Belgrade
Kosovo parliament elects new national president
Kosovo’s parliament has appointed a 38-year-old U.S.-educated female law professor and candidate of the ruling Vetevendosje party as the country’s new president, following an election in February. Vjosa Osmani took over as acting president of Kosovo last November when her predecessor, Hashim Thaci, resigned ahead of his impending war crimes trial in the Netherlands. Osmani’s initial mandate expired when the new government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, the head of Vetevendosje, took over following the Feb. 14 election. On Sunday the 120-seat parliament voted in favour of appointing Osmani president by 71 votes. Opposition parties and civil society watchdogs have criticised her appointment, saying that having a president, prime minister and speaker of parliament all from the same party is n...
Novak Djokovic, wife recover from coronavirus
Novak Djokovic and his wife Jelena, who last week both tested positive for coronavirus following his exhibition tournament in the Balkans, have now tested negative, his press service said Thursday. Neither the 33-year-old player nor his partner felt any symptoms, the statement said. The couple had been self-isolating since returning to Belgrade from Zadar in Croatia, the town which hosted the second leg of Djokovic’s ill-fated Adria Tour. Four players — Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki — tested positive for the virus after the event which saw little social distancing and packed stands. The world number one’s coach Goran Ivanisevic also contracted COVID-19. Players had embraced across the net, played basketball and even danced in a nightclub during the week of the f...
Five Red Star Belgrade players test positive for coronavirus
Five players from Serbian club Red Star Belgrade have tested positive for coronavirus after playing a match attended by 16,000 people, the club said Monday. The announcement came 12 days after Red Star faced city rivals Partizan Belgrade in front of a crowd of around 16,000 people, the largest gathering of that kind in Europe since the beginning of the pandemic. The Serbian government has been loosening lockdown rules and earlier this month it announced that open-air gatherings with an unlimited amount of people would be allowed. But coverage from television channel RTS appeared to show little sign of health guidelines in place in the match with Partizan as well as at other league matches. Following the final match of the season against Proleter on Saturday, Red Star Belgrade celebrated wi...
Erling Haaland hints at Bernabeu move, calling Real Madrid players his ‘brothers’
With the transfer market well underway, Erling Haaland has once again raised questions about his future after posting a friendly comment on Reinier’s Instagram post, in which he features alongside Rodrygo. Real Madrid have both Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe on their agenda. The club would love to have one of Europe’s hottest talents in Haaland in their side, with the Norwegian once again sparking up rumours about a possible move. Haaland said goodbye to his teammate Reinier – whose loan deal at Dortmund from Real Madrid terminated at the end of the seaoson – via a comment on the player’s Instagram post. Reinier appeared in the photo alongside fellow Madrid player Rodrygo, as both stars head to Belgrade for friendlies with the Brazilian national team, before joining up again for the Olym...