, a European Union member which said would not allow illegal crossings.

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