Headlines: Belgrade celebrates 60th anniversary of the non-aligned movement with Moscow

120 member countries and 17 observers mark the 60th anniversary of the first conference of the Non-Aligned Movement held in the capital of the former Yugoslavia on October 11, 2021. AP - Darko Vojinovic

Text by: Simon Rico Follow |

Florentin Cassonnet

3 min

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On October 11 and 12, Serbia celebrated with great fanfare the 

60th anniversary of the first official non-aligned conference

 in Belgrade, six weeks late.

About a hundred foreign delegations came.

But also the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, a " 

sincere friend

 " according to President Vučić.

The issue of unequal access to vaccines was denounced by the participants.

Violent clashes between the police and the Serbian population of northern Kosovo

In northern Kosovo, the operation against smuggling carried out Wednesday morning, October 13 by the Kosovar police turned into a clash with the local Serbian population.

Several injuries are to be deplored and journalists have been attacked.

Thursday morning October 14, the barricades had been lifted, but a 

heavy atmosphere 

still reigns in Mitrovica-Nord.

A few days earlier, the Kosovar justice announced a crackdown in the Islamist movement in Kosovo.

Five individuals who planned attacks

against national institutions were arrested.

All had already been convicted of acts of terrorism or radicalization.

On Sunday, October 17, the municipal elections in Kosovo take place, the first test for the sovereignist left government of Albin Kurti, six months after coming to power. Voters in neighboring North Macedonia are also being called to the polls for the same election. With a novelty, the presence of many citizen lists,

which put ecology forward

.

In Serbia, 

a judge frees the defendants close to power

.

Zoran Savić, for example, has just released Predrag Koluvija, the main suspect in the Jovanjica farm case, where the police found more than 650 kilos of cannabis at the end of 2019. Previously, he had already taken several decisions very favorable to men of controversial cases.

Is there anything to do with his lucrative real estate business?

Kosovo is desperately looking for caregivers

In Kosovo, the pandemic reveals the extent of the bankruptcy of public health.

Because of low wages and poor working conditions, young doctors and nurses are moving abroad to practice.

In the middle of the fourth wave, the shortage is such that the entire system is on the verge of explosion. 

Report

.

In Serbia, the authorities have been lying from the start about the daily number of deaths linked to Covid-19, which is actually three times higher than the official toll.

survey

 of 

Balkan Insight

, based on death certificates, confirms that the authorities knew, but try to hide under the rug.

Will President Vučić's regime have the courage to be held to account?

Until May, Serbia was the most vaccinated country in continental Europe, thanks to the massive influx of doses of Chinese Sinopharm.

Since then, the campaign has stalled and the number of contaminations has exploded since the end of the summer.

But the government is doing nothing and 

even leaves the antivaxes parading in the media at its boot

.

Why ?

More than 1,000 dead in four days last weekend, intensive care units 100% occupied and the number of critically ill patients which continues to increase.

While Romania has fewer than 30% of vaccinees, the fourth epidemic wave looks more and more to what happened in the spring of 2020 in Italy and 

the

Romanian suffocates

.

Awake,

first Balkan series in official competition at Cannes

It was one of ten works in competition at CanneSéries, the most prestigious festival dedicated to series.

In ten 50-minute episodes, 

Awake

 follows the investigation of a young private detective in Subotica, adapting Hollywood narrative codes to the very Balkan context. 

Meeting

.

In the midst of the harvest period, Italy launched a 

wine war 

against Croatia.

Rome has not taken off since Croatia asked Brussels to obtain an AOC for its Prošek, a dessert wine typical of Dalmatia.

According to the producers of Prosecco, there is a risk of confusion for consumers.

Truly ?

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