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December 05

- THE HAGUE: Today the Hague Tribunal has acquitted Fatmir Ljimaj and Isak Musliu, former members of UCK, of crimes against civilians committed in the detention camp of Lapusnik and pronounced Haradin Baljaj guilty of some of the crimes and sentenced him to 13 years imprisonment.
"Danas", 1. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: There are nearly 600 Roma settlements in Serbia&Montenegro and around 250.000 Roma are living in these settlements and the state will insist on moving them out of the settlement and enable them full integration into the society, says Jelena Markovic, assistant minister of human and minority rights of Serbia&Montenegro. She says that the city of Belgrade has already provided 58 locations for social apartments and means for their construction. They are built under favourable conditions and other citizens will also have the opportunity to use the apartments. The authorities expect to speed up the social integration of the Roma in this way. "The Roma must be integrated into the local community so the settlements which are being built for the Roma can't be exclusive for them but also for other social categories", stressed Markovic, who is also the national coordinator of the "Roma Decade" program for Serbia. There are only plans to build apartments for the Roma in Belgrade for the moment. In the towns in the interior there are no plans or arranged locations or money for the construction of such apartments, which indicates that the local authorities are still rather inert and this will certainly slow down the implementation of the project of building apartments for the Roma. She says that the majority population doesn't show enough understanding for the efforts to integrate the Roma into the society and they often oppose the construction of apartments for the Roma. So the inhabitants of the Block 45 in Belgrade organized protests demanding to give up the construction because they believe that the Roma will start building dumps of scrap paper and metals because that is what they do for a living.
"The authorities have to be present in the field and send out a message that the integration of the Roma community can't be the question of will or arbitration of a group of citizens, it is a constitutional obligation of every individual and the state to implement it", says Markovic. She thinks that the Roma themselves might be against this because they are used to living isolated in their settlements so they might perceive being housed in these apartments as a forced change of their way of life.
"Danas", 1. 12. 2005.

- GRACANICA: Yesterday in Susica near Pristina unknown attackers wounded Dragomir Jovanovic (aged17) out of a moving car. He was hit in the arm and now he is hospitalized in Gracanica.
"Glas javnosti", 1. 12. 2005.

- PRISTINA: The Government of Ireland has donated 250.000 euros for the reconstruction of the Roma settlements in Kosovo, as part of the campaign of returning IDPs to their homes, UNMIK has announced. The money will be used for the construction of 9 residential buildings for around 100 inhabitants of the Roma Mahala near Kosovska Mitrovica. After the armed conflict in kosovo, more than 500 Roma were displaced from the Roma Mahala to three settlements in the area of Mitrovica. One of them, the settlement of Zitkovac, is situated near the "Trepca" lead mines. A research by the World Health Organization shows that around 50 inhabitants of Zitkovac have problems caused by lead poisoning.
"Glas javnosti", 1. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: For the first time next year the Poverty Reduction Strategy will constitute an official activity in the budget for 2006 and it will not just include the Serbian Government, but also the local self-governments and the NGO sector. At "The Forgotten Crisis" convention on the poverty of refugees and IDPs held in Belgrade yesterday, Aleksandra Jovic of the Serbian Government's vice-president's cabinet, announced a promotional campaign of the Strategy and the official start of its implementation. The Strategy is based on the fact that there are 278.000 refugees and more than 200.000 IDPs living in Serbia. Although the Strategy establishes that 10,6% of the population is destitute, various measuring methodologies show that 1/5 of Serbia's population is actually living below the poverty line. Vesna Golic, executive director of the Group 484, said that a joint
research by the World Food Program and Ces Mecona from the year 2000 shows that the proportion of the poor among refugees is two times as high as the domicile population.
The convention was organized by the Group 484, the Serbian Refugee Committee, UNDP and the European Union.
"Danas", 2. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: "Besides the 500.000 Serbs exiled from Croatia and Bosnia&Herzegovina and 250.000 Serbs displaced from Kosovo, Serbia is threatened by a new exodus because Serbs don't only sell their homes in Kosovo, Bujanovac and Presevo but also in Montenegro where they make up 30% of the population and they don't feel safe there any more", warned Gojko Djogo, writer and member of the presidency of the Community of
Serbs from Croatia and Bosnia&Herzegovina, at yesterday's press conference. "Because of these problems, as well as major difficulties in the return of Serbs to Croatia and the Federation of Bosnia&Herzegovina and repossession of their properties, the Community will transform into some kind of a patriotic alliance. It won't be a new political party but it will surely be a respectable political force to support all those who care about improving the situation of our fellow Serbs in the neighbouring countries as well as supporting as fast integration as possible of the refugees who have decided to live in Serbia", said Djogo.
"Vecernje novosti", 2. 12. 2005.

- GNJILANE: Zegra was a purely Serb village two decades ago. As time went by, more and more Albanians moved to the village so they became the majority population even before the armed conflict in Kosovo, when the village had 800 Albanian and 120 Serb homes. Today there are no Serbs in Zegra. Albanian extremists have forced out even the most persistant local Serbs.
"Vecernje novosti", 2. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: These days you can't buy anything for the smallest Serbian coin (1 dinar) and for the smallest banknote (10 dinars) you can buy 3 chewing gums or 2 match boxes.
"Glas javnosti", 4. 12. 2005.

- PODGORICA: The villages of Zeicno, Sarici, Babici and Jerinici near Pluzine in Montenegro have a total population of 6, all of them over 70 years of age. These villages once had as many as 93 households altogether.
"Glas javnosti", 4. 12. 2005.

- KOSOVSKA MITROVICA: Yesterday around noon, the van operating between Gracanica and Kosovska Mitrovica was shot from a truck coming from the opposite direction. Luckily, no one was hurt but property damage was caused.The case has been reported to the Kosovo Police Service and investigation is underway.
"Glas javnosti", 3. 12. 2005.

- SPLIT: The Split "Slobodna Dalmacija" newspaper reports that more and more Croats are converting to Islam because are disappointed in the Catholic Church and its priesthood only caring about money and power. "They preach one thing and do another", says Bogdan Radonic from Split who changed his name to Jusuf when he converted to Islam a couple of years ago.Aziz Efendija, deputy mufti of Split, says that there are 60.000-100.000 Muslims in Croatia and their number is going up all the time.
"Glas javnosti", 3. 12. 2005.

