The newly crowned hokey cokey nation, Bosnia & Herzegovina, have ducked out in 2017. We'll probably see them next year.
They're back in 2016 with a deeply unimaginative supergroup trawl through ethno stereotype with an even more deeply unwelcome rap addage. They are catchily named Dala & Deen feat. Ana Rucner and Jala. It's called "LjubavJe" and it's here
Maya Sar would like to be a major star. "I know your moves" is a clear departure from recent quality fun from the BiH, this being a ballard with a capital ball(s). You may recognise here as the "Sito" girl from last year, so this is an inevitable disappointment.
My personal favourite for the year comes via the Balkans in 2011. Old timer Dino Merlin will be swinging his geetaar to "Love in Rewind". I expect loud "sito's" from you all. Read about it here
The normally dependable Bosnians have put forward a light rock weather related stinker by Vukašin Brajic called "Thunder and Lightning". Listen to the "crazieess" shouted out here

"Bosnia and Herzegovina has long been the crossroads of many civilizations and cultures. It is these centuries of culturally diversity that has melted BiH into one of the most fascinating, interesting, and beautiful countries in Europe."
 
Sarajevo
For hundreds of years, Sarajevo had been a place where Muslims, Serbs, Croats, Turks, Jews and others could peacefully coexist, but this tradition of tolerance was pounded into rubble by Serbian artillery during the recent war, leaving over 10,000 people dead and 50,000 wounded.
Before the war, Sarajevo was the most Oriental city in Europe, retaining the essence of its rich history with its mosques, markets and old Turkish bazaar. The city's riverfront remained largely unchanged since that fateful day in 1914 when Archduke Francis Ferdinand lost his life here.

"This is one country where neither the good Lord nor Mother Nature cut corners with beautiful scenery. So many unique and fascinating sites - unique and fascinating in geographic, geological, biological, cultural, historical and environmental terms."

A beer-mad Bosnian who has drunk more than 15 pints a day for almost 50 years has been offered a lucrative contract promoting his favourite drink.
Marijan Camber, 61, from Sutina, was made an offer he couldn't refuse after a local paper pictured him drinking his 400,000th bottle.
He said: "Negotiations are still ongoing, and I am not allowed to name the firm, but I think we are close to signing a deal. I am the world's biggest beer fan so I'm happy to be its ambassador."
Friends confirmed that Camber drinks at least 30 bottles containing a third of a litre a day, and say the beer seems to have no affect on him.
Camber said: "I once drank 80 bottles in one day to see how far I could go, and I still didn't feel drunk."
"There are always at least 20 different beers in my fridge. My favourites are from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia."
He reckons beer is as good as it gets: "Sex is a fleeting pleasure that is not always that great and not always available, but the pleasure from beer is always good - and you can have it as often as you want."
 
With a population split almost equally three ways between Serbs, Croats and Muslims, Bosnia was always likely to be the centrepiece of the struggle for influence in former Yugoslavia between the two most powerful republics – Serbia and Croatia. In the initial stages, the Serbs were dominant, with their military forces taking control of two thirds of the territory, as part of a wider plan to establish a ‘Greater Serbia’. This essentially racial project started to go wrong when the United Nations imposed sanctions on Serbia, as evidence mounted of atrocities inflicted upon the civilian population. In the summer of 1995, NATO forces intervened, allowing the Croat and Muslim armies, discreetly armed and trained by Germany and the USA, to retake much of the Serb-occupied territory in Bosnia. Robust American diplomacy then produced a deal under which Bosnia was split almost equally between Serbs and a Muslim-Croat federation. This brought the war to an end, at an estimated cost of 200,000 lives. 
Unfortunately, the war has created both a suspicion of change and widespread political apathy in both parts of the country.The country faces economic stagnation and an isolated international position. Tens of thousands are still displaced and living in temporary shelter; many others are reluctant to return from exile.

Police in Bosnia say they have caught a prolific burglar who they dubbed The Masturbator. The man had allegedly broken into scores of offices to spend hours on telephone sex lines. Police in the town of Banja Luka arrested a 32-year-old man after a two week investigation, local media reported. A police spokesman said: "In one case there was a bill showing that a burglar went in there and spent nine hours on the phone to one sex line." Local media reported that the man broke into the offices to call sex lines after recently splitting up with his girlfriend.

A news website in Bosnia is running a competition to find the best car crash photograph. Residents in Mostar are being urged to keep cameras in their cars and take pictures of every crash they see. The person who sends in the picture of the 'best' accident will win a car. Apparently the idea for the competition came after reports of unusual crashes in the city, including one where a car hit the front of a coffee-shop. No one was injured in the accident.

Bosnia Herzegovina - a land of contrasts. Preston on one side, Perugia on the other.

Emir Kusturica Film Maker

Ivo Andric Writer and Poet

  
 

Internet users     9.1 per 10,000 people
Airports                    27
Radios                 248 per 1,000 people
Life expectancy 69.3 men 74.93 women
Railway network    634 miles 
Death penalty abolished for ordinary crimes in 1997 laws provide for the death penalty for exceptional crimes only