Across south-east Europe last month, BIRN’s digital rights monitors documented how AI is being used for protest surveillance, election manipulation, enabling digital sexual abuse and committing ...

Student-led protesters calling for snap elections continues to block roads in various towns and cities as they maintained their campaign against a government they accuse of corruption and brutality.

When BIRN was founded two decades ago, media freedom in the Balkans faced serious challenges, but there was hope; now, the prospects are even bleaker.

Big political parties fear independents because “we are not theirs”, says independent councillor and head of Bitola’s municipal council, Gabriela Ilievska, amid a fresh push to squeeze them ...

With roots in the war for Croatia’s independence, the staunchly patriotic singer Marko ‘Thompson’ Perkovic has always caused controversy. Now he’s about to play the biggest concert in ...

Police detain 42 at rally marking the 100th day since the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the opposition's chosen candidate for the next presidential elections.

Over 70 people were arrested after protesters clashed with police in the wake of a student-led demonstration for snap elections that brought tens of thousands onto the streets of Belgrade.

In an interview with BIRN, Mary Lawlor said human rights defenders and critics of the government in Bosnia’s Republika Srpska are being targeted and stigmatised.

Already repurposed due to legal challenges, Italy’s asylum centres in Albania cost more than originally planned and much more than similar facilities in Italy itself, offering a potential lesson ...

Former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov is stepping away from his We Continue the Change party amid a brewing corruption scandal.

Our selection of Premium stories this week takes a look at the region’s slow-burning political crises, smuggling networks, digital surveillance and a whole lot more.