- KRAGUJEVAC: There are 22.535 registered unemployed in Kragujevac, among them 1.100 disabled persons. This year a little more than 4.600 have found jobs through the National Labour Bureau (only 4 of them disabled person), 150 have found jobs through self-employment and only 10 through regional programs. Over 1.000 people have applied for micro-credits; 36 have been granted micro-credits and only 26 have been realized.
"Glas javnosti", 3. 12. 2005.

- PRISTINA: The Swedish Government has allocated 320.000 euros for the moving of hundreds of displaced Roma from the lead contaminated camps in the north of Kosovo to a former French military base. This money will be used to move 560 Roma out of the 3 temporary camps in Zitkovac, Kablar and Cesmin Lug where they have lived in extremely difficult conditions for more than 6 years. The camps are located right next to the industrial zone near the northern section of Mitrovica, on a location with a high level of lead contamination affecting the health of the 125 Roma families living there. UNMIK has been severely criticized for failing to move the displaced Roma earlier. They settled in the camps after the armed conflict in Kosovo, when the Albanian extremists destroyed their houses in southern Mitrovica and forced them out of the Albanian section of the town. The UN administration has admitted this to be one of the major humanitarian problems in Kosovo.
"Danas", 3.-4. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: There are 700.000-800.000 disabled persons living in Serbia&Montenegro and only 13% are employed.Slobodan Lalovic, Serbian Minister of Work, Employment and Social Policy, has announced that a law on prevention of discrimination against disabled persons is to be passed next year and also a law on employment and rehabilitation of handicapped persons.
"Danas", 5. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: By signing the Sarajevo Declaration, the governments of Bosnia&Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia obliged themselves to do everything they can to complete the return process of refugees in 2006.Dragisa Dabetic, Serbian Commissioner for refugees, says about the results achieved so far in the implementation of the Sarajevo Declaration and local integration of refuges in Serbia: "In 2006, we shall start the construction of around 1.000 housing units in various municipalities in Serbia. The European Council has granted a loan of 20 million euros for the project. Refugees and IDPs will have a chance to get a loan and pay it back over the next 18 years with a minimal interest rate. So a monthly installment for a 55-square-meter apartment will be 180 euros", says Dabetic.
He says that the construction is underway of 150 housing units for refugees from collective centers which are planned for closing. We still have118 collective centers in Serbia housing 10.318 persons of which 6.424 are IDPs from Kosovo. "We plan to close more collective centers next year, depending on the economic means provided for alternative accommodation for their tenants", says Dabetic.He says that there are 17 collective centers in Kosovo housing 22.000 IDPs. "For them we plan the solutions in accordance with their decision to stay and live in the areas to which they have been displaced, where there are more Serbs", Dabetic says. He says that so far around 200 village households have been purchased for the accommodation of refugees, thanks to a donation of the European Agency for Development. A refugee who gets a house in this way becomes the owner of the property automatically which enables him to fix and repair the house increasing its market value. This program is implemented in all the municipalities in Serbia. "We plan to buy more village houses next year because this has turned out to be a good program", says Dabetic.
"Vecernje novosti", 3. 12. 2005.

- NOVI PAZAR: Graffiti reading "Death to Serbs", "Islam will rule", "Naser Oric" etc. appeared on the wall of a secondary school in Novi Pazar on Thursday. The police has investigated the scene.
"Blic", 3. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: Two nights ago on the road Prizren-Dragas, Albanian terrorists fired 2 grenades from a portable missile launcher at a bus operating between Belgrade and Dragas. The grenades passed through the rear part of the bus but failed to explode, probably because they were damp due to the rain which was falling the previous two days, says one of the Goran passengers of the bus.The bus didn't stop at the moment of the attack. It was carrying around 30 passengers but luckily, none of them was hurt. On arriving in Dragas, the owner of the bus reported the attack to the KFOR and the KFOR special units destroyed the grenades yesterday.That Gorans are not safe in Kosovo is confirmed by the number of those who have been forced out and displaced - since 1999, 12.000-15.000 Gorans have left Gora. There are still around 6.000 living in the area. Lots of them would live, they say, if it wasn't for the Turkish battalion who is in charge of the area protecting Gorans' rights to the maximum.
"Vecernje novosti", 5. 12. 2005.

- BOSANSKI PETROVAC: Around 40% of the citizens of Bosnia&Herzegovina would leave the country if they had a chance to live some place else, shows a research that the UN Development Program conducted last month.
"Glas javnosti", 6. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: Violence among minors in Serbia is increasing. The list of cases is long - except for the latest case in Gornji Milanovac from a couple of days ago, when a seventh-grader pushed his friend down the stairs at school and her skull cracked, 17-year-old Nikola Kovacevic in Belgrade, student of the "Sveti Sava" Gymnasium, was killed recently by some boys of his age; earlier this year little Maradona Lazic drowned because his friends pushed him from the Sava Bridge in Belgrade and underage K.M. has stabbed a boy of his age three times with a knife outside a secondary school in Obrenovac and killed him. This year 12 teenagers have been killed only in Belgrade, and as many as 600 new underage criminalshave been put on record.Minors also target teachers more and more often - recently someone broke a teacher's skull just because he was teaching children of Roma nationality.
"Glas javnosti", 7. 12. 2005.

- BABUSNICA: Slobodan Momcilovic, secretary of the Red Cross in Babusnica, says that last year the local soup-kitchen was closed after 4 years of work. At the beginning there were 200 beneficiaries, then the number had to be reduced to 150 and finally there were only 50 beneficiaries. "The donors were the ICRC and the municipality of Babusnica. The soup-kitchen was closed because we couldn't provide premises for the preparation of the meals for the soup-kitchen", Momcilovic says.The fact that the municipality has around 1.000 socially vulnerable people shows that there is a great need for a soup-kitchen. "The number of vulnerable people has been increasing in the last 2-3 months because people are losing their jobs. We've got families where both parents are unemployed and they have children at school so there is a great need for social allowances which are distributed through the Center for Social Work because the donations distributed through the Red Cross have stopped", Momcilovic says and points out that 10 days ago the Red Cross, in cooperation with the president of the municipality and the Center for Social Work, distributed 26 parcels to the most vulnerable local families.
"Danas", 7. 12. 2005.

- PRISTINA: UNMIK spokesman, Niraj Singh, said yesterday that investigations show that there are still 350.000-400.000 pieces of weapons in the illegal possession of Kosovo's residents.
"Glas javnosti", 8. 12. 2005.

