Milan Culibrk

According to BIRN's findings, Vojin Lazarevic, Toplica Spasojevic and Obrad Sikimic used a system of double booking to avoid Russian Central Bank scrutiny of the fact that the bulk of the bank's loans - paid for out of deposits of the Serbian National Bank, NBS - were going to their own companies.

Serbia's National Council for Cooperation with Russia and China and the Chinese ambassador in Belgrade, Li Manchang, have pledged to support the establishment of a Chinese-Serbian association of companies.

However, many experts doubt that Serbia stands to gain much from it, unless the country greatly increases its volume of exports.

The Higher Court in Belgrade has found the weekly newspaper NIN guilty of defaming Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic and has ordered it to pay him 300,000 dinars [2,437 euros] in compensation, media reported on Wednesday.

Editor-in-chief Milan Culibrk confirmed to N1 TV that the magazine will appeal against the sentence.

Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic has won a lawsuit he filed against the weekly NIN over their article, "Nebojsa Stefanovic, the main Savamala phantom."

At a hearing at Belgrade's Higher Court on Tuesday, interior minister Nebojsa Stefanovic demanded 300,000 dinars (2,437 euros) in compensation after bringing a defamation case against NIN journalist Sandra Petrusic, editor-in-chief Milan Culibrk and the weekly news magazine itself.

A hearing was held at the Higher Court in Belgrade on Tuesday in the case of Nebojsa Stefanovic's lawsuit against a Belgrade-based weekly.

The Serbian interior minister, who is also a high-ranking official of the ruling SNS party, has sued the weekly NIN, its editor-in-chief, Milan Culibrk, and Sandra Petrusic, one of its reporters, over an article published earlier this year.

Sixteen foreign companies and investment funds have submitted a non-binding offer for state telecommunications company Telekom Srbija, local media reported on Wednesday.

The deadline for submitting non-binding bids expired on Monday, but the government has not announced the names of the bidders.

Antonela Riha, the editor of the political section at weekly news magazine NIN, was sacked on Thursday without prior warning, sparking opposition allegations that it was politically motivated.

New govt. to have no excuse not to carry out reforms - panel

BELGRADE -- A new government WILL facing great challenges, including inevitable implementation of reforms, heard a panel organized by Tanjug on election night.

BELGRADE - The new government is facing great challenges, including inevitable implementation of reforms, and since all obstacles to this have been removed and the party won the majority in the elections, they will have little room for pointing to “brakesmen” of reforms as an excuse, said participants in a panel organized at the Tanjug Press Club late on Sunday.