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The European Union is to ban olive oil jugs and dipping bowls from restaurant tables in a move described by one of Britain’s top cooks as authoritarian and damaging to artisan food makers. The small glass jugs filled with green- or gold-colored extra virgin olive oil are familiar and traditional for restaurant goers across Europe, but they will be banned from 1 January 2014 after a decision taken in an obscure Brussels committee earlier this week. From next year, olive oil “presented at a restaurant table” must be in prepackaged factory bottles with a tamper-proof dispensing nozzle and labeling in...

BELGRADE – Serbian army, after more than two decades, will receive new fighter aircraft. Although the type of the aircraft that will strengthen the Serbian air force has not yet been officially announced, it has been speculated for some time about Russian aircraft “Mig 292M”. Photo from: www.novosti.rssia Specific announcement that Serbia is buying new planes was made on Sunday by The First Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who visited the 250th air defence missile brigade. “I have good news for Army of Serbia”, said Minister Vucic in the “Major Dragutin Gavrilovic” base in the village Zuce...

Amid growing calls from Tory MPs for David Cameron to respond to the Ukip threat by bringing forward legislation on an EU referendum, Farage warned that his party would not go away even if No 10 "starts singing the same song". William Hague, who famously suffered a major defeat in the 2001 election after tacking to the right, called for a cautious response to Ukip as he warned of the dangers of "quick fixes". Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, said many Ukip voters were "frustrated Conservatives". As the Tories work out their response to Ukip, which won nearly a quarter...

Serbia’s president apologized Thursday for the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, but declined to characterize the killings as an act of genocide. “I kneel and ask for forgiveness,” President Tomislav Nikolić told Bosnian TV. “I apologize for the crimes committed by any person in the name of Serbia.” Nikolić came under fire last year short after he was elected by declaring, according to published reports, there was no “genocide” in Srebrenica. …

(AFP) Serbia's nationalist President Tomislav Nikolic on Thursday personally apologised for the first time for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims, but stopped short of calling it genocide.

A website prominently used by Russia’s North Caucasus rebels on Sunday denied any connection to the Boston Marathon bombings that have been blamed on two ethnic-Chechen suspects. “The command of the Vilayat Dagestan mujaheddin… declares that the Caucasus fighters are not waging any military activities against the United States of America. We are only fighting Russia,” the Kavkacenter.com website said in an official statement. The main suspects in the Boston bombings were Tsarnaev brothers, and police is still investigation any possible connections with known rebel and terrorist groups. Police and FBI are still conducting an investigation if the brothers acted...

Aleksandra's Note: One of the best publications ever issued about the Kosovo legacy is KOSOVO by William Dorich, published in 1992. If you can find the book, get it. Dorich's beautiful tribute includes an essay by Thomas Emmert which should be a must-read for anyone searching to understand what the legacy of Kosovo is all about. It should also be a must-read for Serbs who need to be reminded about this legacy and why it is essential to preserve and protect their sacred KOSOVO. Sincerely, Aleksandra Rebic ***** "THE KOSOVO LEGACY" By Thomas Emmert On 28 June, 1389 an alliance...

A shooting rampage early yesterday morning in a Serbian village near Belgrade has left 13 people dead, including six women and a child, The Guardian and other media outlets are reporting. “Although such random shootings are rare in Serbia, weapons are readily available mostly from the war in the Balkans in the 1990s and there is a tradition of possessing firearms,” the report continues. “Initial reports said the alleged killer had a license for the handgun he used in the shootings.” That ready availability is in spite of laws that GunPolicy.org, a website established and maintained by committed global “gun...

A shooting rampage early yesterday morning in a Serbian village near Belgrade has left 13 people dead, including six women and a child, The Guardian and other media outlets are reporting. “Although such random shootings are rare in Serbia, weapons are readily available mostly from the war in the Balkans in the 1990s and there is a tradition of possessing firearms,” the report continues. “Initial reports said the alleged killer had a license for the handgun he used in the shootings.” That ready availability is in spite of laws that GunPolicy.org, a website established and maintained by committed global “gun...