- PRISTINA: Yesterday in Vitina unidentified persons threw a bomb on business premises owned by an Albanian, the Kosovo Police Service has confirmed.Two nights ago a bomb was thrown on an UNMIK vehicle in Vitina. The car was completely destroyed but no one was hurt in the explosion.
"Glas javnosti", 8. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: Serbian Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Milan Parivodic, said yesterday that our country is the largest "exporter" of asylum-seekers in Europe. He said that this is caused by the fact that many Albanians from Kosovo are seeking asylum in western Europe using Serbia&Montenegro passports. "It is a major problem for us when it comes to our entry into the white Schengen list. Our citizens, who are not ethnic Albanian, are the victims of these asylum-seekers in a way", said the Minister and added that because of the asylum-seekers "to whom we are issuing passports, our reputation in the Schengen system has become very low" and that this problem must be solved as soon as possible.
"Glas javnosti", 8. 12. 2005.

- NOVI SAD: Police have received orders to control all the nationalistic incidents as well as those ethnically, religiously or otherwise motivated incidents which could represent a threat to the inter-ethnic relations and security.Tomislav Bogunovic, president of the Security Committee of the Vojvodina Parliament, says that the Ministry of Police has submitted to the Committee a report on the activities of the extremist movements in Vojvodina and the report will be available to the public on December 20th, when it will be presented at a session of the Vojvodina Parliament.
"Glas javnosti", 8. 12. 2005.

- PODGORICA: The Montenegran Helsinky Commitee has sent a proclamation to all the leading international institutions saying that "discrimination based on origin is carried out against Montenegrans in Serbia on the part of the Government and other Republic institutions". The president of the Committee, Slobodan Franovic, has said for the Podgorica "Republika" daily that this statement refers to the list of Montenegrans that the Serbian Government has put together and then Prime Minister Kostunica took it to Brussels.The appeal to the world also stresses that "the citizens of Serbia who declare their Montenegran nationality are particularly exposed to threats and also those who have opposed openly to the forced assimilation to which they are being exposed, without putting in question at any moment their loyalty to Serbia".
"Glas javnosti", 8. 12. 2005.

- SUBOTICA: Police have filed charges against D.J. (aged 15) from Palic for inciting ethnic, racial and religious hatred. He is suspected of painting chauvinistic graffiti brutally insulting the Hungarian ethnic minority. He has been questioned in the presence of his parents and his lawyer, and the country prosecutor, the Social Work Center and the juvenile judge have been informed of the incident, announced the Police Department of Subotica.
"Glas javnosti", 8. 12. 2005.

- BUJANOVAC: There are two private TV stations in Bujanovac - TV Spektri in Albanian and TV Leo in Roma language "broadcasting new films without paying for authorization long before they get to the local video-club in a legal way", says Djordje Stojiljkovic, owner of the only video-club in Bujanovac. He says that because of the private TV stations and piracy he barely makes ends meet with his business.
"Glas javnosti", 8. 12. 2005.

- MERDARE: Yesterday at Merdare, on the administration border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia, UNMIK delivered to the families the remains of Aleksandar Scepanovic, Milovan Petrovic, Rados Pavlovic and Aleksandar Stanojevic from Nis, Milutin Karic from Pec, Milenko Savic from Livoc near Gnjilane and the Roma Hilmi Cigani from Orahovac. They were kidnapped in Kosovo in 1998-1999 and then killed from firearms.
"Glas javnosti", 9. 12. 2005.

- NOVI SAD: The citizens of Vojvodina show the most reserve towards Roma and the least towards Serbs, shows a research on ethnic distance organized by the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad.The greatest reserve was expressed when it comes to marriage and state presidency and the least when it comes to business and neighbour relations.The research shows that it is the least desirable for the inhabitants of Vojvodina to have a person of Roma nationality for a spouse or president of the state but they don't express too much reserve towards a Roma neighbour. Montenegrans are the least desirable business partners for the inhabitants of Vojvodina.
"Glas javnosti", 9. 12. 2005.

- BERLIN: Croatia is obstructing the return of Serb refugees without restraining from chicanery, reports the Dresden "Sachsische Zeitung" daily, noting that there is still no electricity in the village of Donja Mlinoga although the returnees living there have offered to stretch out the cables and place the electric poles themselves.The German daily describes the life in the village noting that two little boys, Goran and Nemanja, of a family of Serb returnees do their homework in the dark and live their young days without television, music, electric light...
"Glas javnosti", 9. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: Dragisa Dabetic, Commissioner for Refugees of Serbia, says that in Serbia there are around 141.000 persons with a refugee status but their real number is estimated at around 300.000 because many have taken Serbian citizenship but their situation hasn't changed at all. There are 99 collective centers in Serbia at the moment housing around 9.000 refugees and IDPs; 50 of the collective centers housing around 3.000 persons are planned for closing next year.He says that next year another 1.000 apartments for refugees and IDPs will be built in the municipalities of Nis, Kraljevo and Kragujevac.
"Danas", 8. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: Thanks to the German Government, 975 internally displaced families from Kosovo mostly living in collective camps, mostly old people, single mothers and disabled persons, have received aid in firewood - 3 square meters of firewood and a hygienic package per family - says Dragan Pejovski, director of the "Adra" humanitarian organization of the Adventist Church."According to the records of the Republic Commission for Refugees, 140.000 IDPs are living in Serbia, and the humanitarian organizations with whom we have meetings organized by Princess Katarina Karadjordjevic in the White Castle every month, mention the figures of 500.000-600.000. Our country wants EU membership but the EU can't admit a country which would be a parasite with such a large number of refugees so it happens that there are 12 informal centers in Belgrade which do exist legally but they don't appear anywhere in the official statistics", says Dragan Pejovski.
"Glas javnosti", 9. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: Carla del Ponte, the Hague's chief prosecutor, announced in Belgrade yesterday, that the best known fugitive from Croatia, Ante Gotovina, had been arrested in Spain.
"Vecernje novosti", 9. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: Serbian Government's Fund for Kosovo has allocated 46.650.000 dinars for the purchase and distribution of food and hygienic products for 12.500 most needy families in the Province, the Coordination Center for Kosovo announced yesterday.The Coordination Center and the Red Cross of Serbia are in charge of the distribution of the aid and the distribution will start on December 13th.
"Danas", 10.-11. 12. 2005.

