Hundreds of taxi drivers have blocked downtown Belgrade to protest a new rule requiring them to give receipts to their customers.
The new government measure requires the drivers to have small cash registers, provide receipts and report their income for tax purposes.
The taxi drivers insist the new procedure would complicate and slow their work.
They have driven up to the government headquarters in the center of the Serbian capital, causing a major traffic jam in the city, which already is coping with heavy snow and ice.
A protest organizer said the blockade won't end until the drivers' demands are met.
There has been no comment from the government.
Similar measures have been introduced in other businesses in Serbia.
Source:etaiwannews.com/
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Minister for Kosovo meets with local Serbs
RANILUG -- Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanović was on Wednesday touring several villages in the province's Kosovsko Pomoravlje district.
As he met with the local Serbs, he said that those of them who participated in the recently held Kosovo Albanian government-organized local elections, which Belgrade rejected, "did not lose faith in Belgrade for that reason".
Bogdanović said that the government supports a decentralization in Kosovo, but only under clear conditions. He also rejected reports coming from Priština about the number of Serbs that voted, and denied that their participation meant they were "turning their backs on Belgrade".
"If they had lost faith in us, then there would be a much higher turnout, instead of only five percent of Serbs participated in these elections. Unfortunately, that's yet another manipulation by Albanians and a part of the international community, who are saying that over 20 percent of Serbs voted. That is absolutely not clear because all of us who live here in Kosovo know how many Serbs voted," said the minister.
"There are 123,000 Serbs registered to vote, and how many have voted? Well, 7,000," Bogdanović was also reported as saying.
He traveled to the village of Ranilug, near Kosovska Kamenica, to ceremonially open a kindergarten there build from the government funds.
According to the Ahtisaari plan for Kosovo's supervised independence – which Belgrade rejected, and which was never confirmed by the UN – this village should be the seat of a new municipality.
Bogdanović reminded that Belgrade opposes the plan, drafted by former UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, but said there was no opposition to the decentralization of the Serb areas.
"That's something that the Serb community needs, but not in this way. Can anyone here tell me, does anyone know the boundaries of Ranilug, which villages they encompass, which jurisdictions, competencies it has? That's the problem," the minister told the local Serbs.
He also called on them not to allow divisions based on participation in the elections and announced new government investments in Kosovo.
During 2009, some RSD 50mn were spent from the government funds in this district, mostly on infrastructure projects.
Source:b92.net/
As he met with the local Serbs, he said that those of them who participated in the recently held Kosovo Albanian government-organized local elections, which Belgrade rejected, "did not lose faith in Belgrade for that reason".
Bogdanović said that the government supports a decentralization in Kosovo, but only under clear conditions. He also rejected reports coming from Priština about the number of Serbs that voted, and denied that their participation meant they were "turning their backs on Belgrade".
"If they had lost faith in us, then there would be a much higher turnout, instead of only five percent of Serbs participated in these elections. Unfortunately, that's yet another manipulation by Albanians and a part of the international community, who are saying that over 20 percent of Serbs voted. That is absolutely not clear because all of us who live here in Kosovo know how many Serbs voted," said the minister.
"There are 123,000 Serbs registered to vote, and how many have voted? Well, 7,000," Bogdanović was also reported as saying.
He traveled to the village of Ranilug, near Kosovska Kamenica, to ceremonially open a kindergarten there build from the government funds.
According to the Ahtisaari plan for Kosovo's supervised independence – which Belgrade rejected, and which was never confirmed by the UN – this village should be the seat of a new municipality.
Bogdanović reminded that Belgrade opposes the plan, drafted by former UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, but said there was no opposition to the decentralization of the Serb areas.
"That's something that the Serb community needs, but not in this way. Can anyone here tell me, does anyone know the boundaries of Ranilug, which villages they encompass, which jurisdictions, competencies it has? That's the problem," the minister told the local Serbs.
He also called on them not to allow divisions based on participation in the elections and announced new government investments in Kosovo.
During 2009, some RSD 50mn were spent from the government funds in this district, mostly on infrastructure projects.
Source:b92.net/
Croatia opens probe into 1995 killing of 5 Serbs
Croatia said Thursday it is investigating the execution-style killing of five Serb civilians in their village in 1995 as Croat forces drove Serbs out of the country.
Three men and two women were killed in their homes in Grubori, southwest of Zagreb, in August 1995 during Croatia's "Storm" offensive against Serb forces in the country's breakaway Krajina region.
The investigation forms part of an indictment against three Croatian generals who are being tried at a United Nations war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands.
Police officer Krunoslav Borovec said 17 people have been questioned _ some as suspects, others as witnesses _ including five active Croatian police members.
Croatian authorities long had downplayed the Grubori killings as isolated acts of vengeance that could not be prevented as its troops fought for independence from Serb-led Yugoslavia.
Among the five dead, Croatian prosecutors say, were 45-year-old Djuro Karanovic, who was beaten up and shot to death, and 90-year-old Marija Grubor, who was burned to death. Grubori, a village of about 20 houses, also was burned down.
Croatia has belatedly begun to pursue its alleged war criminals from the 1990s disintegration of Yugoslavia as part of its effort to win admission to the 27-nation European Union.
Zeljko Sacic, Croatia's special police deputy commander in 1995, was arrested Thursday on charges of covering up the Grubori killings, according to his lawyer Zvonimir Hodak.
Sacic was deputy to Mladen Markac, one of three generals currently facing trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal on charges they orchestrated an "ethnic cleansing" campaign against Croatian Serbs.
Source:etaiwannews.com/
Three men and two women were killed in their homes in Grubori, southwest of Zagreb, in August 1995 during Croatia's "Storm" offensive against Serb forces in the country's breakaway Krajina region.
The investigation forms part of an indictment against three Croatian generals who are being tried at a United Nations war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands.
Police officer Krunoslav Borovec said 17 people have been questioned _ some as suspects, others as witnesses _ including five active Croatian police members.
Croatian authorities long had downplayed the Grubori killings as isolated acts of vengeance that could not be prevented as its troops fought for independence from Serb-led Yugoslavia.
Among the five dead, Croatian prosecutors say, were 45-year-old Djuro Karanovic, who was beaten up and shot to death, and 90-year-old Marija Grubor, who was burned to death. Grubori, a village of about 20 houses, also was burned down.
Croatia has belatedly begun to pursue its alleged war criminals from the 1990s disintegration of Yugoslavia as part of its effort to win admission to the 27-nation European Union.
Zeljko Sacic, Croatia's special police deputy commander in 1995, was arrested Thursday on charges of covering up the Grubori killings, according to his lawyer Zvonimir Hodak.
Sacic was deputy to Mladen Markac, one of three generals currently facing trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal on charges they orchestrated an "ethnic cleansing" campaign against Croatian Serbs.
Source:etaiwannews.com/
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