(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. State Department, through the Agency for International Development (USAID), has announced that it will award up to $300,000 for “workforce development” in Serbia. The Republic of Serbia is in southeastern Europe, north of Greece and surrounded by Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Macedonia. It has a population of 7.26 million. “Currently, there is a mismatch between private sector needs and the capacity of the existing workforce, which continues to contribute to the high unemployment rate, especially among youth,” said USAID in a March 29 announcement. “Therefore, USAID/Serbia has identified workforce development as a means to address...

Thirteen people have been killed in Serbia after a man went on a gun rampage in a village near Belgrade, local media report. Six men, six women and a two-year-old boy died before the gunman tried to kill himself and his wife. The pair are now said to be in a serious condition. Police identified the gunman as Ljubisa Bogdanovic, a 60-year-old war veteran.

"...Outside my windows, the dark-browed Serbian peasants, the men in somber black, the women in their bright embroidered clothes, passed unhurriedly but more silently, more grimly than usual to the early Sunday market. I watched them thoughtfully as I began to pour my tea and turned the short-wave radio knob... ...I heard no sound but the jingling of milk carts in the streets and the shuffling of peasant feet. But it was coming, this raucously heralded doom. ...Bomb after bomb exploded all round us, some not more than twenty yards away. The effect was almost inconceivable. It wasn’t the noise...

BELGRADE -- Today marks the 14th anniversary since the start of the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia, i.e. the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SRJ.A heating plant in New Belgrade is seen after being hit by NATO missiles (Tanjug, file) The bombing lasted 79 days and resulted in at least 2,500 deaths and more than 12,500 injuries. The attacks on Serbia started on March 24, 1999, and the last one took place near Kosovska Kamenica on June 10 at 13:15 CET. The death toll among the military and police forces reached 1,008, including 659 soldiers and 349 policemen. Around 6,000...

[This is a companion piece to an essay I posted earlier in the week in regard to the tenth anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq: #22 The Quiet Funeral of Bush Lied - Thousands Died! Bill Clinton's war with Serbia over Kosovo in 1998 starkly illustrates the double standards of contemporary American liberals. It is written in the first person to liberals, but also for conservatives.]     Liberals believe that former President Bush lied to the American people to get support for invading Iraq (this erroneous belief will be completely debunked in #22 The Quiet Funeral of “Bush Lied – Thousands Died!”)....

Aleksandra's Note: This increasingly timely analysis by historian Carl Savich was written in 2002, over a decade ago. At that time, it was being said that Gavrilo Princip "was all but forgotten." Now, as we near the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One, Gavrilo Princip will be anything but forgotten, as his name will once again become prominent as we mark a huge historical milestone. He was and remains permanently "infamous" for a single act on a single day in a single moment in time. The question of who he was will not be the controversial issue....

Controversy has erupted over next Tuesday's European Parliament resolution "on eliminating gender stereotypes in the EU", meant to mark international women's day, after libertarian Swedish MEPs from the Pirate Party spotted the call for a ban in the small print. While not legally binding, the vote could be the first step towards European legislation as the EU's assembly increasingly flexes its political muscle within Europe's institutions.

The former gravesite of King Peter II in St. Sava Monastery before his remains were exhumed and transferred to Serbia. This was his gravesite for 42 years, from the time he died in November of 1970 to January of 2013. Photo by Aleksandra Rebic, February 25, 2012.The former gravesite of King Peter II in St. Sava Monastery in Libertyville, IL U.S.A. after his remains were exhumed, January 17, 2013. Photo courtesy of Vera Dragisich.Aleksandra's Note: It's been almost a month since the remains of the only European king buried on American soil, HM King Peter II Karageorgevich, were exhumed at...

More of the poisonous fruit of Clinton's war against the Christians in Serbia: Albanians Find a Church They Forgot to Destroy — in Serbia Proper; Erect Monument to Terrorists in Presevo and Threaten War if Serbia Removes it; Keep Serbs out of Church on Orthodox Christmas Posted by Julia Gorin ..............Snip............. Albanians last night completely destroyed the monastery “Assumption of the Virgin” in southern Serbia…Mother Paraskeva (62 years old)…[said] “…Albanians from Kosovo were organized with the intention of coming to destroy the Serbian monasteries in this area…Last year on Good Friday they attacked me…’ The Monastery of the Assumption of...