- KRALJEVO: Next March the construction of 96 apartments for refugees and domicile population will start in Beranovac near Kraljevo thanks to a donation of 8,5 million euros from the Italian Government.
"Blic", 10. 12. 2005.- NOVI PAZAR; There are 8 organized criminal groups in Novi Pazar each numbering 15 armed men. In this town alone, drug addicts spend around 16.000 euros on narcotics per day - says Suad Bulic, former chief of the local Police Department and stresses that it is just a part of the large cake shared between the local criminals.
"Blic", 10. 12. 2005.- SVRLJIG: Svrljig has a population of around 10.000. Most its inhabitants are unemployed and those who work have a salary of 6.000 dinars on average; 40% of young people aged 11-19 have tried drugs.The villages in the municipality of Svrljig are dying out. The locals say that recently the old people living in the village of Labukovo all gathered to see a child who came with its parents to visit one of them. The villagers haven't seen a child in 10-15 years.
"Blic", 10. 12. 2005.- ZAGREB: Rallies of support for Ante Gotovina were held all over Croatia yesterday. He was extradited to the Hague Tribunal on Saturday. A message was sent out to try the general in Croatia. The largest rally was the one organized by the Association of the Croatian War Invalids (HVIDRA) in Split with around 100.000 participants. The rally took place without any incidents, glorifying Gotovina and insulting President Mesic and Prime Minister Sanader calling them "gypsies" and "Judas".
"Glas javnosti", 12. 12. 2005.- NOVI SAD: Vojvodina Committee for the Integration of the Roma has announced that Bata Sajn, member of the Roma community, has been assaulted in Kovacica without any reason and in this attack Igor Venjarski knocked his tooth out.Igor Venjarski is the son of the local inspector Venjarski who is known in Kovacica for torturing Roma-businessmen by checking their businesses more often than the businesses which belong to persons who are not Roma, says the Committee's public statement.The Committee has informed of the incident the local administration in Kovacica and the local police department and they said that "the situation will be put under control". The statement says that it is "particularly alarming" that Venjarski chose to attack a Roma although Bata Sajn's friends of non-Roma nationality were sitting with him in the confectionery where the incident took place.The Committee appeals to the Roma to "restrain from revenge and conflicts".
"Glas javnosti", 12. 12. 2005.- NOVI SAD: Bojan Kostres, president of the Vojvodina Parliament, says that at the next session of the Parliament he will propose the "Cheek" movement to be banned, based on the information suppplied by the Police Department and the Parliement's Security Committee.
The Security Committee has submitted to the Vojvodina Parliament a notification indicating the skinheads, the "National Formation", "Blood and Honor" and "Racial nationalist-rasonalists" as "informal social groups with neo-nazi attributes" and the "Cheek" is qalified as a clero-fascist organization. In a statement for the Novi Sad "Gradjanski list" newspaper, Kostres explained that he would demand a ban for the "Cheek" movement because it is the only organized group and most of these other groups are not officially registered so they can't be banned by the law.
"Glas javnosti", 13. 12. 2005.- BELGRADE: On Saturday in the center of Belgrade, the federal Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and a number of NGOs and citizens' associations marked December 10, International Human Rights Day.In the central pedestrian zone, the Ministry had a bench set up where brochures were distributed to the citizens explaining the charges of this Ministry and the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Jelena Markovic, assistant minister of human and minority rights, told the press that the campaign was aimed to direct the citizens' attention to the subject of which they usually don't think, and to explain to the
members of ethnic minorities what their rights are and how to exercise them.
"Danas", 12. 12. 2005.- NOVI SAD: On Saturday more than 40 NGOs demanded from the state authorities to put an end to neo-nazi and clero-fascist organizations and ideas. "We demand strict application of the legal regulations sanctioning the incitement of ethnic, racial and religious hatred", says a proclamation issued by these NGOs. The ban of all the organizations whose agenda is based on neo-fascist, neo-nazi, clero-fascist and other totalitarian ideologies.
"Danas", 12. 12. 2005.- ZAGREB: After opening the international conference on transition and European integration in south-east Europe held in Zagreb recently, Croatia's President Stipe Mesic explained that the marginal groups were the ones who participated in the support rallies for Gotovina and who obviously have no impact on the security situation in the country.
"Danas", 12. 12. 2005.- ZLATIBOR: According to unofficial statistics, there are around 500.000 diabetes patients in Serbia. The ribbons for measuring blood sugar used to be free for persons aged up to 26 and now the age limit is 18.
"Danas", 13. 12. 2005.- BELGRADE: Representatives of the refugee associations of Serbs from Croatia have condemned the billboards placed in Belgrade and all over Serbia, inviting Serb refugees to return to Croatia, judging them to be hypocritical and disgraceful.Mile Dakic, president of the Belgrade Association for Support for Refugees and Exiled Persons from Croatia, has reminded that since the 1995 exile only 58.000 Serbs have returned to Croatia. He appealed to Croatia to declare invalid the secret lists of "undesirable Serbs and Serbs convicted in absentia because it is a scarecrow that postpones the return process". "Croatia, where Serbs make up only 4,5% of the population, is ethnically the purest state in Europe", Dakic says.
"Danas", 13. 12. 2005.- BELGRADE: The War Crimes Council of the County Court in Belgrade has sentenced 14 of the 16 accused of war crimes committed in Ovcara near Vukovar to a total of 231 years imprisonment. Two of the accused were acquitted of the charges of participating in the execution of Croat prisoners in November of 1991.
"Danas", 13. 12. 2005.- BANJALUKA: Six war crimes suspects were arrested in Banjaluka yesterday: Zeljko Bulatovic (born in 1949), Sinisa Todorovic (born in 1970), Dragan Barjaktarevic (born in 1972), Radenko Vucenovic (1963), Zoran Gajic (1963) and Milorad Topic (1971), all from Banjaluka, the Ministry of Police of Republika Srpska has announced.
"Glas javnosti", 15. 12. 2005.- KAI EIDE: Ambassador Kai Eide of Norway is worried over the fact that the number of Serbs leaving Kosovo is still larger than those returningto the Province.
"The fact is that the number of Serbs who are leaving is larger than those who are returning and the process seems to be getting more and more intensive. We have to try and turn the process around", said Eide in an interview for the TANJUG news agency.
"Blic", 14. 12. 2005.- ZAGREB: "So far 120.000 Serbs have returned of the 350.000 who left Croatia from 1991 to 1995. However, 40.000 of them have left Croatia again due to bad living conditions they found on their return. So the number of Serbs who have really returned to Croatia is roughly 80.000", said Jorge Fuentes, head of the OSCE Mission to Zagreb.
"Vecernje novosti", 14. 12. 2005.- SMEDEREVO: According to the municipal administration, this year 532 families with a total of 1.266 members have had the right to public assistance allowance in the municipality of Smederevo - 491 unemployed persons, 480 school and pre-school children, 284 persons unfit for work, 8 pensioners and 3 employed persons with low monthly salaries. Public assistance allowance is 3.706 - 7.409 dinars per family.
"Glas javnosti", 16. 12. 2005.
 
