An Australian-British academic jailed for spying by Iran has been released after two "traumatic" years behind bars, in a swap for three Iranians linked to a botched Bangkok bomb plot.
Middle East scholar Kylie Moore-Gilbert said Thursday that departing Iran was "bittersweet" despite "injustices" endured during more than 800 days detained in the country's toughest prisons.&nbsp;-I came to Iran as a friend and with friendly intentions- she said, praising the "warm-hearted, generous and brave" Iranian people, despite what she called a "long and traumatic ordeal".
The 33-year-old was arrested by Iran's hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 2018, after attending an academic conference in the holy city of Qom in central Iran. She was later charged with espionage and sentenced to ten years in jail.
Her release was secured as part of a prisoner swap for three men: Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, Mohammad Khazaei and wheelchair-bound Saeid Moradi, who blew off his own legs with homemade explosives.
All three were linked to a failed plot to assassinate Israeli diplomats in Thailand in 2012. Thai corrections authorities on Thursday confirmed that Sedaghatzadeh and Moradi were transferred back to Iran as prisoners, while Khazaei was granted a royal pardon in August.
The first images of a freed Moore-Gilbert emerged from Iranian state television late Wednesday, sparking elation from friends and family who had campaigned for her freedom and maintain her innocence.
-We are relieved and ecstatic- the family said in a statement. -We cannot convey the overwhelming happiness that each of us feel at this incredible news- 
In footage broadcast by Iran's Irib news agency from Tehran airport, Moore-Gilbert was seen wearing a headscarf and a face mask, accompanied by the Australian ambassador. 
Seemingly aware of the camera, she removed the mask to confirm her identity.
Irib also showed footage of three men -- one of them in a wheelchair -- draped in Iranian flags and being greeted as heroes by officials, including the deputy foreign minister.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he had spoken to Moore-Gilbert and confirmed she would receive health and psychological support on her return to Australia, which has been complicated by Covid-19 restrictions and 14-day mandatory quarantine.
-She is an amazing Australian who has gone through an ordeal that we can only imagine and it will be a tough transition for her- he said at a virtual press conference.
The University of Melbourne Islamic studies lecturer herself said in a statement she faced a "challenging period of adjustment" at home in Australia.
Prison letters&nbsp;Letters smuggled out of prison told of Moore-Gilbert's deep psychological and legal struggles.
She wrote that the first 10 months she spent in a wing of Tehran's notorious Evin prison had "gravely damaged" her mental health.
-I am still denied phone calls and visitations, and I am afraid that my mental and emotional state may further deteriorate if I remain in this extremely restrictive detention ward- she said.
She also recounted rejecting Tehran's offer to work as a spy.
 -I am not a spy. I have never been a spy and I have no interest to work for a spying organisation in any country.-&nbsp;She said she had been shown two different draft decisions to her appeal -– one for a 13-month sentence, another confirming the original sentence of 10 years.
She was eventually transferred to the general women's section of Evin prison, where British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was held until being granted temporary leave because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband said she was "really happy" when he told her about Moore-Gilbert's release.
Throughout Moore-Gilbert's internment, friends and family had become increasingly critical of Australia's diplomatic approach.
Australian foreign minister Marise Payne said the release followed "determined work" and described the case as "complex and sensitive".
The US State Department welcomed Moore-Gilbert's release but said "she should never have been imprisoned", accusing Iran of "hostage diplomacy".
British foreign secretary Dominic Raab, in a tweet, called on Iran to "release all the remaining British dual nationals" detained in the country.
Iran, which has tense relations with the West, has over the years arrested several foreign nationals, often on accusations of spying.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert: detained for more than 800 days