Belgrade: Albanians last night completely destroyed the monastery “Assumption of the Virgin” in southern Serbia. Monastery of the Assumption of Virgin” which is located in the vicinity of Vladicin Han was vandalized last night. The door was smashed, and the entire interior were broken. The money from the candle sales and other item inside the monastery is stolen, and all the icons were smashed. Mother Paraskeva (62 years old) confirmed this information. She was very upset fear for her safety. “I’m afraid they will come back, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m here alone and old, but let them come,...

Hotel owners around the pyramid-shaped Mount Rtanj, in the east of the Balkan country, say that bookings are flooding in, with believers in the prophecy hoping that its purported mysterious powers will save them from the apocalypse. Adherents of the end-of-the-world scenario think the 5,100ft-high mountain, part of the Carpathian range, conceals a pyramidal building inside, left behind by alien visitors thousands of years ago. Arthur C Clarke, the British science fiction writer, reportedly identified the peak as a place of "special energy" and called it "the navel of the world". Doomsday cultists believe that it emits special energy that...

Some of us might find the idea of donkey milk cheese hard to stomach at any price. However, aficionados of the rare delicacy are apparently prepared to pay up to £400 a pound for it. And from next year, even that will not be enough to secure a supply, after tennis star Novak Djokovic bought up the entire 2013 output of the Serbian farm which produces it. The cheese, known as pule, will be one of the key attractions at a chain of restaurants the Wimbledon champion and world number one is opening in his Serbian homeland. By agreeing to...

BRUSSELS — Serbia's ambassador to NATO was chatting and joking with colleagues in a parking garage at Brussels Airport when he suddenly strolled to a barrier, climbed over and flung himself to the ground below, a diplomat said. By the time his shocked colleagues reached him, Branislav Milinkovic was dead. His motives are a mystery. Three diplomats who knew Milinkovic said he did not appear distraught in the hours leading up to his death Tuesday night. He seemed to be going about his regular business, picking up an arriving delegation of six Serbian officials who were due to hold talks...

Serbians reacted angrily at the acquittal of a former Kosovo guerrilla leader by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), less than two weeks after the court freed two Croatian military commanders who were accused of war crimes, EurActiv Serbia reports. The acquittal of ex-Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leader Ramush Haradinaj was met by fierce criticism of The Hague tribunalÂ’s work. Serbian officials said the decision was a blow to international justice and made the process of reconciliation in the region more complicated. Â… Belgrade considers that the tribunal has lost credibility and has shown bias in acquitting...

Get your garlic, crosses and stakes ready: a bloodsucking vampire is on the loose. Or so say villagers in the tiny western Serbian hamlet of Zarozje, nestled between lush green mountain slopes and spooky thick forests. They say that rumors that a legendary vampire ghost has awakened are spreading fear — and a potential tourist opportunity — through the remote village. A local council warned villagers to put garlic in their pockets and place wooden crosses in their rooms to ward off vampires, although it appeared designed more to attract visitors to the impoverished region bordering Bosnia. Many of the...

The appeals chamber at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Friday overturned guilty verdicts against Gotovina and fellow Croat general Mladen Markac in what is being called the most significant reversals in the court’s history. The two had been sentenced in 2011 to 24 and 18 years behind bars respectively for crimes against humanity and war crimes relating to a 1995 attack on Serbian civilians. The pair’s original conviction hinged on the tribunal’s acceptance of the existence of a plan led by the late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman to expel Serbs from Croatia. Three out of five...

The so-called EULEX mission, with a staff of roughly 2,500, has cost more than €1 billion since 2008. Nevertheless, the European Court of Auditors finds that levels of organized crime and corruption remain high, while the judiciary is inefficient and suffers from too much political influence. I compare the development of a police force in Kosovo with that of the Obilic power plant near the capital, Pristina. Since NATO drove the Serbs out of Kosovo in 1999, there have been plans to install a filter at the plant. The plant continues to spew pollution unabated into the air. It's the...

