Reporters on corruption and organised crime in the Balkans are subject to a range of different pressures and challenges – as our comparison of reporting on such cases in Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia shows.

Organised crime and corruption are among the key challenges facing the societies of the Western Balkans, with corruption in particular being a key grievance for ordinary citizens and voters.

As in any democracy, the media play a crucial role when it comes to informing the public on these subjects and shaping public debates.

Prosecutors in Serbia and Kosovo have agreed to share information on the investigation into the killing of the prominent Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic, who was shot dead last week.

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The presidency of the Kosovo Assembly has sent a draft law to the government, pushing forward a controversial attempt to prevent a new Hague-based Kosovo war crimes court from operating.

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Saturday's planned visit to Kosovo by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic – following the assassination of Kosovo Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic – is being seen as a point-scoring exercise.

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Thousands of citizens attended the funeral of Oliver Ivanovic, who was shot dead on Tuesday, as he was laid to rest in the Alley of the Greats at the New Cemetary in Belgrade, Serbia.

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Former senior KLA officials told the trial of Deputy Prime Minister Fatmir Limaj that they knew nothing of the fate of two civilians – allegedly executed as collaborators with the Serbian regime in 1998.

The trial has continued this week before the Gjakova/Djakovica Basic Court of former KLA commander and current Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Fatmir Limaj.

Limaj is accused of failing to prevent the killing of two civilians, Ramiz Hoxha and Selman Binishi, in 1998.

Oliver Ivanovic, shot dead on Tuesday in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica, had reported numerous threats, and had sought the help of both the Serbian and Kosovo authorities – but was ignored.

Oliver Ivanovic, who was shot dead in front of his office in Mitrovica on Tuesday, had several times said he and his family had received threats, and had asked Kosovo, Serbia and others for help – but without any result.

“They did all they could to me, except shoot me – but even that is not excluded,” Ivanovic said in November on N1 regional television.

People in the Balkans remain far more religious than those in Central and Western Europe, a survey suggests.

A new survey based on three WIN/Gallup International polls and published in the UK Telegraph shows people in the Balkans are far more religious than their counterparts in Western Europe.

Their sons went to fight for ISIS in Syria or Iraq, and some even had children in the conflict zone, then they were killed, leaving their impoverished relatives in Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia to suffer.

Selim Demolli gripped the table with his hands, and his lip trembled with anger as he spoke.

The previous day he had talked to an imam about his son, who was killed three years ago in Syria. He asked the imam for a religious explanation about what happens to a dead person whose parents have not forgiven him. The answer was hard to take.

Scrambling for funds, Kosovo centers that provide shelter to women and children fleeing from domestic abuse have been temporarily closed.

Government-funded safe houses for women and children fleeing domestic abuse have been forced to shut down for January and February this year due to lack of financial support.

Nazife Jonuzi, the director of the shelter in Gjilan, confirmed that the shelters are currently closed due to budgetary delays.