Australian-British lecturer freed in Iran prisoner swap

A severe cyclone slammed into India’s southern coast early on Thursday, killing at least five people and uprooting trees and power lines.Cyclone Nivar made landfall near the city of Puducherry, located near the southern state of Tamil Nadu, with winds of up to 130 km per hour (81 miles per hour), according to the India Meteorological Department.
Heavy rains from the storm caused flooding in some streets of the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu’s largest city which is home to many large automobile manufacturers, according to a Reuters witness.
The storm caused at least five deaths in and around Chennai from trees falling, drowning and electrocution, the Times of India reported.
A spokesman for the chief minister’s office declined to comment on the reported deaths.
Local administration workers have been working to remove fallen trees and power lines, city corporation officials said on Twitter.People in Velachery, a low-lying suburb of Chennai, said the storm’s impact was mitigated by steps taken by the government ahead of the storm, compared to the hundreds of deaths during floods in 2015.
-The situation was terrible here during the floods in 2015. This year, because of the precautions taken, the situation has not been that bad- said S. Sakthivel, a shopkeeper in Velachery.
More than a hundred cars were parked on the edge of a bridge in Velachery to keep them above the floodwaters, according to a Reuters witness.
While rains are expected to subside in Tamil Nadu, heavy precipitation is expected in the Rayalaseema region of the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.
The streets around the Lord Venkateshwara temple, one of the world’s richest, in Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh, were flooded and officials were working to drain the water, the New Indian Express newspaper reported.Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from low-lying areas of Tamil Nadu ahead of the storm’s landfall, a state minister said on Wednesday.
The Meteorological Department said Nivar’s intensity had dropped to 85 to 95 kph (53 to 59 mph) and is expected to weaken further.

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated

Municipal workers remove fallen tree branches from a road during rains before Cyclone Nivar's landfall

Cyclone Nivar slams into southern India causing five deaths

A car with slogans scrawled on its sides crashed into the gate of the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Wednesday, a Reuters witness said.&nbsp; Reuters pictures from the scene showed police inspecting the estate car at the gate with the words “Stop Globalisation Politics” written in white on its right side and “You damn killers of children and old people” on the other.&nbsp;
There were no immediate reports of casualties and it was not clear if Merkel was inside the building. Dozens of police and a fire engine attended the incident. The driver, who appeared to be in late middle age, was taken away in a wheelchair.&nbsp; -We are establishing if the driver deliberately drove against (the gate)- Berlin police said on Twitter. -He has been taken into custody.-&nbsp;
A firefighter subsequently moved the car, which had a license plate from the northwestern county of Lippe, away from the gate. Both fence and car appeared largely undamaged.
 Merkel was scheduled host a video conference of German state premiers on Wednesday, at which an extension to the coronavirus lockdown and further steps to combat the pandemic were due to be discussed.&nbsp;Europe is on high alert after suspected Islamist militants killed eight people in Paris, Nice and Vienna in recent weeks. On Tuesday, Swiss police have identified a Swiss woman who knifed a victim in the neck and grabbed another by the throat in a Lugano department store as a known jihadist.
Four years ago, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, hijacked a truck then drove it into a crowded Berlin Christmas market, killing 11 more people and injuring dozens of others.&nbsp;The chancellery office, a white post-modernist structure set across a square from the Reichstag building that houses Germany’s parliament, is well set back from any main roads.

Europe is on high alert

A car crash into the gate of the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin

Car crashes into gate of Merkel's office

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that his AK Party government will carry out reforms of the justice system together with its nationalist allies.

-We are accelerating implementing judicial reforms- Erdogan said in a speech to AK Party members in parliament. -We will bring other reforms in packages to the parliament...(and) finalise the human rights action plan.-&nbsp; 
He also praised the AKP’s parliamentary alliance with the nationalist MHP, a day after MHP leader Devlet Bahceli dismissed media speculation about rifts with the AKP over the recent government talk of reforms.

"We are accelerating implementing judicial reforms"

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan takes part in a video conference during the G20 Leaders' Summit 2020 hosted by Saudi Arabia, in Istanbul, Turkey

Erdogan says government will implement reform with nationalist allies

About 100 pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins have died in a mass stranding on the remote Chatham Islands, about 800 km (497 miles) off New Zealand’s east coast, officials said on Wednesday.