The most striking proof that the Arab anti-Israel cause is a common meeting ground for both Nazis and Communists --and that the Arabs welcomed supporters of both ilks-- lies in the friendship of Carlos, the notorious master terrorist who served the PLO, with Fran*ois Genoud, an old Nazi, one of the leading Nazis in pre-War Switzerland, later a financier who provided funds for Habash's faction of the PLO. "Carlos" (his nom de guerre) was what is called a "red diaper baby." His fabulously rich father, a Venezuelan lawyer and owner of estates, gave "Carlos" the name Ilich, Lenin's patronymic, as...

The Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright involved in a verbal altercation with pro-Serb activistsFormer US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called protesters "disgusting Serbs" when they confronted her at a book signing in Prague. Two videos showing Albright in a verbal altercation with a group of activists contesting her role in the Yugoslav Wars were posted on YouTube. Prague-born Albright was at a bookstore in the Czech capital to sign copies of her memoir 'Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948.' The videos show Albright being approached by members of the group Friends of Serbs...

BELGRADE -- Serbia has already decided not to join the EU, and that brings with it "certain consequences for the economy", claims economist Vladimir Gligorov. Vladimir Gligorov (B92) "This road can be chosen, but it all depends on you strategy. If the goal is to have investments in the industry sector then that can only be done by industrialized nations." "It's one thing to sign a gas contract with Russia, but if you wish to manufacture cars then you need someone who knows how to do that, and those are the countries from western Europe," Gligorov, who teaches at the...

Belgrade (dpa) - If the European Union sets the recognition of Kosovo as a condition for membership, then Serbia "will abandon the European path," President Tomislav Nikolic said in an interview published Tuesday. Nikolic told the Vecernje Novosti daily that Serbia has met the conditions previously set and that new terms would be unacceptable. "We reached a level where we can count on EU membership and now it keeps us at a distance only because of Kosovo," he said. "But it can keep us there the next 100 years and we will not change our position." "If they start adding...

Srebrenica was not genocide and Serbia will not bow to demands for Kosovo recognition, Serbia's leader has said on the eve of a key EU report. The Balkan country's head of state, Tomislav Nikolic, a former confidante of Serbia's notorious war-time leader Slobodan Milosevic, made the remarks in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Tuesday (9 October). "Genocide did not take place in Srebrenica. This is about individual guilt of members of the Serb people ... No Serb recognizes that genocide took place in Srebrenica and I am no different," he said. "In case it is necessary to renounce...

Serbia’s decision to ban this weekend’s gay pride march because of security concerns has prompted criticism from EU officials who warn the the move undermines Serbia’s potential accession to the European Union. Štefan Füle, the enlargement commissioner, said on Thursday (4 October) he was concerned by the Serbian government’s action, which comes ahead of the EU’s progress report on the country due next Wednesday. “I have taken note with regret of the Serbian authorities’ decision,” he said in a statement, noting that Belgrade also called off the annual pride march last year. Past pride marches in Belgrade have been tumultuous...

CRIME & WAR CRIMES | OCTOBER 4, 2012 | 16:44 Radical Islamist leader threatens Serbia SOURCE: BETA BUCHAREST -- Radical Islamist leader Omar Bakri has warned that terrorist attacks would be launched against Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and other countries in the region. The reason for this, the Syria-born extremist told Bulgaria's newspaper 24 Chasa, is that those were "territories that belong to Islam". Bakri further explained: "When Islam enters a territory, it becomes Islamic, therefore Islam is under obligation to eventually liberate it." The Mediafax news agency is also reporting that he listed all "Muslim territories" as follows: "Spain, Bulgaria,...

BUCHAREST -- Radical Islamist leader Omar Bakri has warned that terrorist attacks would be launched against Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and other countries in the region. The reason for this, the Syria-born extremist told Bulgaria's newspaper 24 Chasa, is that those were "territories that belong to Islam". Bakri further explained: "When Islam enters a territory, it becomes Islamic, therefore Islam is under obligation to eventually liberate it." The Mediafax news agency is also reporting that he listed all "Muslim territories" as follows: "Spain, Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia": "Spain, for instance, is a Muslim territory. Eastern Europe as well....

