Montenegro’s law enforcement agencies have tightened border security in a crackdown on arms smuggling. The move comes in light of a new report released by human rights organization Amnesty International, according to the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN).

A classmate of Desislava Taneva, Bulgaria’s Minister of Agriculture and Food, may have won all public bids for supplying the state forest enterprises with four high-end sports utility vehicles (SUVs), according to a Bulgarian media investigation.

A new report published by Washington, DC-based Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a research and advisory nonprofit, declared that “illicit financial flows” such as money laundering, theft, fraud or embezzlement, have hit a record US $1.1 trillion in 2013.

Azerbaijani human rights activist Leyla Yunus was released from prison early today by the Baku Court of Appeals due to deteriorating health, according to Meydan TV.

Almost two years after receiving a presidential pardon from Russian President Vladimir Putin, former oil billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been summoned to Moscow for questioning in a criminal case, reported Bloomberg.

Six defendants were sentenced at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Dec. 4 in connection with a cigarette tax evasion scheme worth more than US$ 1.8 million.

Joining the war of words escalating between Turkey and Russia, the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) deny that the satellite images Russian defense officials displayed at a briefing in Moscow last week showed Islamic State (IS) militants selling oil to Turkey.

Two people were arrested Sunday when Serbian police found more than 16 kilograms of heroin hidden in a truck crossing into the country at its border with Bulgaria.

One year ago today, investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova, 39, was unjustly jailed in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.

Prominent anti-Kremlin activist Alexei Navalny has said he will sue prosecutor general Yury Chaika, who said Navalny was a stooge for a third party after the activist published investigation findings about alleged wrongdoing by Chaika's family.