- NOVI SAD: The recently formed Vojvodina Fund for Helping Refugees is designed to assist the repatriation of the refugees or their local integration and is in no way stimulating a new influx of refugees into Vojvodina, said Tomas Korhec yesterday, Vojvodina secretary for administration, regulations and minorities, in answer to the accusations by two political parties of Vojvodina Hungarians - the Democratic Party of Vojvodina Hungarians and the Democratic Union of Vojvodina Hungarians.
These two political parties have objected to the decision of the Fund to buy houses for refugees in the areas with members of the ethnic minorities as majority population, because according to these parties, it could disturb the ethnic structure of these areas. Korhec qualified these allegations as the falsification of the facts.
"Danas", 5. 1. 2007.

- BELGRADE: 30-year-old I.M. from Belgrade, unemployed woman who doesn't qualify for social welfare, has a monthly income of 100 euros which is the rent she charges for a room in her apartment. "I eat potatoes most of the time. I know how to prepare them in a thousand ways. The only meat I buy is 1/2 kg entrails once a month. I buy a loaf of bread every day, sometimes I also buy milk and I treat myself to a yogurt once a week", says I.M whose parents died several years ago and she has been trying to get a job ever since but she has only managed to get part-time jobs. After paying the utility bills, she has so little money left that she has to go to her friends' to eat. "I try not to go to my friends to eat to often. I never borrow money because I can't pay it back", she says.
According to the latest research conducted by the Statistics Department of the Republic of Serbia, around 460.000 Serbia's citizens spend less than 2 US dollars a day, or less than 120 dinars.
According to Branka Andjelkovic, head of the UNDP Poverty Reduction Sector, the main cause of poverty is not unemployment, but the lack of professional qualifications, weak family and membership of a social group, and only in 4th place comes the unemployment.
The most difficult period for the poor is the winter. It is not just because of the food, they say, but also the clothes which they can't afford to buy. It is always easier to "get a t-shirt and a pair of sandals than a sweater, a jacket and a pair of shoes".
According to the estimates of the World Bank, 9,1% of Serbia's citizens are poor and the Statistics Department of the Republic of Serbia has calculated, based on last year's living costs for a family of four of 10.000 dinars a month, that the proportion of the poor in Serbia is 6,55%. However, they warn in the Statistics Department that if the living costs are only increased by 2.950 dinars, the percentage of the poor jumps drastically - to 25%.
All the researches show that the rural population is more destitute than the urban population, and that the most destitute are persons over 65 and under 30, multichild families, refugees, IDPs, Roma.
The members of the Government's team for the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy believe that the best ways to reduce poverty is the creation of new jobs in the private sector, prevention of the formation of new destitute social groups, as well as a consistent implementation of the programs of support for the most vulnerable.
"Blic", 8. 1. 2007.

- BELGRADE: Serbia still has no diplomatic representatives in 14 countries. Seven months after Montenegro became independent, the Serbian authorities are not even close to the agreement on whom to appoint to be the ambassadors in Podgorica, London, Rome, Madrid, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Ljubljana, Warsaw, Buenos Aires and Tirana. Not even the four ambassadors appointed to Canada, Belgium, Russia and Slovakia have taken office yet because President Boris Tadic hasn't signed their credentials.
"Blic", 6. 1. 2007.

- BELGRADE: 10.000 people die in Serbia every year due to the consequences of smoking. Smoking also causes numerous chronic conditions, reminds the Ministry of Health.
Among regular smokers are 39,7% of Serbia's adult male population and 30,5% of the female population, and more than 70% of Serbia's children and youth are exposed to cigarette smoke in their homes.
"Glas javnosti", 9. 1. 2007.

-ALEKSINAC: Ljupce Pavlovic is the first "chief" and president of the Association of Indians which is based in Aleksinac. The Association was officially registered a couple of days ago. "We gave this name to our association because me and my fellow members live, just like the Indians, in a ghetto, without the possibility to travel the world and get to know other people's way of life", says Ljupce Pavlovic the "chief".
"Glas javnosti", 9. 1. 2007.

- NOVI SAD: Vojvodina Ombudsman Petar Teofilovic has severely condemned the attack on the Christian Adventist Church in Stapar in Sombor municipality, as a "brutal violation of the freedom of religion".
"Glas javnosti", 10. 1. 2007.

