Bosnia joins Western Balkans Transport Community Treaty

Sarajevo, 19 September 2017 (MIA) - Bosnia's state-level government said it has signed an agreement to join the Transport Community promoted by the European Union in the Western Balkans.
The chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Denis Zvizdic signed the Transport Community Treaty with the EU, enabling financing for four infrastructure projects in the country, the government said in a statement on Monday.
Bosnia will get grants for the construction of motorway sections of Corridor Vc, namely 15.9 million euro ($19.1 million) for the Zenica tunnel, 11.8 million euro for the Zenica - Gracanica section, as well as 15.3 million euro for the Johovac - Rudanka stretch, the government said.
Moreover, the EU will provide a 3.1 million euro grant for the construction of Brcko port, on the Sava river.
The European Commission signed the Transport Community Treaty with Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia at a summit in Trieste, Italy, in July. Bosnia did not sign the treaty back then, attracting the criticism of EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn and EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc.
According to Bosnian media reports, the country did not sign the treaty in July because it did not have the blessing of one of its entities, the Serb Republic, which has taken issue with the treaty's wording.
The key objective of the treaty is a deeper integration of the Western Balkan region with the EU transport market towards common standards, network efficiency and quality of service offered to citizens and businesses.
Corridor Vc in Bosnia will connect the Ploce port in Croatia with Budapest in Hungary and is part of the Western Balkans Core Network. lk/16:00
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Turkey drops theory of evolution from national curriculum
Ankara, 19 September 2017 (MIA) - The theory of evolution is conspicuously absent from the curriculum of Turkey's schools as children begin the new academic year.
Meanwhile, textbooks explaining the idea of jihad have been introduced, The Independent reports.
The move has reignited concerns that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is uprooting Turkey's secular foundations, with critics describing the new syllabus as "anti-scientific".
Yet the government has accused the opposition of spreading propaganda and seeking to polarise public opinion ahead of elections in 2019.
The education ministry said opponents were "utterly ignorant" for claiming that evolution was entirely excluded from the new classes.
Subjects including mutation and adaptation remain in biology textbooks, without direct reference to the Darwinian theory.
The ministry argues evolution is too difficult for secondary school students to learn and should only be taught at university level.
Justifying the decision to introduce the idea of jihad to the curriculum, education minister Ismet Yilmaz argued the concept was misinterpreted by Islamist extremist groups such as Isis.
“Jihad is an element in our religion," he told a news conference in July. "The duty of the education ministry is to teach every concept deservedly, in a correct way.
"It is also our job to correct things that are wrongly perceived, seen or taught."
According to the Turkish Language Institute, jihad is primarily defined as "religious war".
CHP MP Bulent Tezcan told the BBC: “By embedding a jihadist education of values, they try to plague the brains of our little children, with the same understanding that transforms the Middle East into a bloodbath."
Observers have noted that Turkey has steadily increased references to Islam in the curriculum, while removing references to Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
There has also been a rise in the number of religious schools, known as Imam-Hatip schools, in recent years.
The textbooks explaining the notion of jihad are being rolled out in the religious schools, before they are introduced to secondary schools as optional courses next year.