- BUDVA (Montenegro): Five singers and 4 bands will be entertaining the citizens of Budva at the town center on New Year's Eve and they will be paid a total of 150.000 euros - 50.000 is provided by the local administration and the local hotel and restaurant owners have provided 100.000 euros.
"Glas javnosti", 16. 12. 2005.
 
- BELGRADE: In the first 10 months of 2005, more than 5.300 citizens of Serbia&Montenegro applied for asylum in Germany for the first time. First time asylum applicants make up 20% of the total number of applications. One third of the people from Serbia&Montenegro seeking asylum in the EU are from Kosovo. The German Ambassy in Belgrade also processes around 70.000 visa applications per year, of which 13% get rejected.
"Blic", 16. 12. 2005.
 
- BELGRADE: Only 2% of the women in Serbia use contraceptive pills so it is not surprising at all that we have such a large number of abortions and women who get married just because they have become pregnant.
"Glas javnosti", 17. 12. 2005.
 
- BELGRADE: Under the Law on national holidays, New Year will be celebrated on January 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 2006. There will be no holidays for Christmas because January 7th will be Saturday, confirmed the Ministry of Work, Employment and Social Policy.
"Glas javnosti", 17. 12. 2005.
 
- GNJILANE: More than 15.000 Serbs lived in Gnjilane before the arrival of the UN Mission to Kosovo. Today there are only 22 Serbs still living in this town - 9 are living in the town's central area and the rest are living in the Srpska Street next to the church.
"Blic", 17. 12. 2005.
 
- BELGRADE: The international community might introduce sanctions towards Serbia next year if there is no full collaboration with the Hague Tribunal, Biljana Kovacevic-Vuco of the Committee of Human Rights Lawyers said yesterday.
"Blic", 18. 12. 2005.- VALJEVO: The Birth Registry Office in Valjevo provides the citizens with all the documents via the internet and citizens can also make an appointment for a wedding via the internet. This service has been introduced so the people from Valjevo living and working abroad can obtain, without any administrative procedure, the documentation they need for getting married.
"Vecernje novosti", 20. 12. 2005.
 - BELGRADE: The Ministry of Internal Affairs has set up a special Commission to monitor the implementation of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture. The members of the Commission are to visit the police stations, to determine the condition of the prison cells and report to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Dragan Jocic and the general inspector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vladimir Bozovic. The president of the Commission, Nebojsa Pantelic, has stated that on November 16th, the Commission visited several police departments in Serbia and found, among other things, prison cells "with no toilets, no heating, damp, with concrete beds and floors, no blankets".
"We also found metal rings nailed to the wall which can be used for tying the arrested. We also found bars, knives, portable missile launchers, bats, even half a log", said Pantelic, adding that it was ordered for those things to be removed from the police stations immediately. The Commission has visited the police departments in Nis, Kraljevo, Pozarevac, Vranje, Leskovac, Zajecar, Bor, Smederevo and Pirot, and according to Pantelic, the situation will also be scanned in all the police departments and police stations in Serbia.
"Danas", 16. 12. 2005.- MILOSEVO: Milosevo, on the road Pristina-Kosovska Mitrovica, used to have 150 Serb homes before the arrival of the UNMIK and now there are only 13 Serbs living in the village, among them 4 children aged under 7. They meet strangers not with hospitality but with distrust and pitchforks in their hands. They are afraid they might forget Serbian language but they will never forget Serbian customs because the local priest visits them from time to time, blesses their homes and performs the usual religious ceremonies.
Last March the Albanians torched and destroyed more than 100 houses in Milosevo which belong to Serbs and only one house has been reconstructed so far at the expense of the Kosovo Government. A displaced family of four has returned and they are living in the house now. Another 20 families have announced their return but they have nowhere to return because their houses are torched.The villagers hope for Serbia to help them survive because a family can't live on a few cans, a liter of cooking oil, 10 kg of flour and 3
kg of green peas and 4 kg of firewood that the Red Cross has supplied for them.
"Blic", 16. 12. 2005.- ZAGREB: The attacks on Serbs in Croatia have escalated in the last 12 months. According to the official records of the Ministry of Police, there were more than 40 attacks, some of them with casualties. According to the Croatian Helsinky Committee, this year "there were 5-10 times more ethnically motivated attacks" on Serbs in Croatia than last year. The representatives of the Independent Democratic Serb Party in the Croatian Parliament have demanded this to be put on the agenda of the Committee on Minority Rights but the representatives of the Croatian Democratic Community in the Committee have rejected the request with an explanation that they are "sporadic incidents" which happen "at every larger football game".
"Glas javnosti", 19. 12. 2005.- VRANJE: Thanks to foreign donations, to the Serbian Government and the local administration, 20 IDP and refugee families will have new homes. Around 100 people will move into new comfortable apartments in the area of Vranje. The construction of the apartments will cost around 700.000 euros and it is financed by the Greek "European Perspective" NGO, and the local administration has provided the location and infrastucture. The refugees won't be able to buy the apartments, just use them for a certain period. There are around 200 refugees in Vranje at the moment.
"Glas javnosti", 17. 12. 2005.- SJENICA: The snow which was falling more than 30 hours on the Sjenica-Pester plateau has blocked around 50 villages in the area. The president of Sjenica municipality, Esad Zornic, says that the maintanance of 500km of village and uncategorized roads will be a
problem this year. Last year one day of cleaning the snow off the roads cost more than 420.000 dinars and it is too much for the municipality because its daily budget income is 100.000 dinars.
"Blic", 19. 12. 2005.- NOVI PAZAR: People from Novi Pazar living and workin in Sweden have provided 20 computers, machines for professional training, 20 wheelchairs, clothes and hygienic products for the students of the special school in Novi Pazar.
"Blic", 19. 12. 2005.

