Protests in Romania against plans to pardon criminals

Tens of thousands of Romanians protested in Bucharest and other major cities against the government's plans to pardon thousands of criminals. The project, presented earlier this month by the government of the Social Democratic Party in Romania was criticized by President Klaus Iohannis by the Attorney General, the Supreme Court and the attorney for fighting corruption, as well as by human rights groups and diplomats. Police said 50,000 people joined the protests in Bucharest alone, making the demonstration the largest one in the recent wave of protests.

Serbia has stopped 20,000 migrants at the border for six months

For half a year the forces of the Serbian army and police prevented some 20,000 attempts of migrants to cross the state border, Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said. Every day some 100 people try to cross the border illegally, the minister added. According to the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Aleksandar Vulin, Serbia was the only country in the region that was preparing to provide the planned number of places for refugees. According to him, Serbia has welcomed 7,000 migrants and they all have a place in reception centers.

No agreement reached over government in Macedonia

The deadline for the formation of a new government in Macedonia has arrived without an agreement between VMRO-DPMNE and the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI). Coalition agreement with the DUI has not been reached, said the leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Nikola Gruevski. He added that holding new elections would be "a mature solution" to the current crisis.

Athens reacts to incident near the islands of Imia/Kardak

Greek paper "Ethnos" wrote that 21 years after the crisis in 1996 the Turks returned to the islands of Imia/Kardak violating Greek territorial waters. The leadership of the Turkish Armed Forces made a brief tour on the rocky island, accompanied by Turkish commandos, but also by photographers, the article reads. The Eleftheros Typos daily described what happened near Imia/Kardak as Turkish "theatrical provocations in the Aegean Sea" and "playing with fire."

The oldest lake in Europe - Ohrid is at risk

The construction of a ski center, a road and marina threatens the Ohrid Lake on the border between Albania and Macedonia and environmentalists warn that it could become a victim of excessive tourist exploitation. In the area of ​​Lake Ohrid that is the oldest in Europe and is included in the UNESCO list of world natural and cultural heritage, thousands of plant and animal species live, including 200 endemic ones. Environmentalists warn that this biodiversity is threatened by development projects for tourism infrastructure in the Macedonian national park of Galichitsa.

Drunk threatens Macedonian government with missile attack

A Macedonian citizen under the influence of alcohol called the police in Skopje and said that in 16 minutes two missiles would be fired at the government building to destroy it. The Ministry of Interior reported that the man had called from his mobile phone and police soon found and arrested him. Upon interrogation the man said he was not satisfied with the way political system in the country was functioning.

Seriously ill child unites Montenegro

The three-year-old Selena Mandic, daughter of a family of journalists working in the Montenegrin newspaper "Vijesti" united Montenegro. Just 48 hours after a campaign was launched over € 200,000 were collected for the urgent treatment of the child in the US. Selena was diagnosed with neuroblastoma and is currently in a children's hospital in Cincinnati. The child's parents called on people for help. Fellow journalists from all media in Montenegro responded first, regardless of their editorial policy and frequent mutual attacks between them. All electronic and print media published bank account numbers and frequently reported on the condition of the child. The campaign was joined by many citizens, companies, NGOs and just 48 hours after the first call for help the money was collected.

Editor: Atanas Tsenov

English: Alexander Markov