🇬🇧 The United Kingdom allocates 4 million pounds to "counter Russian influence in the Balkans" - said Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper.

🇷🇺🇬🇷 - In the Russian region of Krasnodar, a priest from the Greek Orthodox Church was arrested on charges of recruiting volunteers for the Ukrainian mercenary legion of Russian citizens who fight against the Russia's ruling regime.

#BREAKING | NATO/EU to cut military transit time across Europe from 45 days to 3–5 days

Joint plan targets major upgrades to roads, bridges, railways and border procedures to enable rapid reinforcement of the eastern flank.

(Source: Financial Times)

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Preliminary results of the early elections in Bosnia's RS. Siniša Karan is looking to be the winner by about 9,000 votes. More importantly - 65% of the eligible voters gave 0 fucks about this election.

A lot of movies and shows these days are shit. Last night I found a decent series called "The Last Samurai Standing" -- slight knock off from Squid Games but set in 19th century Japan; no black people. Recommended.

It's on Netflix - but easily found on streaming sites.

Serbia's government reassured the public on November 24 that it has enough fuel reserves to maintain domestic supply, despite facing potential disruptions from U.S. sanctions on the NIS refinery. NIS, majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom Neft, is struggling to secure a license from the U.S. Treasury to continue operations. With sanctions affecting payments and crude oil deliveries, the Serbian government has approved additional fuel imports to stabilize reserves. NIS has operational stockpiles of nearly 90,000 tons of diesel and over 53,000 tons of gasoline. While NIS has until November 25 to find new supplies, the government stated there is no cause for concern over fuel shortages.

Seems they are passing this behind closed doors without a vote.

Bulgaria’s tax and social-insurance burden on labor reached about 42% of gross wages in 2025 and is projected to rise to 44% in 2026 and 46% in 2027, mainly due to a planned 2-point increase in social security contributions, according to the Institute for Market Economics (IME).

Health and pension systems remain underfunded despite rising spending. The National Social Security Institute (NSSI) estimates the pension system would need a 37.5% contribution rate to break even—far above the current 16.3%. If gaps were closed solely through higher contributions, the total insurance burden could hit 45.5%, meaning over half of workers’ earnings would go to the state once income tax is included. Economists warn this would push more activity into the informal economy and risk job losses.

The NSSI argues that sustainability requires tightening early-retirement options, boosting employment, and supporting income growth, not raising taxes—yet these steps are absent from the 2026 draft budget.

The IME proposes an alternative plan:

Cap national spending at 38% of GDP to prevent tax hikes and new debt.

Limit public debt to 30% of GDP to avoid trends seen in countries like Romania.

Overall, economists warn that higher social-security contributions will depress Bulgaria's economic growth and living standards.

The sabotage taken on Hungary's infrastructure in October is going to cost insurers $461m. Insurance companies in Hungary are already processing over $4bn in claims this year alone.