- PRISTINA: Yesterday UNMIK, UND and the Kosovo Ministry of Return and Communities signed in Pristina a contract on the implementation of 3 projects of organized return of IDPs to the municipalities of Klina, Leposavic and Urosevac. The plan is to enable the return of 83 families to Srpski Babus near Urosevac, 15 Serb families to Klinavac near Klina and the return of Albanians to the villages in Leposavic municipality.
"Blic", 20. 12. 2005

- BELGRADE: The remains of 37 Serbs have been exhumed in the Pristina cemetery of Dragodan. They went missing or got kidnapped in Kosovo in 1998 or later - said Simo Spasic, president of the Association of the Families of the Kidnapped and Killed. He says that the families are embittered over the Hague Tribunal's decision to drop all charges against Ramus Haradinaj and Fatmir Ljimaj.
"This disgraceful decision directly jeopardizes the life of the families of the missing and the kidnapped who submitted to the Hague investigators irrefutable evidence of the crimes these two had committed in Glodjan, Malisevo, Volujak, Likovac, Dragodan, Lapusnik... ", said Spasic.
"Glas javnosti", 22. 12. 2005.

- - PRISTINA:Yesterday, at the end of his mandate, UN Ombudsman in Kosovo Marek Novicki said that the human rights situation in Kosovo was below the international standards. At his last press conference, he said that it wasn't time yet to transfer to the Kosovo institutions the extremely important institution of the "people's lawyer". He qualified the UNMIK chief's decision to transfer the power from the UN Ombudsman to the Kosovo institution as a political decision.
"Glas javnosti", 22. 12. 2005.
 
- NOVI SAD:As announced before, the Vojvodina Parliament requested from the state authorities to disable the activities of the informal groups who call themselves the "skinheads", the "National Formation", "Blood and Honor" and "Racial nationalists" and to punish the individuals who take part in the activities. It was also requested from the Government to ban the "Cheek" movement and to disable those activities of the ethnic Hungarian "Movement of the 64th Municipality" which "violate the integrity of the Republic of Serbia and insult the citizens' national feelings". The Vojvodina Parliament is not strictly against the gatherings of the members of the military formations who were on Hitler's side during Second World War if public figures or politicians are not attending those gatherings and if they do not attract any greater attention of the news media. The above requests and conclusions are based on a report that the Ministry of Police submitted recently to the Vojvodina Parliament.
"Glas javnosti", 22. 12. 2005.
 
- BELGRADE: Foreign experts warn that the death rate among babies in Serbia is double the death rate in the developed countries of the West. Poverty, malnourishment, low level of health care, lead to the situation where more than 1.000 babies die in Serbia every year.
"Glas javnosti", 21. 12. 2005.
 
- PODGORICA: According to the official statistics, Montenegro has 49.500 unemployed persons, which is 16% less than the end of last year. The unemployment rate is 18,8%. Five years ago it was 32,7%.
"Glas javnosti", 21. 12. 2005.
 
- ZAGREB: Croatia has made progress when it comes to political and civil rights but there are still unsolved problems, especially in the area of minority rights, says the latest report by the Freedom House. What is also alarming is the fact that a large number of Serb returnees "get arrested and proclaimed guilty of war crimes".
"Glas javnosti", 21. 12. 2005.
 
- KRUSEVAC: The program of closing of the collective centers will be complete by the end of 2007 and the refugees will have to decide by then whether they want to return to their homes or integrate into the local society.
"Glas javnosti", 21. 12. 2005.
 
- BELGRADE: As much as 47% of Serbia's population believe that 2006 will be worse than this year. This puts us in third place in pessimism, right after Bosnians and Greeks who are in the lead and the Philippines in second place. The inhabitants of Africa are the most optimistic. These are the results of a research conducted by the "Gallup International" in November and December.
"Glas javnosti", 21. 12. 2005.
 
- BELGRADE: Around a million people in Serbia use the internet, of which 63% are male, shows a research conducted by the Belgrade based Center for Free Elections and Democracy.
"Glas javnosti", 21. 12. 2005.
 
- BELGRADE: Although Serbia has more than a million of unemployed persons, there have been 53.764 available jobs for months (3,6% more than last year) where no one wants to work. They are mostly jobs demanding greater physical effort, such as digging stone and ore. So very soon the Chinese or Bulagarians or Romanians will fill in those vacancies.
"Glas javnosti", 20. 12. 2005.
 
- BELGRADE: There are around 4.500 school buildings in Serbia, village schools making up 60% of the school network but only 8% of the total student population are attending the village schools. Due to the schools being very remote, lots of the village population doesn't finish elementary school so for example in the Sjenica municipality 55% of the women and 35% of the men don't complete their elementary education.
"Glas javnosti", 20. 12. 2005.
 
- BELGRADE: It was announced yesterday that the book "The Political Use of the Exile" will be published at the beginning of next year. The author is Jelena Grujic, reporter of the "Vreme" magazine. The book contains the history of the exile in Serbia&Montenegro between 1990 and 2005 through statistics, laws, documents, analyses, witness reports. The analysis of the press is based on 9.000 texts from 2 daily newspapers and 2 weekly magazines. Vera Ristanovic-Nikolic of the Victimological Society of Serbia says that according to some records, only 30% of the humanitarian aid reached the persons it was intended for.
"Danas", 20. 12. 2005.
 
- BOR: The construction started yesterday of 15 apartments for refugees housed in the refugee settlement of Gradjevinar. The project is financed by the EU. Of the 15 apartments, 14 are intended for the refugees, mostly for families of 3 and 4, and one apartment is intended for the most socially vulnerable local family.
In Bor there are around 700 refugees and IDPs, most of them housed in the collective center of Gradjevinar and the "Srbija" hotel.
"Danas", 20. 12. 2005.
 
- BELGRADE, NIS: The Serbian Ministry of Police stated yesterday that D.S.(aged 16) and A.S. (aged 16) from Nis have been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and beating to death 15-year-old Milos Krinic (also aged 16). The autopsy determined multiple fractures of the boy's skull and nose and other injuries.
The plan of the two minors wasn't to kill Krinic but to keep him in a cellar and extort money from his father. They wanted 15.000 euros to release the boy. But when things "took a turn they didn't expect" they beat the boy to death, says Dragan Bradic, head of the Criminal Office of the Nis Police Department.
"Danas", 20. 12. 2005.; op.cit. 21. 12. 2005.
 
