Following an attack on a gendarme guarding the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, Serbia's caretaker Interior Minister Ivica Dacic raised the terror threat status to the highest level.

The Student List comes to power with popular goodwill but faces institutionalised corruption, entrenched criminal networks and economic mismanagement left behind by Aleksandar Vucic’s 14 years of rule.

Slovenia’s right-wing government is expected to double down on its agenda after losing two out of four plebiscites this month, but civil society says it is ready to fight a drift into ‘authoritarianism’.

On June 8, Monika Silva-Koniuszek was murdered in Ecuador. After obtaining a drive containing files the Polish activist had compiled, BIRN uncovered a network of companies linked to Albanian gangs allegedly used to launder drug money.

Frontex is to become a fully-fledged “European returns agency” with the ability to intervene in border emergencies and expand its operations beyond Europe.

Opposition leaders and media associations condemned the use of official communication channels to promote presidential candidate Iliana Iotova and criticised the government’s domineering language directed at journalists

Serbian strongman Aleksandar Vucic vowed to defeat the student protest movement, but lost in the end. Other movements across the region can learn lessons from the Serbian students about tactics and perseverance.

An analysis of Bosnian court verdicts in cases of wartime sexual violence shows deep inconsistencies in sentencing, a tendency to give more weight to mitigating circumstances, and a failure to recognise the long-term impact on survivors.

Luca Niculescu, Romania’s recently-chosen prime minister, is an experienced administrator and skilled negotiator, but has limited time and political support to tackle pressing economic and social challenges.

The opposition Student List won by such a wide margin that Serbia’s longtime leader Aleksandar Vucic had no choice but to acknowledge the results, despite having resorted to electoral manipulation in the past, experts told BIRN.

Political and social tensions escalated suddenly over the weekend after the Czech government appeared to force through a controversial overhaul of public service media funding.

Kosovo authorities have been accused of failing to protect women after a woman was murdered hours after reporting domestic violence to the police on Sunday evening.

Latest figures confirm that the Student List won an outright majority in the parliamentary elections, ending the 14-year rule of the Serbian Progressive Party and strongman leader Aleksandar Vucic.

Catch up on the weekend’s most important developments with Balkan Insight’s digest of news from countries across the region.

After securing an unexpectedly small lead, government-aligned acting President Iliana Iotova will face opposition candidate Andrey Gyurov in a November 1 runoff following record low voter turnout in Sunday's polls.

European officials and leaders from Balkan states congratulated the Student List on its election victory, expressing hopes for democratic changes that will accelerate Serbia’s progress towards EU membership.

People took to the streets in cities across Serbia to hail the victory of the opposition Student List, ending the rule of strongman leader Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party, which had been in power for 14 years.

Amid continuing violence at anti-government protests at the weekend, during which one protester was hit in the eye with a rubber bullet, premier Edi Rama announced new measures to tackle “urban anarchy”.

In trying to identify the remains of more than 300 war dead, authorities in Kosovo are revisiting those identified and buried shortly after the end of hostilities and without the help of DNA, searching for possible mistakes.

A new book explores the complex and often uncomfortable question of why some artists collaborated with Romania’s notorious communist-era secret police.