Amid rising tensions between the two neighbours, Serbia has banned the Kosovo karate team from entering the country, preventing it from taking part in the European Karate Championship in Novi Sad.

Kosovo's karate team was not allowed to enter Serbia on Wednesday morning for the European Karate Championship which will be held in Novi Sad on May 10- 13.

Like the communities they serve, Kosovo’s Serbian language media are financially dependent, fragmented – and torn between rival political influences.

“We work in a time and a place where democracy and the right to hold a different opinion are still not fully accepted as a given, which makes a journalist’s work extremely difficult,” says Budimir Nicic, a popular TV anchor and the head of the Society of [Serbian] Journalists of Kosovo.

Murdered Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic named Milan Radoicic – a debt collector and truck owner close to Serbia’s ruling party - as a key figure in the intimidating system of power in northern Kosovo.

In his last interview with BIRN in October, Oliver Ivanovic, the Kosovo Serb politician murdered in January, named Milan Radoicic as the key figure and a real power-holder in the Serb-run north of Kosovo.

As the first part of a debate on a major Atlantic Council report, Edward P. Joseph says ‘Balkans Forward’ proposes some worryingly retrograde steps.

“Though the Balkan region still broadly yearns to join the West (and its institutions), the final outcome can no longer be taken for granted.”

This is the clarion call of the important report from the Atlantic Council – “Balkans Forward: A New US Strategy for the Region.”

Outbursts of violence, illiberal leaders and failures to reform mean Brussels must wake up to the fact that the Balkans are not headed towards EU membership but towards instability.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/the-eu-is-watching-the-balkans-come-undone-01-23-2018

The Kosovo government's new commission on the border deal with Montengro has attacked the agreement, saying it endorsed a border that did not follow Kosovo's previous border, when it was a province of Yugoslavia.

Kosovo's government on Monday backed a report by a new commission tasked with re- assessing the controversial border deal with Montenegro – which has called the deal damaging to Kosovo's national interests.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kosovo-in-a-fresh-attempt-to-vote-the-montenegro-border-deal-12-04-2017

Serbian leaders say they withdrew diplomatic staff from Macedonia after receiving intelligence about 'offensive actions' planned against Serbia.

Aleksandar Vucic, Serbian President, on Monday said Serbian embassy staff were withdrawn from Macedonia after Belgrade obtained “evidence of very offensive intelligence against the institutions of Serbia”.

Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic gave a similar statement to the news agency Tanjug, also citing “offensive actions against the Republic of Serbia.”

Balkan leaders joined those of other countries in condemning the terrorist attacks in Spain on Thursday that left at least 14 people dead and expressing their condolences to the victims.

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said more international co-operation is needed to prevent terrorist attacks after suspected Islamists killed at least 13 people and injured over 100 in Barcelona in two separate attacks on Thursday.

The Serbian president has vowed to cut a deal to resolve the Kosovo issue once and for all – but don’t hold your breath waiting for it to actually happen.

Former Prime Minister and now President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic likes to describe himself in Promethean terms.

Whatever he does, be it opening of a stretch of railway, or embarking on a state visit, it’s always “for the first time in recent history”.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/blog/vucic-s-latest-historic-promise-a-deal-with-kosovo-07-25-2017