Bekim Fehmiu has left the stage

Belgrade, June 18. 2010. (Serbia Today) One of the most famous film actors in former Jugoslavija Bekim Fehmiu (74) was found dead in his apartment in the Belgrade at June 15. Police said that the death was most likely a suicide. The body was discovered by one of his sons, said reports A gun registered to his name was found next to his body and it is assumed that the actor tragically ended his own life,” said Interior Minister Ivica Dačić. Fehmiu, was an ethnic Albanian born in Bosnia in 1936. He played a large number of roles in domestic and international films and on stage. However, he gained international recognition with his role of Beli Bora in Saša Petrović’s “I Even Met Happy Gypsies”, which won Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1967. Internationally, Fehmiu worked with Italian Producer Dino De Laurentiis, John Huston, Ava Gardner, Dirk Bogarde, Charles Aznavour, Claudia Cardinale, among others. Film critics said that he was the only East-European actor who moved the boundaries and made films in the west “breaking the iron curtain until the appearance of Gorbachev and fall of the Berlin Wall”. Fehmiu enrolled in the Academy of Theater Arts in Belgrade in 1956, and four years later became a permanent member of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre (JDP). But seven years after that, he became a freelance artist and remained so until the end of his life. Fehmiu ended his theater career in 1987 with a role in the JDP. The legendary actor’s last role on the big screen was in Ken Annakin’s Genghis Khan in 1992. Media were reporting that he had voluntarily left acting “due to anti-Albanian propaganda”. Fehmiu’s younger son Uliks, also an actor, once wrote: “The breakup of Yugoslavia, the horrible fratricidal war, the destruction of Vukovar, the bombing of Dubrovnik, the long-running siege of Sarajevo, the war in Kosovo, the bombing of FR Yugoslavia have made my father withdraw even more. He gave up the words which are the strongest and most beautiful means for an actor. He gave them up and turned them into silence – into protest.” In 1985 Fehmiu finished his memoirs describing his life from the birth in 1936 in Sarajevo, life in Kosovo until 1956, but he waited to publish them until 2001 in a book “Brilliant and Scary” which was published by Samizdat B92. The actor had two sons, Uliks and Hedon, from his marriage to actress Branka Petrić.

WAZ media group exiting Serbia

Belgrade, June 17. 2010. (Serbia Today) - The WAZ media group stated that it has decided to close shop in Serbia and pull out of the country gradually. WAZ President Bodo Hombah sent a “confidential letter” to President Boris Tadić, asking him to help the company by making sure that its exit from Serbia is fair and legal – according to a statement from the company. WAZ will be selling its stake in Serbian companies with concrete conditions and prices, while preserving the economic rights and interest of the groups, the statement added. WAZ also denied claims that it had set conditions for this move, and stated that it “hoped that it will not be leaving Serbia on a bad note, despite great difficulties and public slander”. WAZ is a German newspaper and magazine publisher. In Serbia, they have a stake in Belgrade's Politika and Novi Sad's Dnevnik newspapers.

Experts are coming back to Serbia

Belgrade, June 16. 2010. (Serbia Today) - Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić said that EUR 20mn would be set aside to get Serbia's most successful experts to return to the country. This money was taken from a favorable credit deal coming from the European Investment Bank, Đelić said, adding that the first wave of returns must be successful. He said that he hopes that the experts will bring back projects with them and high technology from their companies, adding that Serbia will invest EUR 800mn in researchers, programs and equipment over the next four years. These moves will double investments from 0.3 to 0.6 percent of the gross domestic product, and by 2015, it will reach about one percent, which is one of the demands for joining the European Union, Đelić told daily Politika. The key goal is to thwart the loss of intellectuals to foreign countries and to return several hundred of the most talented businesspeople and experts to the country. Đelić said that changes should not be expected overnight, adding that the war for talent is the most important war of this decade. He reminded that there is no exact information on Serbian experts abroad. The Science Ministry has a database of about 500 names, which is only the beginning, adding that most end up in America, Canada or Australia. Some 20,000-30,000 people left Serbia in the 1990s.

Dinosaurs in Svilajnac

Belgrade June 14. 2010. (Serbia Today) - Three to five million euros will be invested in the construction of the Natural History Center in Svilajnac. Visitors will be able to view dinosaur fossils. The center is approximately 3,000 square meters, including workshops and areas for scientific research, and will present an exhibition which will present replicas of dinosaurs, the original fossils and prehistoric animal display. Scientific and documentary films will take advantage of three-dimensional technology. The construction of the center should begin in the fall and be finished, The Svilajnac Municipality has prepared the project, and as the Minister of Science Bozidar Djelic, announced the state will support it.  It is important that science and technology are not concentrated in Belgrade and Novi Sad, so that children in the interior can see something interesting and learn much more", said the deputy prime minister. It is also planned to build a scientific and outdoor amusement park, which will contain life-size dinosaurs and a mock volcano. Besides the exhibition works, the center will be open to scientific meetings and cooperation of scientists, as well as for young researchers. At the entrance visitors will be able to see the development of the biosphere on Earth and the water world of prehistory, which will have 35 items. Three replica dinosaurs, and the original fossil motosaurusa, the oldest types of dinosaurs 245 million years old, will be located in the central part announced the tourism officer for the Municipality, Dragan Miladinovic. She added that the unit will be dedicated to petrified wood and petrified space with ancestors of today's animals.

Ex Japanese Ambassador Nagai envoy is honorary Belgrade

 
Belgrade, June, 11, 2010 (Serbia today) - On Monday, former Japanese Ambassador to Serbia Tadashi Nagai, become an honorary citizen of Belgrade. That decision was made by the Belgrade City Assembly Belgrade Mayor Dragan Djilas explained why Nagai was proposed for honorary citizenship in recognition of the Japanese government providing close to EUR 200mn in aid to the Serbian people since 2000. He pointed out that Belgrade in particular owes Nagai a lot, because a large portion of the donations went to the capital. 
"Nagai lived in Serbia for more than 20 years, speaks excellent Serbian and understands the situation in the country completely", concluded Djilas. 

Minister Ciplic praises minority elections

 
Belgrade June, 10, 2010 (Serbia Today) – Sunday's elections for ethnic minority councils were held in a “democratic atmosphere”,  Human and Minority Rights Minister Svetozar Ciplic said on Monday. “I believe that these elections were help in a democratic atmosphere, in a legal way and we believe that national councils will be formed after the results are announced on June 9”, said Ciplic and added that the national minorities showed that they are interested in forming the national councils. Members of 16 ethnic minorities in Serbia voted in the election, with the turnout at 54.47 percent, of the total 436,334 voters registered in special electoral rolls. A total of 19 ethnic minorities were eligible to take part in the vote, while Croats and Slovenians will be choosing their officials via electoral assemblies. 

Talks about Pride parade in Belgrade

Belgrade June 09. 2010. (Serbia Today) - Minister for labor and social policy, Rasim Ljajić recently met with representatives of the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA). The GSA called on the government to offer the needed support and protection to make sure that a Pride Parade can be held this year. Ljajić told GSA officials that a meeting has been proposed with the work inspectorate regarding discrimination at the work place on the grounds of sexual orientation. He said that the work in achieving the rights of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gender population in Serbia must be worked on strategically, adding that continuous work is needed in order to decrease homophobia, violence, and discrimination. GSA officials said that discrimination in the work place is a topic that must be discussed seriously, adding that a systematic approach in cooperation between GLBT organizations and the state institutions is needed. They also informed Ljajić of the problems arising from the lack of a system for implementing the law for prohibiting discrimination, which should include education by the state institutions on the ways to fight discrimination at the work place, the GSA stated.