Most of them were stranded during the weekend but rescue efforts have been hampered by the remote location of the island.New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) said in total 97 pilot whales and three dolphins died in the stranding, adding that they were notified of the incident on Sunday.
-Only 26 of the whales were still alive at this point, the majority of them appearing very weak, and were euthanised due to the rough sea conditions and almost certainty of there being great white sharks in the water which are brought in by a stranding like this- said DOC Biodiversity Ranger Jemma Welch.&nbsp;Mass strandings are reasonably common on the Chatham Islands with up to 1,000 animals dying in a single stranding in 1918.
 Mass whale strandings have occurred throughout recorded modern history, and why it happens is a question that has puzzled marine biologists for years.&nbsp;In late September, several hundred whales died in shallow waters off the Australian coast in one of the world’s biggest mass whale strandings.

Most of them were stranded during the weekend but rescue efforts have been hampered by the remote location of the island

Whales are seen stranded on the beach in Chatham Islands, New Zealand

Nearly 100 whales die after mass stranding in New Zealand

Bulgaria said on Wednesday it would close schools, restaurants, shopping malls and gyms until Dec. 21 as it struggles to contain a surge in new coronavirus infections.&nbsp; The restrictions, which will start late on Friday, are aimed at preventing a strained health system from being overwhelmed and at halting the spread of infections in the Balkan country of 7 million people.&nbsp;
-Only one thing has been proven to have an impact on COVID-19 - decreasing social contacts or quarantine. To ease the pressure on hospitals that are on the brink, we are introducing measures for three weeks- Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said.&nbsp;Like much of central and eastern Europe, Bulgaria weathered the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic relatively well in the spring, but cases have spiked across the region this autumn.
 Bulgaria registered 4,382 new infections on Wednesday, bringing the total number to 129,348.&nbsp;
Some 6,365 people are in hospitals and about 400 of them are in intensive care. Hospitals are strained, with many short-staffed due to rising infections among medical staff. Bulgaria’s COVID-19 fatalities per 100,000 people have been the third highest in the European Union over the past 14 days, after Belgium and the Czech Republic, data showed. In total, 3,226 people in Bulgaria have died from COVID-19 this year.&nbsp;
CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS
-The restrictions are needed to limit the spread of the infection, decrease the number of fatalities and allow each Bulgarian family to celebrate Christmas- chief health inspector Angel Kunchev told reporters.
Several hundred Bulgarians protested on Wednesday against the new measures and demanded the resignation of the government, accusing it of failing to reform the health and education system amid widespread corruption.

Under the lockdown, schools and universities will switch to online studies, while kindergartens will be closed. Private gatherings will be limited to 15 people, and all restaurants, bars, cafes and night clubs will shut. Tourist trips at home and abroad will be banned.&nbsp;
After protests from businesses, the government decided to allow smaller shops to remain open and sports events to go ahead without spectators. Theatres will stay open at 30% of capacity.
 Labour Minister Denitsa Sacheva said the government would initially extend 50 million levs ($30.5 million) in financial support to workers in businesses forced to shut and that overall compensation would reach up to 400 million levs.&nbsp;($1 = 1.6410 leva)

