Serbia arrests three after 77 migrants found hidden in vehicles

Belgrade, 26 December 2016 (MIA) - Serbian authorities arrested three men on suspicion of people trafficking after 77 migrants were found hidden in cargo vehicles, Reuters cites the defense ministry.
Serbia was a pinchpoint for migrant flows last year, when hundreds of thousands of people fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East and Asia journeyed up through the Balkans to reach the European Union.
That route was effectively closed off in March, but since then Serbian authorities estimate a further 110,000 migrants have passed through the country, many crossing its now sealed border with Hungary illegally.
On Monday members of a military and police task force detained two men in central Serbia attempting to smuggle 36 migrants from Afghanistan and Mali in the back of a large van, the ministry said.
In a separate incident in the same region, 41 migrants were found in the cargo compartment of a truck with German registration plates after its Serbian driver was stopped.
According to the U.N. refugee agency, around 7,000 migrants are stranded in camps in Serbia, many having paid smugglers to get there from Turkey via Macedonia or Bulgaria.
Since its creation in July, the task force - which patrols the borders with Macedonia and Bulgaria - has prevented around 18,000 migrants from entering the country and arrested 114 traffickers, the ministry said. lk/20:25
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Albania needs a decade with 4-percent growth to eliminate poverty: World Bank
Tirana, 27 December 2016 (MIA) - The World Bank has said that Albania needs at least a decade with economic growth of four percent in order to eliminate extreme poverty.
The bank estimates that at least 31,000 people in Albania live with less than EUR 1 a day. The World Bank's standards regarding extreme poverty put the income level at less than US$ 1.9 per day.
According to assessments, over 45 percent of the population in Albania lives with less than US$ 5 a day. ik/08:46
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Republika Srpska President says US Ambassador prevents him from attending Trump inauguration
Sarajevo, 27 December 2016 (MIA) - Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik said that he was denied an American visa on his Bosnian diplomatic passport which he needed to travel to the inauguration of Serbian President Donald Trump. According to Dodik, this was the work of US Ambassador to Bosnia Maureen Cormack, and could prompt him to travel with a Serbian issued passport in the future.
Republika Srpska is a political entity that is part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Dodik has been under American pressure in the past years over his push for greater autonomy and, possibly, secession and joining the Republic of Serbia. He says he was invited to attend the inauguration on January 20th by friends who are involved with the upcoming Trump administration, but the Embassy said that he can't receive a visa as a representative of Bosnia.
Dodik is also facing possible legal problems from the central authorities in Sarajevo, over a referendum he organized last year in which the citizens of Republika Srpska voted against acknowledging Bosnian judicial supremacy. In an interview, Dodik said that he had a testy conversation with US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Hoyt Yee and Ambassador Cormack, and on the next day he was informed that his visa request has been declined.cc/12:35
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Turkey opens first trial related to failed coup with case against police
Ankara, 27 December 2016 (MIA) - The first trial related to Turkey's failed coup started on Tuesday, with 29 police officers facing charges of disobeying orders on the July night rogue soldiers attempted to overthrow the government and killed some 240 people, Reuters reports.
Since the failed coup, more than 100,000 people have been sacked or suspended in a widespread crackdown targeting the military, police, civil service and private sector. Some 40,000 people have been arrested.
Security was tight at the courthouse in Silivri, west of Istanbul, including a heavy police presence. Reporters were not allowed to bring cameras and other equipment into the building.
The police officers are charged with disobeying orders to defend President Tayyip Erdogan's palace in Istanbul on the night of the July 15 coup, state-run Anadolu Agency said. Lawyers for the 29 defendants could not immediately be reached to say whether they would deny the charges.
During the attempted coup, rogue soldiers commandeered tanks, helicopters and warplanes in Istanbul and Ankara and attacked parliament and other institutions.
"Everyone involved in the coup attempt must have a fair trial," Orhan Cagri Bekar, a lawyer who represents some of the victims of the coup, told reporters. "Those who are guilty must be sentenced to the heaviest punishment because this is a betrayal of the country."
Prosecutors are seeking three life sentences for 21 of the policemen and sentences of between 7-1/2 to 15 years in prison for the other eight, Anadolu said.
While Tuesday's trial is the first related to the coup, it does not include the alleged ringleaders, who are due to go on trial, probably next year, in Ankara.
The government said earlier this year that a new court would be built in an Ankara district as there were no courts big enough in Turkey to handle such large numbers of defendants.
The government has blamed a U.S.-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen, for orchestrating the failed coup. Gulen, a former ally of President Erdogan, has denied the charge and condemned the coup.