Seen flying in front of the county administration building.

March 16 (Reuters) - Fifty-one people were killed and more than 100 injured when a fire broke out in a nightclub early on Sunday in the North Macedonian town of Kocani, Interior Minister Pance Toskovski said.

Protesters waving flags, chanting slogans and blowing whistles massed in the Serbian capital on Saturday to join the latest in a series of student-led demonstrations that have mounted an unprecedented challenge to President Aleksandar Vučić’s government.

Traffic was at a halt across the city and the main boulevards and intersections were completely blocked as masses of protesters headed for the city centre on foot.

As well as students and members of the public, farmers driving tractors and large groups of bikers also joined the protest. Many of the protesters chanted “Pump it!”, a slogan of the ongoing protests.

Supporters of Calin Georgescu threw stones and bottles at riot police in Bucharest after the Central Election Bureau voted to bar the right-wing, pro-Russian candidate from competing in upcoming presidential polls.

The Central Election Bureau voted 10-4 to bar Georgescu, saying his candidacy did not meet the legal requirements and that he had “violated the very obligation to defend democracy”.

Georgescu condemned the decision as a “direct blow to the heart of democracy worldwide”. He now has 24 hours from Sunday’s ruling to file an official appeal with Romania’s Constitutional Court, which is expected to issue a decision on Wednesday at the latest.

BELGRADE — The EU is boosting the size of its peacekeeping mission in Bosnia after recently convicted Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik banned state-level institutions in Serb regions, sparking separatist fears.

The EU “will temporarily increase the size of its force,” the European Union Force Bosnia Herzegovina, or EUFOR, said in a statement late Friday. “This is a proactive measure aimed at assisting Bosnia and Herzegovina in the interest of all citizens,” it said.

EUFOR said the increase will occur “in the coming days” but gave no details. Local media reports say the EU will add 400 troops to its 1,100-strong force next week.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.bg/post/54391

Something many other countries in the region should also do.

In addition to their political aspirations, the suspects recruited supporters through online platforms, publishing videos aimed at both national and international audiences. The group's efforts were not limited to online propaganda, as they took steps to negotiate Romania's exit from NATO and discussed their plans with foreign political and military representatives.

The authorities conducted searches at eight locations in Bucharest and several counties, seizing important evidence. Four of the accused are set to face preventive detention, while the other two will remain under house arrest. These arrests come just after Romania expelled the Russian Federation's military attaché and his deputy, accusing them of engaging in activities contrary to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. It is unclear whether these expulsions are connected to the arrests.

Police in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina have arrested more suspects in a potential child trafficking case after **31 children were found **living in a home with one caretaker on Tuesday.

[...]

The children are all members of the Roma ethnic minority and range in age from 12 years to infancy. Six of them have Croatian documents.

One year in prison and a six year ban from participating in politics:

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik has been sentenced to one year in prison for defying the rulings of the top international official overseeing peace in the Balkan country.

The court in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, on Wednesday also banned [...] from participating in politics for six years.