The restrictions will start late on Friday

Medical personnel from Sofia's biggest emergency hospital Pirogov

Bulgaria imposes lockdown as COVID-19 cases surge

In a downbeat assessment of progress in post-Brexit trade talks, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen warned Wednesday that any deal must not undermine the EU single market.
 -We will do all in our power to reach an agreement, we're ready to be creative- she told the European Parliament, warning that Britain must agree to fair trade rules.&nbsp;&nbsp;
-But we are not ready to put into question the integrity of the single market, the main safeguard for European prosperity and wealth- the president of the European Commission said.&nbsp;She repeated Brussels' warning that Britain will not enjoy the benefits of EU membership from the outside: "There will be a clear difference between being a full member of the Union, and being just a valued partner."
Von der Leyen acknowledged MEPs frustration that time is running out for them to be able to debate and ratify any trade deal before Britain leaves the single market on January 1.
 But she warned that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's tactics had shown the need for clear rules to be agreed.&nbsp; -We want to know what remedies are available in case one side will deviate in the future because trust is good, but law is better- she said.&nbsp; -Crucially, in the light of recent experience, a strong governance system is essential to ensure that what has been agreed is actually agreed.-&nbsp;
London has been resisting signing up to the EU's vision of a post-Brexit "level playing field", with trade penalties if either side diverges from agreed standards.
 Johnson has also introduced a draft law to govern the UK internal market that his own government admits would breach promises made in Britain's EU withdrawal treaty.&nbsp;This has undermined trust in Brussels, and talks have now blown past several unofficial deadlines, leaving only a narrow window for agreement before the end of the year.&nbsp;
Next days decisive&nbsp;&nbsp;If a deal cannot be signed and ratified by December 31, cross-Channel trade will face a tariff barrier and businesses on both sides -- but especially, experts agree, in Britain -- will suffer.
 Von der Leyen paid tribute to her chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who on Thursday is due to come out of isolation imposed after a member of his team contracted the coronavirus.&nbsp;
He is then due to return to London to resume face-to-face negotiations with his British opposite number, David Frost. Talks have been continuing by video link.
&nbsp;The main areas of disagreement remain on fishing rights, the level-playing field and the powers of the overall governance mechanism of the eventual accord.&nbsp;
Here, Von der Leyen re-stated the long-standing EU position -- but in sterner than usual terms -- reflecting the mounting concern among her parliamentary audience that time has run out.
 -No one questions the UK's sovereignty in its own waters. But we ask for predictability and guarantees for fishermen and fisherwomen, who have been sailing in these waters for decades, if not centuries- she said.&nbsp;&nbsp;
-Honourable members, as I said, the next days are going to be decisive. The European Union is well prepared for a no deal scenario. But of course we prefer to have an agreement.-

Ursula von der Leyen: We will do all in our power to reach an agreement, we're ready to be creative

EU chief warns Brexit deal must not hurt single market

Cases of novel coronavirus have been found in mink farms in Poland for the first time, scientists said on Tuesday, following an outbreak in Denmark that led to a mass cull.
Scientists at Gdansk Medical University said they had carried out tests for the SARS-CoV-2 virus on 91 mink from a farm in northwest Poland and eight of them had turned out positive.
-This is the first case of confirmed infection of farm animals with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Poland.- the university said in a statement.
-The obtained results indicate the possibility of transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from humans to mink,- it said, calling for mink farms to raise their biosecurity standards.
Poland is the world's third largest fur producer after China and Denmark, according to animal rights groups which are campaigning for an end to breeding animals like mink for fur.
The Danish government earlier this month announced a nationwide cull of its 15 to 17 million minks, saying they could carry a mutated variant of the virus that could render any future vaccine for humans less effective

This is the first case of confirmed infection of farm animals

Coronavirus cases detected in farmed mink in Poland

French police on Tuesday faced accusations of a "scandalous" use of excessive force after they fired tear gas to disperse a camp pitched by homeless migrants in Paris.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin acknowledged that images showing the clearance late on Monday were "shocking" and asked the city's police chief to submit a report.
The government is already facing a storm of criticism over a new security law that opponents say will erode the accountability of the police.
Officers used tear gas to dismantle the Paris camp, which was set up to protest against earlier forced evacuations of hundreds of migrants from other camps.
Volunteers had helped set up about 500 blue tents at Republic Square that were quickly filled by migrants, the majority from Afghanistan.
Police arrived shortly afterwards to remove the tents, sometimes with people still inside, in the face of protests from migrants and jeers from activists.
Lamentable show"They are too violent," said Shahbuddin, a 34-year-old Afghan, crying after being evicted. "We just want a roof."
Police later used tear gas and rough tactics, with videos posted on social media showing one officer tripping a man as he ran, and another officer slamming into a man who tried to intervene.
The controversy comes a week after migrants were evacuated from makeshift shelters in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis, including some who were provided with alternative shelter.
"The state has made a lamentable show," Ian Brossat, a Paris deputy mayor in charge of housing, told AFP.
CFDT trade union chief Laurent Berger told France 2 TV that the actions of the police were "scandalous and astounding".
"People occupy a square peacefully with tents, simply because they have a housing problem, they are not harming anyone. And there is this intervention which is totally disproportionate," he said.
Darmanin said he had asked for a report from Paris police chief Didier Lallement by midday and would take decisions based on its findings.
"Some images of the dispersal of the illegal migrant camp on Republic Square are shocking," he wrote on Twitter.

