Kosovo has now come of age. On February 17th, it celebrated 18 years since the country declared its independence from Serbia. In those 18 years, the youngest country in Europe has achieved recognition from 121 states, including most members of the European Union. with the exception of SpainGreece, Romania, Slovakia, and Cyprus.

T-shirts featuring the Yugo car, calendars with the iconic red K67 newsstand, collections of Yugokeramika coffee mugs, and posters with the silhouettes of Josip Broz Tito and his wife Jovanka are just some of the products sold by the Slovenian company Spela Golcer. through the Made in Yugoslavia brandGolcer began collecting typical Yugoslavian objects as a hobby, but when her shelves became too small, she decided to open an Instagram profile to document her finds. "To my surprise, the page became popular very quickly. People started asking if they could buy some items, and that's when I realized there was a real interest in things from the former Yugoslavia." When she started, the presence of shops dedicated to Yugoslavian design was minimal, but over time, she says, she has noticed a genuine resurgence of nostalgia and affection for that past.

Piles and piles of garbage bags are accumulating on the sidewalks of Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. For weeks, residents have been unable to throw their trash into the containers because they are overflowing. In some areas, the bags reach the height of a third-story building, residents report. In others, stray animals rummaging through the waste are scattering it throughout the city. The result? An unbearable stench and a rodent infestation that has forced authorities to declare a state of public health emergency.

Serbia's nationalist president, Aleksandar Vučić, has announced that he will implement "surprising measures" against protesters who They have been protesting against their government for nine months.On Wednesday, August 13, the protests, which had been largely peaceful until then, turned violent, with clashes between demonstrators and security forces. Several offices of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), Vučić's party, were attacked and a fire was set on them.

The center of Belgrade has been filled with barricades where students and opponents of the regime of Aleksandar Vučić, of the Serbian Progressive Party, have been sleeping since mass protests on SaturdayThe protesters, led by students, They consider the government illegitimate and are demanding that Vučić call early elections. Before Saturday's protests, which were particularly large, the students issued an ultimatum demanding that elections be called before 9 p.m. on Saturday, a demand the president rejected. Presidential elections are scheduled for 2027.

Bosnia is immersed in its most serious political crisis in decades. The Assembly of the Republika Srpska, one of the two (Serb-majority) entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina, has adopted a new draft constitution that puts it on the path to independence. The draft law, approved early Thursday morning, authorizes the entity to establish autonomous institutions, such as the army and the judiciary, and establishes its right to self-determination, to decide on the application of national laws to its territory, and to form confederations with other countries. All of these proposals are contrary to the Dayton Peace Accords, signed in 1995. to end the war, and which serve as the basis for constitutional law in Bosnia.