SERBIA: Blazic’s Shooting Trial & more – 27th Aug 2024

th of August: 2024

th of May,: 2023

Still on crime as on Thursday the 22nd, a boat carrying around thirty illegal migrants from Serbia to Bosnia turned over and sank in the Drina river, leaving twelve dead. The search operation began the day after, with both Bosnian and Serbian authorities and rescue teams helping. On Saturday the 24th, the authorities concluded the search, after finding the bodies of the twelve missing people.

es not have a visa policy. In: 2023

On Thursday the 22nd, Arnaud Gouillon, the Director of the Office for Public and Cultural Diplomacy, announced the formation of teams that will monitor news about Serbia in foreign media. These teams will consist of several journalists, either native to the country where the news is broadcasted, or members of the Serbian diaspora born there. Their task will be to track the news about Serbia in foreign countries and, if any of the stories published are fake, the team will have to respond with rebuttals or with truthful articles. Gouillon said that the aim of this operation is to protect Serbia from foreign influences, unfair accusations, and criticism.

However, some professionals don’t think this is a good idea. Slobodan Ciric, the vice president of the Association of Journalists of Serbia, said that the news-monitoring teams could become propaganda, with their work depending heavily on who is in power in Serbia at the moment. He added that no government body should be in charge of monitoring the news about Serbia, as that could reduce media freedom.

ed human rights groups in May: 2023

Despite the lack of evidence, pro-government news outlets would report about foreign mercenaries in the civil society trying to disrupt the Serbian government by organizing protests, including the latest series of protests against lithium mining. In response, twenty-one civil society organizations published a statement condemning the campaign against them, in which they accused government officials of manipulating the public by spreading a false narrative. The statement also said that civil society organizations are entirely transparent about the donations they receive from abroad.

ultural analyst, said that in: 2023

The countries that received the most exports from Serbia include Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Albania, mostly due to their geographical proximity and cultural similarities. Djakovic said he believes that there is great potential for increasing the exports of agricultural products and food from Serbia. He said that organic fruits and vegetables, processed meat products, dairy products, and specialties like ajvar and jams, are some of the products that could appeal to a wider consumer audience.

verage gross salary is around: 1250

Now, let’s talk about energy. The Ministry of Mining and Energy published the Draft Law on Amendments to the Energy Law on Wednesday the 21st, introducing several changes that regulate the balancing market and allow end consumers to become active buyers. The main goal of the bill is to create a stable and reliable energy supply by transposing European regulations. Additionally, the bill stipulates that by coming into force, the law prohibiting the construction of nuclear power plants in Serbia will be repealed. The ministry said that lifting the ban on nuclear power plants will enable the state to implement a program for the peacetime use of nuclear energy.

On that note about Ministries, Dr Danica Grujicic, Serbia’s former minister of Health, recently appeared in an interview with the weekly news magazine NIN, in which she discussed the most prominent problems in the state’s healthcare. Grujicic noted that despite the state's investments in healthcare, the sector still suffers from low salaries and the lack of proper equipment. She said that Serbian healthcare needs many more general medicine specialists, and added that they are crucial for preventing chronic non-communicable diseases. NIN asked Grujicic about her proposal for a complete ban on indoor smoking, and asked her why the government still hasn’t implemented it. Grujicic said that the law on the ban is ready, and that it is up to the government to decide when they will submit it for discussion in the parliament

its annual health report for: 2024

Next up, the country’s team for the European Junior Olympiad in Informatics, or EJOI, secured two silver and two bronze medals. The competition took place from the 16th to the 22nd of August in Chisinau, Moldova, and it featured high school students from across Europe who competed by solving algorithmic problems in the field of Information Technologies, or IT. The EJOI organizers said they aim to stimulate interest in computer science amongst children.

Since we mentioned culture, on Friday the 23rd, the Yugoslav Film Archive began the cycle commemorating the passing of Alain Delon, one of the most famous actors in French cinema. The cycle will last until the 3rd of September, and feature fourteen movies including The Girl on the Motorcycle, Samurai, and Mr Klein. The screenings will take place in the Makavejev Hall at 1, Uzun Mirkova Street. For more information, check out the link in the show notes.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Do daljnjeg, zbogom!