'Didn't vote for this'&nbsp;Paris is a key stop-off point on the European migrant route with thousands passing through, often heading to England. 
Encampments repeatedly sprout up around the city only to be torn down by the police.
The latest camp removal came as the government is pushing a security law through parliament that would restrict the publication of photos or videos of police officers' faces -- the lower house is due to vote on it later on Tuesday.
Media unions say it could give police a green light to prevent journalists from doing their work and potentially documenting abuses.
President Emmanuel Macron swept to power in 2017 as a centrist who rallied support from across the political spectrum. But critics and even some supporters accuse him of tilting to the right as he seeks re-election in 2022.
A group of public figures who voted for him in 2017 wrote an open letter this week calling for the legislation to be withdrawn.
The law would "reduce the freedoms of information, opinion, belief, education, association, demonstration and protest," said the signatories, who included filmmaker Costa-Gavras and ex-footballer Lilian Thuram.
"Mr President, we did not vote for this."

Paris is a key stop-off point on the European migrant route

Anger in France over 'scandalous' dispersal of Paris migrants

Stocks, oil and risk currencies gained on Tuesday as the formal go-ahead for U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to begin his transition burnished a November already boosted by COVID-19 vaccines.&nbsp;European markets tracked gains in Asian and U.S. equities, with the broad-based STOXX 600 index opening 0.8% higher and Brent crude climbing to its highest level since March at $46.38 a barrel. Safe haven assets such as gold fell.
After weeks of legal challenges to the election results, U.S. General Services Administration chief Emily Murphy wrote to Biden on Monday informing him the formal hand-over process could begin.
President Donald Trump tweeted that he had told his team “do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols”, an indication he was moving toward a transition.
“Markets have been constrained by very high levels of uncertainty on the U.S. political front and around vaccines for weeks, so with those two going away investors are considering the prospect of a return to normality in 2021,” said Emmanuel Cau, head of European equity strategy at Barclays.
Reports that Biden plans to nominate former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to become the next Treasury Secretary further boosted U.S. stocks on expectations she would pursue more conventional policies than the outgoing Steven Mnuchin.
Futures for the S&amp;P 500 rose 1.2% in early European trading hours and putting the 49-country MSCI world stocks index on course to set a new record high later.&nbsp;Japan’s Nikkei jumped 2.5% to its highest level since May 1991 overnight, with energy, real estate and financial shares leading the advance.
Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan had ticked up 0.4%. Australia’s S&amp;P/ASX 200 was 1.26% stronger, touching its highest level in almost nine months, with energy stocks leading the pack there.
Seoul’s Kospi was 0.6% higher as was Hong Kong’s Hang Seng which rose 0.4%. China blue-chips were an outlier however, edging down 0.6%, as investors booked profits following recent strong gains.

Some analysts say a Biden presidency, which could mean more negotiation room for Washington and Beijing, would not make a big difference for China’s equities market, as they expected little change in broad U.S. policy toward China.The progress made on COVID-19 vaccines, which had underpinned Wall Street overnight, helped keep risk appetite elevated as it boosted optimism about a quicker revival for the global economy.
AstraZeneca and Oxford University had said on Monday that their COVID-19 vaccine, which is cheaper to make, easier to distribute and faster to scale-up than its rivals, could be as much as 90% effective.
RISK ON
The New Zealand dollar was among the currency gainers, rising as much as 0.9% to a two-year high of $0.6985 as its central bank said house prices, which have been storming higher this year, could be included in its inflation basket.
The euro was gaining towards $1.19 again and the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, nudged down to 92.235.
Also spurred on by the vaccine hopes, oil reached levels not seen since before the coronavirus began to spread rapidly in March and decimated demand.&nbsp;Brent crude futures rose 45 cents, or 1%, to $46.51 a barrel to add to a more than 20% surge this month, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude added 46 cents, or 1.1%, to $43.52.
“Progress on developing and distributing a vaccine de-risks the path back to normal for oil markets,” said Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at financial services firm Axi.
In the bond markets, the yield on the benchmark 10-year notes rose slightly to 0.87% as did those on most European government bonds. Germany’s 10-year yield was up 1 basis point to -0.57% in early trade.
Gold continued to lose its shine too, falling to $1,826.3 an ounce having now dropped 10% this month.