- GRACANICA: Unknown persons have desecrated the orthodox church in Gornja Brnjica near Pristina - Kosovo Police Service announced yesterday. Veton Eljsani, spokesman for the Kosovo Police Service, says that unknown persons broke a window on the church through which they entered the temple and stole a certain amount of money.
"Glas javnosti", 10. 1. 2007.

- BELGRADE: A meeting was held in Belgrade yesterday of the representatives of the Commission for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia and the most important refugee associations. The main issue on the agenda was refugees' permanent integration through the housing program financed with a loan granted by the Development Bank of the Council of Europe. The project is worth 29 million euros and the plan is to build 1.000 apartments with the average area of 55 sq meters. In this way permanent housing would be provided for around 3.000 refugees.
Between January 3rd and 5th, the representatives of Serb refugees from Croatia visited Zagreb at the invitation of Milorad Pupovac, president of the Serb People's Council, and they were received by Croatia's highest officials, including the President Stjepan Mesic.
Besides the deprivation of tenancy rights, the biggest problem for refugees is that Croatia refuses to recognize their years of employment in Croatian companies, refuses to recognize their right to shares in the privatized companies, doesn't reduce the lists of war crimes suspects so many returnees get arrested...
"While President Mesic admits that we are right and that our problems must be solved, the Prime Minister Ivo Sanader stands on a completely different position. We want our apartments back, not so we can sell them but so we can return. And Mesic said that it doesn't matter even if we wanted to sell them. The owner has the right to do what he wants with his property", says Rade Matijas of the Coordination of Refugee Associations of Serbs from Croatia and stresses that after this visit, the situation for Serbs in Croatia is much better and that during their visit there was no ethnically motivated provocations which were frequent before.
"Glas javnosti", 10. 1. 2007.

- BELGRADE: According to the latest research of the Statistics Department of the Republic of Serbia, around 460.000 Serbia's citizens spend less than 120 dinars or 2 US dollars per day.
According to the Statistics Department, the average salary in November was 23.148 dinars, but the average monthly salary in Belgrade's municipality of Surcin was 34.974 dinars, in Beocin - 32.031 dinars and in some other municipalities, it was much smaller: in Svrljig - 7.992 dinars and in Bela Palanka - 7.127 dinars. Because of such small salaries, many people are forced to work as unregistered labor in the grey economy but in spite of that, they barely get by because the businessmen exploit the unregistered employees and don't pay them their salaries.
"Glas javnosti", 11. 1. 2007.

- BELGRADE: Serbia's Minister of Labor and Employment, Slobodan Lalovic, has presented the National Strategy for Birth Rehabilitation aimed to stimulate the increase of the birth rate in our country. According to the Strategy, mothers of three and four children will be receiving 40% of the average salary every month until the children come of age, regardless of the mother's personal income. Lalovic says that the Strategy is intended to increase the number of families with 3 or 4 children because that's the only way for Serbia to take a positive direction and stop the current depopulation trend.
"Glas javnosti", 11. 1. 2007.

- SARAJEVO: Srdjan Dizdarevic, president of the Helsinki Human Rights Committee of Bosnia&Herzegovina, has expressed his sadness over the professor Dragoljub Stojanov and the opera singer Gertruda Munitic moving out of Sarajevo. Professor Stojanov is moving to Rijeka, where he will teach at the Faculty of Economics, and the opera singer Gertruda Munitic is moving to Zagreb. The reason they have stated is that they were exposed to ethnic discrimination in the environment where they lived and worked. Stojanov has told the press that he was exposed to humiliations and discrimination because he is Croat, that his colleagues at the Faculty of Economics called him chetnik, i.e. ustasha, because he had declared Croatian.
"Danas", 11. 1. 2007.

- BELGRADE: The average monthly salary in Novi Sad is 27.100 dinars; in Krusevac - 20.474 dinars; Zrenjanin - 20.000 dinars; Vranje - 19.954 dinars; Valjevo - 18.936 dinars; Bor - 17.000; Loznica - 12.000 dinars.
The most basic monthly living costs for a family of four are 16.248 dinars.
"Vecernje novosti", 11. 1. 2007.