News stories by Vesna Peric Zimonjic, page 6

This year marks 15 years since the bloody war in Bosnia - Herzegovina (BH) ended. Apart from the 44-month siege of the capital of Sarajevo by Bosnian Serb forces there was the massacre of some 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys after the United Nations-protected enclave of Srebrenica fell into their hands.

For most Serbs, Latin America is a distant continent held in regard by the older generation as a part of the non-aligned movement.

Almost two decades after Yugoslavia fell apart, the majority of the defunct socialist country’s people are insecure and uncertain for their future with the booming economy and rapid development that capitalism promised remaining a pipe dream.

For many former Yugoslavs, May 4 will be a day to reflect on the 30 years since their charismatic but controversial leader, Josip Broz Tito, died.

When one of Croatia’s best kept secrets, the list of independence fighters enjoying lifelong benefits, appeared on the Internet earlier this month it sparked off a huge scandal in this nation that became a sovereign state after the bloody 1991-95 war with Serbia.

Official statistics put Serbian agriculture as the single most productive branch of the economy and one that not only survived the financial meltdown but chalked up a record trade surplus of almost a billion US dollars in 2009.

The arrest of seven Wahhabis, following a police crackdown on the remote Bosnian village of Gornja Maoca, has raised concerns over the continued presence of Islamist fundamentalists who first arrived in the country during the bloody 1992-1995 Balkans war.

The enthronement of a moderate as patriarch of the influential Serbian Orthodox Church (SBC) has raised hopes for the planned integration of the country with the European Union (EU) and for Serbs coming to terms with the bloody Balkans wars of the 1990s.

A rare fleet of 20 luxury cars and snazzy jeeps has remained parked in front of the heavily guarded special court in the capital for days now.

Politicians from the former Yugoslavia often speak about integration with the European Union (EU) as their major goal in this decade and possible salvation from the economic hardships the region faces.