European markets tracked gains in Asian and U.S. equities

People walk past the London Stock Exchange Group offices in the City of London, Britain

Stocks and oil ride high on Biden transition and vaccine hopes

German business morale fell for the second month in a row in November, suggesting that Europe’s largest economy will shrink in the fourth quarter due to curbs to slow a second wave of coronavirus infections, the Ifo institute said on Tuesday.
Ifo’s business climate index fell to 90.7 from a downwardly revised 92.5 in October. The two monthly drops in a row followed five months of rises.
“Business uncertainty has risen. The second wave of the coronavirus has interrupted Germany’s economic recovery,” Ifo President Clemens Fuest said.The drop was mainly driven by companies’ considerably more pessimistic expectations for the next six months, but their view on the current situation was also somewhat worse.
The survey suggests that the economy is likely to shrink in the final quarter, Ifo economist Klaus Wohlrabe told Reuters.
Restaurants, bars, hotels and entertainment venues have been closed since Nov. 2, but shops and schools remain open. Chancellor Angela Merkel and state premiers are expected to extend the curbs until Dec. 20 during a meeting on Wednesday.&nbsp;A contraction in the service sector is likely to weigh heavily on gross domestic product in the fourth quarter, while lockdown measures in other countries could hit export-oriented manufacturers as well.
Germany’s gross domestic product grew by a record 8.5% in the third quarter as Europe’s largest economy partly recovered from an unprecedented plunge of 9.8% caused by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring.
The Ifo figures chimed with a survey of purchasing managers released on Monday that showed private sector growth slowed in November as service sector activity contracted faster following the new curbs.&nbsp;

Clemens Fuest: The second wave of the coronavirus has interrupted Germany’s economic recovery

Ifo institute expects German economy to shrink in fourth quarter

At a US Air Force base in Ohio 25 years ago, the European continent’s most devastating war since 1945 came to an end with the Dayton Agreement. After three and a half years, the war in Bosnia had taken more than 100,000 lives, wrought immense destruction, and displaced millions from their homes. “It may not be a just peace, but it is more just than a continuation of war,” the Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegović observed. “In the situation as it is, and in the world as it is, a better peace could not have been achieved.”Too true. Together with the American and Russian negotiators, Richard Holbrooke and Igor Ivanov, I experienced the ups and downs of those 21 days in Dayton firsthand as the European Union’s co-chair of the peace talks. I then spent the next few years in Sarajevo, trying to guide the implementation of the agreement’s first steps. I learned that it is far easier to start a war than to build a peace. The Bosnian conflict had been a perfect illustration of this fundamental historic truth. When Yugoslavia started to fall apart in 1991, few people suspected that we were heading for a decade of bloody conflicts from Slovenia (briefly) in the North to Macedonia in the South.As for the Dayton Agreement, it was really a compilation of multiple peace plans that different constellations of international actors had tried to implement in prior years. The reason we succeeded in November 1995 was that all the key international actors – the EU, the United States, and Russia – were finally on the same page. Previously, there had always been a temptation for one player or another to prolong the conflict in the hope of forcing a better deal.After a war, one makes peace with one’s enemies. But any peace not built on total capitulation by one of the parties necessarily rests on compromise, and a lasting compromise is possible only if it meets the minimum demands of all parties without bending to the maximum demands of any party in particular. That is why the enthusiasm following such agreements tends to be muted.&nbsp;When the guns fell silent in Bosnia, the monumental task of rebuilding a war-torn country began. Within the territory were three armies, three currencies, and three semi-states – two of which had already entered into a shotgun marriage. Over the course of the ensuing decades, Bosnia has been (physically) rebuilt with EU funding, such that in bustling Sarajevo, one now must search to find the scars of war.

