In 2017 the opposition VMRO DPMNE party accused the then ruling Social Democrats of secret plans to take in Middle Eastern migrants. These turned out to be unfounded. Now the VMRO DPMNE is in power, ...

BIRN reporters trace the rise of Albanian crime gangs to the top of the European cocaine trafficking ladder, from remote parts of Paraguay to European Union ports. On the afternoon of November 5, 2020 ...

Decades ago, Ada Bojana was thronging with nudists. Now it’s under threat from the sea and state neglect. Stepping between abandoned bungalows, tourist guide Ismet Karamanaga recalls the naked heyday ...

Foreign workers are increasingly vital to Croatia’s economy, but the public mood is souring – and some political parties are deepening divisions. It’s a stark figure. Only three per cent of Croatian ...

Battlefield scenarios from the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 20th Century are used in various board games and video games, but while some of them offer the opportunity to play with history, ...

A string of mafia-style killings this year has put the spotlight on the lesser-known criminal underworld in North Macedonia. On March 6, Jeton Krivanjeva was in a hookah lounge in Skopje’s Old Bazaar ...

Bulgarians are gradually getting used to the currency change, but while some welcome a ‘sign that we belong’, pro-Russian elements remain bitterly discontented.

Dramatic situation reported in several towns, while some locals complain of being abandoned.

In the first of a four-part series examining the legacy of independent Croatia’s first president, who died 25 years ago, BIRN looks at how Franjo Tudjman built a personality cult and extended his ...

Three decades later, and with war raging in neighbouring Ukraine, it’s worth remembering the sparks that ignited the conflict over Transnistria. Thirty years ago, in March 1992, people on both sides ...

Albania’s communist regime outlawed religion and waged a decades-long campaign of repression against Christian and Muslim believers, jailing and executing clerics and persecuting their families - but ...

MAN Truck & Bus said it had stopped taking tyres from Chinese Linglong’s Serbian plant last month after reports alleging the exploitation and possible trafficking of Vietnamese and Indian workers, but ...