TIRANA/SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Albanians raced to claim the honour of making the first visa-free visit to the European Union on Wednesday after the bloc eased entry rules, while Bosnians took a less euphoric approach despite travel discounts.

The EU lifted visa requirements for Albanian and Bosnian holders of biometric passports at midnight on December 15, leaving Kosovans as the only Balkan citizens still needing visas for all trips to EU countries.

SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Senior U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke won posthumous praise in Bosnia on Tuesday for brokering the Dayton treaty that ended its 1992-95 war — even if peace since then has not been all that many had hoped for.

“It is amazingly symbolic that Holbrooke died exactly on the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Bosnia peace agreement, the day encapsulating his lifetime political achievement,” said Dragan Cavic, a former Bosnian Serb president.

SARAJEVO/TIRANA, Dec 6 (Reuters) – Heavy rain in the Balkans
has killed three people, forced the evacuation of around 20,000
from inundated areas and caused more than 340 million euros
($450.8 million) in damage, officials said on Monday.

Three family members were killed when a landslide hit their
house in the northeastern Bosnian town of Tuzla on Sunday. A
total of 4,000 people have been evacuated in Bosnia so far.

SARAJEVO, Nov 29 (Reuters) – The International Financial
Corporation (IFC) failed to sell its 8.4 percent stake in
Bosnalijek BSNL.SJ, the second time this year an auction of
shares in Bosnia’s top drugs company has found no buyers.

“We can say the sale has failed because there have been no
purchasing bids by the time the deadline expired,” Almir Mirica,
the executive director of the Sarajevo Stock Exchange (SASE)
said on Monday.

SARAJEVO (Reuters) – “Belvedere,” a new feature film by Bosnian director Ahmed Imamovic, is the first to deal directly with the legacy of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, one of Europe’s worst atrocities since World War Two.

The movie, which hits theatres in Sarajevo on December 2, is named after a real-life refugee camp set up for those who survived the massacre but are searching for dead loved ones.

SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has cut back on filming plans in Bosnia for her directorial debut after problems with permits, a local producer said on Wednesday.

The film crew had begun shooting exterior shots at a former military barracks in Sarajevo on Wednesday, but Jolie and the film’s actors were absent, Edin Sarkic of the Scout Film production told Reuters.

By Daria Sito-Sucic

SARAJEVO (Reuters Life!) – Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has cut back on filming plans in Bosnia for her directorial debut after problems with permits, a local producer said on Wednesday.

The film crew had begun shooting exterior shots at a former military barracks in Sarajevo on Wednesday, but Jolie and the film’s actors were absent, Edin Sarkic of the Scout Film production told Reuters.

BELGRADE/SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Security experts concerned that the next Islamist attack in Europe could be a Mumbai-style commando raid are looking at the Balkans as a likely place for them to find weapons quietly and efficiently.

Western governments and intelligence sources have stepped up warnings recently of preparations for attacks in Europe and the United States, and said the attackers might emulate the 2008 assault on Mumbai’s financial district in which 166 were killed.

SARAJEVO (Reuters) – A Bosnian minister canceled on Wednesday a permit for Hollywood star Angelina Jolie to shoot parts of her debut feature film in Bosnia, citing incomplete paperwork.

The Oscar-winning actress has begun shooting the film in Budapest and her production company said it was a love story between a Serbian man and a Bosnian woman who meet on the eve of the Bosnian war, which killed 100,000 people between 1992 and 1995.

SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Bosnia Tuesday it was falling behind its neighbors in the drive to integrate with Europe, saying it must unite to deliver the promise of the 1995 peace accords.

In a meeting with Sarajevo university students, Clinton praised the progress made so far but said much more needed to be done to cement Bosnia’s European future.