- SARAJEVO: Roma are the most numerous ethnic minority in Bosnia&Herzegovina, a country with a population of around 4 million. According to the Roma Council, there are 80.000-100.000 Roma living in Bosnia&Herzegovina. It is very hard to tell the exact number because there are no official statistics.
In the 1991 census, 8.864 persons declared as Roma and many declared as Muslim, Serb or Croat to avoid discrimination. Roma children in Bosnia&Herzegovina, like other countries in the region, don't go to school because the poverty forces them to collect scrap or beg in order to survive and members of other ethnic groups are often against little Roma sitting in the same school bench with their children.
The OSCE Mission to Bosnia&Herzegovina believes that the lack of adequate clothes and not being able to afford the necessary school books are the most common reasons for the Roma children to drop school, even when the parents are willing to enroll them in school. Fadila Memisevic, president of the Society for Endangered Ethnicities of Bosnia&Herzegovina, says that the situation has become worse for the Roma especially after the war in Bosnia&Herzegovina and due to bad living conditions very few Roma live to be more than 50 years of age.
"Danas", 21. 12. 2005.
 
- BELGRADE: The latest research by the "Factor Plus" agency shows that the dominant feelings of Serbia's citizens are "depression, anxiety and fear, helplessness and hopelessness".
"Around 80% of the citizens asked how they felt about the situation in Serbia said that they felt worry, fear, depression, hopelessness, discontent and anger", said the analyst Darko Marinkovic.
"Danas", 23. 12. 2005.
 
- BANJALUKA: Three Serbs were arrested in Prijedor yesterday. They are suspected of war crimes against non-Serb population.
"Glas javnosti", 23. 12. 2005.- BELGRADE: Those living abroad without having done their military service will be able to come to Serbia for the coming holidays but at their own risk. Namely, the Serbian Parliament hasn't adopted the law on amnesty yet but it will definitely be adopted after New Year holidays. It is already in the parliamentary procedure.
"Danas", 22. 12. 2005.- BELGRADE: The lack of statistics on the Roma in Serbia is one of the main obstacles to the implementation of the Roma Decade when it comes to health care. This was said at a conference organized by the Palgo Center in Belgrade. According to the 2002 census, there are 108.000 Roma living in Serbia but their real number is estimated at 450.000-500.000, including the 250.000 living in 593 illegal settlements, mostly located on the outskirts of the big cities and towns. Jelena Markovic, national coordinator of the Roma Decade project and assistant minister of human and minority rights of Serbia&Montenegro, says that Serbia is now at a stage of going from "paper to concrete implementation" of the action plans, the implementation depending on a number of factors, including the involvement of all the levels of power. The participants of the conference stressed the need to adopt a legal
act allowing some kind of temporary documents for the members of the Roma community without registered residence. The conference was supported by the Open Society Fund Serbia and the Budapest based Open Society Institute.
"Danas", 22. 12. 2005.- CACAK: In the last 2 years the US Agency for International Development, USAID, financed with 400.000 dollars the establishment of 140 private businesses in Cacak, as part of the "Revitalization of the community through democratic action" program for the unemployed in Serbia.
"Danas", 22. 12. 2005.- BELGRADE: Stealing luxurious cars and returning them to their owners for thousands of euros in ransom is the current business of the criminals in Serbia. These days a group of three thieves was arrested in Sopot, among them a former policeman.
"Blic", 22. 12. 2005.- KOSOVSKA VITINA: In the last 5 day, students of Serb nationality in Vitina municipality can't go to school regularly because unidentified persons have torched the school bus which was transporting the students to Vrbovac, Mogila, Klokot and Vitina. The school bus was bought last year with the money from the budget of the Local community of Vrbovac for 22.000 euros. "Due to large snow, the bus ran off the road and into a ditch on December 19th. We had no machines to pull it out immediately so it stayed in the ditch in the next two days and on December 21st someone set it on fire and destroyed it", says Milorad Kojic, manager for economic relations of the Local Community of Vrbovac. Around 500 students of 4 elementary and one secondary school from Vrbovac, Vitina, Binca, Klokot and Mogila are taken to school in a smaller bus with only 35 seats.
"Glas javnosti", 24. 12. 2005.- ZAGREB: Croats have sent around 100.000 postcards to Ante Gotovina in the Hague, reports the Zagreb "Vecernji list" daily. His lawyers have already started gathering documentation for his defence and it has been appealed to the citizens to help with photos, footages and other materials from the period of the action "Storm".
"Glas javnosti", 23. 12. 2005.- LESKOVAC: Representatives of the German "Help" humanitarian organization have presented a program financed by the Government of Holland which consists of equipment and materials for small businesses and their training. The program will include around 300 households in the municipalities of Leskovac, Vranje and Pirot. The implementation of the program is to be completed by January 2007. The farmers in the municipality of Leskovac will receive 100 grants worth 120.000 euros altogether.
"Glas javnosti", 24. 12. 2005.- KRUSEVAC: Around 170 refugees from Croatia and Bosnia&Herzegovina housed in the collective centers and private accommodation in Krusevac will move into new apartments on December 27th. The construction of 40 apartments for these families was financed by the German Government and the municipality provided the location and the infrastructure. They will only be able to buy the apartments in 10 years.
"Glas javnosti", 24. 12. 2005.- ZAGREB: Highschool students were disturbing public peace and order outside the general consulate of Serbia&Montenegro in Rijeka and unidentified perpetrators have smashed the windows again on the premises of the Serb "Prosvjeta" Cultural Society in Split.
"Glas javnosti", 24. 12. 2005.- BELGRADE: The number of divorces in Serbia is increasing and the consequence is more and more children living with just one parent, usually the mother. Fathers use all the possible and impossible ways to avoid paying the alimony. They are even going so far as to sell all their assets just so the court couldn't sell them and use the money to pay for the unpaid alimonies.
"Glas javnosti", 26.12. 2005.- BELGRADE: There are 99 collective centers in Serbia housing around 9.000 refugees and IDPs. Although the number of collective centers is less by 200 than the previous years, another 50 centers housing around 3.000 people are planned for closing in 2006. According to the Serbian Commission for Refugees, there are 141.000 refugees living in Serbia. But their actual number is estimated at around 300.000 because many have obtained Serbian citizenship but their situation hasn't changed at all. According to the Commission for Refugees, around 60.000 people have returned to Croatia so far and according to the UNHCR, around 80.000 have returned. Serbia also has around 208.400 IDPs from Kosovo, of which 5.500 are housed in collective centers. The statistics show that 2/3 of the IDPs are Serbs, 11% are Roma and 4.000 are Albanians. 22.000 people are internally displaced in Kosovo. There are 17 collective centers in the Province housing around 1.000 people. Among the refugee and IDP population, particularly vulnerable are Roma, single parents, children, people housed in collective centers, old people and pensioners and mentally retarded people.
"Glas javnosti", 25. 12. 2005.- ZAGREB: The fire was set up outside the Serbian Orthodox Church Episcopacy in Sibenik two nights ago and the shouts of hatred were heard, "Kill the Serb!" and "Hang Serbs on willows!", announced the Eparchy. The Episcopacy was also attacked in September, when 3 young men burst into the courtyard and started smashing the inventory.
"Glas javnosti", 25. 12. 2005.- SARAJEVO: In Bosnia&Herzegovina there are around 3.000 registered refugees from Kosovo, among them aroundn 600 Roma. It is, however, unofficially estimated that there are around 1.000 Roma refugees from Kosovo but they haven't dared register their residence in Bosnia&Herzegovina. The 600 who have registered their residence are housed in 3 collective centers - the "Gorincani" in Bosanski Petrovac, the "Salakovac" in Mostar and "Rakovica" in Sarajevo. They claim at the UNHCR in Sarajevo that the Roma refugees in Bosnia&Herzegovina receive the same treatment as any other refugees who seeked protection and support from the UNHCR from 1998 to 1999. After the conflict in Kosovo had ended, most Albanians returned to Kosovo. Then the status of temporary accommodation for persons from Serbia&Montenegro was abolished so the population with the temporary accommodation status and asylum seekers was reduced to around 3.000 persons - says Bakir Jalovcic, spokesman for the UNHCR in Bosnia&Herzegovina. He says that now only those living in collective centers can obtain support from UNHCR. Today the support for the Roma refugee population consists of providing funds for the collective centers supplying them with accommodation, food, health care and elementary education. None of the Roma who came from Kosovo have obtained asylum but none have been deported either. The members of the NGO called the "Roma Council of Bosnia&Herzegovina", the authorities' attitude towards Roma has deterriorated with time, so more and more Roma refugees from Kosovo have started begging in the streets and committing slight offences and criminal acts.
"Danas", 26. 12. 2005.