That’s the part of the story with a happy ending. But the story of political reconstruction and reconciliation is more complicated. This process has been painfully slow, because for too long, too many Bosnian leaders saw peace as the continuation of war by other means. Despite massive and intrusive international efforts, the forces of disintegration have continued to make themselves felt throughout the region.&nbsp;The new Bosnian constitution that came out of the Dayton talks reflected what was possible at the time, which is to say it was more “old Yugoslavia” than “new Europe.” It set a floor upon which to build cooperation – with provisions to deepen integration and to amend the constitution itself – but it didn’t set a ceiling for what could be achieved. The task of building the future was left to Bosnians themselves.

The fact that Bosnian leaders have not made better use of the possibilities that were on offer is a lasting tragedy of that era. Since 2003, the EU has made clear that its doors are open to all of the Balkan countries, provided that they can take the steps necessary to qualify for membership. But with the exception of Kosovo, Bosnia today is last in line among its Balkan neighbors for EU accession.

To be sure, one can question whether the EU has been proactive enough in its approach to the region. Though European leaders recognize that the pull of EU integration is the only force capable of countering the forces of regional disintegration, the fact is that the Balkans have slipped down Europe’s list of priorities.&nbsp;Nonetheless, the EU has kept a small military force in Bosnia these past 25 years. With a robust mandate from the United Nations Security Council, this presence sends a strong signal that war will never again be tolerated in the region. Moreover, there is an equally strong international commitment to respecting the sovereignty and integrity of Bosnia and all other Balkan countries. The era of redrawing maps is over, and the task of reforming Bosnia will continue to rest with Bosnians themselves.

There are encouraging signs that a new generation is ready to consign the war to history and start seeing peace for what it really is: an opportunity to forge a new future together. In his address to the UN General Assembly this year, Šefik Džaferović, the current Head of State for Bosnia and Herzegovina, made clear that:&nbsp;- There is a general consensus in Bosnia and Herzegovina about the irreplaceable significance of preserving peace, and thus, the Peace Accord on which it is based. This gives hope that in the future, the society of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be increasingly more preoccupied with issues of development, as it enters a new phase of its historic road. -&nbsp;I and many others share that hope. There are many lessons to draw from Bosnia’s long saga. We must continue to reflect on the failure to prevent the war, the transatlantic divisions that prolonged it, the importance of inclusive institutions, and the need to counter disintegration with integration.

But the two most important lessons are these: it is far easier to start a war than it is to stop one, and silencing the guns is merely the first step toward lasting peace.

Australian-British lecturer freed in Iran prisoner swap

Cyclone Nivar slams into southern India causing five deaths

Car crashes into gate of Merkel's office

Erdogan says government will implement reform with nationalist allies

Nearly 100 whales die after mass stranding in New Zealand

Bulgaria imposes lockdown as COVID-19 cases surge

EU chief warns Brexit deal must not hurt single market

Coronavirus cases detected in farmed mink in Poland

Anger in France over 'scandalous' dispersal of Paris migrants

Stocks and oil ride high on Biden transition and vaccine hopes

Ifo institute expects German economy to shrink in fourth quarter

War and Peace in Bosnia

World

Australian-British lecturer freed in Iran prisoner swap

Cyclone Nivar slams into southern India causing five deaths

Car crashes into gate of Merkel's office

Erdogan says government will implement reform with nationalist allies

Nearly 100 whales die after mass stranding in New Zealand

Bulgaria imposes lockdown as COVID-19 cases surge

EU chief warns Brexit deal must not hurt single market

Coronavirus cases detected in farmed mink in Poland

Anger in France over 'scandalous' dispersal of Paris migrants

Stocks and oil ride high on Biden transition and vaccine hopes

Ifo institute expects German economy to shrink in fourth quarter

War and Peace in Bosnia