Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Authorities in Republika Srpska, Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity, are tightening security ahead of rival protests that both government and opposition parties are organising in Banja Luka on Saturday.

At a press conference on Friday, Dragan Lukac, Republika Srpska Minister of Interior, said that around 2,000 policemen will be deployed to prevent disorder in the city.

Bosnian Serb parties are feuding over 35 million euros that Russia has offered to Republika Srpska, to clear its share of the foreign debt that Bosnia owed the old USSR.

The total debt Bosnia owes the Soviet Union is about 125.2 million US dollars [around 110 million euros].

Bosnia needs to better regulate the destination of property seized as a consequence of criminal activities, experts say, arguing that this would also have a positive impact in the fight against organised crime.

While no law defines this issue at national level, laws exists at the level of the country's two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.

It has been more than 20 years since the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, popularly known as the Dayton Accords, were signed at a U.S. Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, in November 1995 under the auspices of U.S.

A group of Bosnian NGOs have started a campaign called "(Non)Discrimination of Women who have just given birth in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina".

They want the adoption of a law standardising maternity benefits in the entity and establishing a fund for them.

A decision of the government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of Bosnia's two entities, to increase some economic benefits of ministries has infuriated many Bosnians.

They have called decision further proof that the élite is more interested in increasing its privileges than working for the general interest.

A report that is due to be issued on Wednesday by Brana [Dam], a coalition of Bosnian NGOs formed after the catastrophic floods that hit Bosnia in 2014, monitors the transparency of recovery projects and international donations.

The report will present the results of more than a year's research into hundreds of projects implemented over the whole territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Amid angry protests by trade unions and strong criticism from opposition parties, parliament in Bosnia's Serb-majority entity, Republika Srpska, on Tuesday adopted a controversial new labour law. 

The law is the key condition for Bosnia to obtain vital new financial support from the IMF.

Bosnia's two main Bosniak and Croat parties, the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, and the Croat Democratic Union, HDZBiH, are reportedly edging towards ending the deadlock that has paralyzed political life in the ethnically divided southwestern city.

BH Airlines, which suspended all its flights at the beginning of June, could be shut down completely by the end of this year, the union representing the company's workers told BIRN on Monday.