- HERCEG NOVI: A poster with a photo of a number of persons, mostly Roma, with a Montenegran and a Croatian flag wrapped around them appeared on several locations in Herceg Novi on Saturday. There is a text next to the photo reading "Kotor 'Montenegrans' Ajriz Ibrahimi, Zeljko Pajovic, Fatan Ahmeti, Elvir Gasi and Semsi Ahmeti, proudly holding thier 'motherlands' flags'". The mayor of Herceg Novi has said that the peace and tolerance promoted by the local authorities in Herceg Novi don't suit the authors of the poster, whoever they are. Most posters were removed in the afternoon.
"Danas", 26. 12. 2005.- BELGRADE: According to a research by the Strategic Marketing, only 30% of Serbia's population read newspapers every day, 70% read them once a week and 21% - never. As for the weekly and monthly magazines, 1/3 never read them, 1/3 once a month and 1/3 at least once a week.
"Danas", 24.-25. 12. 2005.- KRALJEVO: More than 40 refugees from Croatia housed in the "Kablara" barrack in Kraljevo, were left without electricity and heating yesterday. "As soon as they cut the power, the boiler for the central heating broke", said Branka Veselinovic, a tenant of the barrack. Slobodan Stanisic, local commissioner for refugees, has said that the Commission pays regularly all the bills for the collective centers in Kraljevo.
"Blic", 26. 12. 2005.- KOSOVSKA MITROVICA: Only 860 of more than 40.000 Serbs exiled from Pec, Klina, Istok, Djakovica and Decane have returned to 13 villages in these municipalities and to the town of Klina; 515 houses have been built for them. The return to the municipalities of Djakovica and Decani or to the town of Pec itself is still not being considered.
"Blic", 26. 12. 2005.

- BELGRADE: The Swedish immigration authorities are again a target of severe public criticism after the news media reported that the employees in one of the offices celebrated with a cake and champaign the deportation of a family to Russia.
"Blic", 24. 12. 2005.

- NOVI SAD: Five members of the "National Formation" have been released from police custody. In the course of the further proceedings conducted against them for inciting ethnic, racial and religious hatred, they will not be kept in custody.
"Glas javnosti", 29. 12. 2005.

- KOSOVSKA MITROVICA: Branislav Antovic (aged 34) and Dejan Maksimovic (aged 22) were wounded in two separate attacks in northern Mitrovica two nights ago.
"Glas javnosti", 27. 12. 2005.

- PRISTINA: The head of the Italian Office in Kosovo, Patrick Mura (pardon the spelling-Z), has said that at this moment "we can't say that there is a multi-ethnic Kosovo". He thinks that the Albanians felt safe to return to Kosovo after 1999, whereas the Serbs don't feel safe and considering the Kosovo of today, they don't see any future for their families because the country is not economically stable yet.
"Another factor is Serbia not providing support for the return process. The people we met in the refugee camps in Montenegro were frightened believing that, unless they live in northern Mitrovica, their life is in danger", said Mura. Asked whether KFOR is capable of protecting the Serbs in Kosovo, he said that he can't protect everyone, everywhere and in every place.
"Glas javnosti", 27. 12. 2005.

- KRUSEVAC: 40 apartments for refugees and socially vulnerable families are finished in Krusevac. The project is worth 480.000 euros and it was financed by the Federal Technical Aid Institute of Germany. The keys to the apartments will be handed to their new tenants on December 27th.
"Glas javnosti", 27. 12. 2005.

- ZRENJANIN: Stojan Novkovic (aged 18) from Banatski Dvor was arrested yesterday on suspicion of inciting religious and ethnic hatred and intolerance. As announced by the Zrenjanin Police Department, on December 24th outside the local orthodox church, he and Branko Stevandic (aged 22) intercepted Janos Drobina (aged 28) from Sombor and Tibor Belovai (aged 41) from Novi Becej, physically assaulted them, Novkovic forced them to shout "I am Serb" and recite "Our Father" and inflicted a number of slight injuries on them. Novkovic is kept in custody and charges are brought against Stevandic.
"Glas javnosti", 28. 12. 2005.

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