BELGRADE - The Islamic Community of Serbia joined the request of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Movement "Dveri" to ban the photo exhibition "ECCE homo" because, as assessed, is defiling the image of Jesus Christ and insult the Christian believers. "Starting from the premise that Koran believers believe in all of God's messengers and make no distinction between them, Jesus - Jesus, the peace of God with him, God's darling - the anointed, the holy Muslim believers and Christians," the statement said the Islamic Community of Serbia in Belgrade. Riyasat considered role models that believers must not and can...

Latest book by a biographer of Yugoslav communists has found documents which show that Yugoslav communist bandits have tortured Serbia’s WWII General Mihailovich in order to force him to admit guilt.Contrary to the claims by communist “historians”, Serbia’s General Mihailovich was tortured by Yugoslav communist secret service. Mihailovich was tortured for days by Lazic and Bedakovic, two communist security chiefs from Belgrade and Zagreb centers.Lazic and Bedakovic got their training from Stalin’s security capo, Beria, who impressed Stalin by being able to make any man admit to anything.Only 2 people lived through Lazic’s and Bedakovic’s interrogation tactics, and Mihailovich, who was...

Immobilized with fear, a 4-year-old British girl huddled for eight hours beneath the legs of her slain mother in the back of a car filled with corpses on a remote Alpine road — all while French investigators stood nearby, unaware the girl was there.

Julia Gorin Aleksandra's Note: Julia Gorin, an opinion columnist with a focus on the Balkans and consistent journalistic integrity, has put together yet another excellent response to the boilerplate musings of the Serb demonizers who never quit. This time she addresses the Washington Times editorial of Jeffrey T. Kuhner published on May 24, 2012 in response to the election of Serbia's new president, Tomislav Nikolic: "Did Serbia Vote for War: New ultranationalist president promotes instability". http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/24/did-serbia-vote-for-war/ Gorin tackles head on the analogy to the Mihailovich Serbs of WWII that Kuhner includes in his current hit piece. Because she incorporates a...

Svetozar Gligoric, a chess grandmaster who was considered one of the greatest players of the 20th century but who never won the world championship — in one instance losing a chance to play for the title by executing a fatally impulsive move in response to critics who found his match boring — died on Tuesday in Belgrade, Serbia. He was 89.

The remains of 31 early Christian tombs have been discovered during archaeological excavations in Nis, Serbia's third largest city in the southern part of the country. "These are the most important excavations carried out so far on the site of the early Christian necropolis of Jagodin-mala", said Toni Cerskov, who heads the team of 45 archaeologists, architects, anthropologists, photographers and workers at the site. The tombs are located under the former textile factory Niteks, the Tanjug news agency reports. Cerskov said the tombs are among the most important findings regarding the early Christian period and can be compared to the...

As regular readers in this column know, my reporting senior and lawful sovereign is His Imperial Majesty Kaiser Wilhelm II. When I finally report in to that great Oberste Heeresleitung in the sky, I expect to do so as the Kaiser’s last soldier. Why? Well, beyond Bestimmung, the unhappy fact is that Western civilization’s last chance of survival was probably a victory by the Central Powers in World War I. Their defeat let all the poisons of the French Revolution loose unchecked, which is the main reason that we now live in a moral and cultural cesspool.

Court papers accuse Almaz Nezirovic of torturing Serbian civilians sent to a prison camp. A former Bosnian prison camp guard now living in Roanoke County was led in handcuffs to a federal courtroom Tuesday, where he was told he faces extradition to his native country on charges of committing war crimes. Almaz Nezirovic was ordered held without bond during a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. Court papers unsealed late in the day accuse Nezirovic of torturing Serbian civilians who were sent to a prison camp during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, now known as Bosnia-Herzegovina....

Assembly of the United Grand Lodges of Serbia gave the initiative for the integration of our Freemasonry. In the Masonic Centre in Belgrade will be the temple of the Academy of Arts At the annual conference of the United Grand Lodges of Serbia (UVLS) in Belgrade, gave the 400 delegates, as "news" found out, the approval for the construction of the first Mason University, and to start the process of unification of Serbian Masonry. - We agreed that one of our mission, which will contribute to progress and UVLS, but our society is the establishment of a higher education institution...

B ELGRADE -- It is likely no accident that Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic chose June 28 to nominate nationalist Ivica Dacic as his prime minister. The controversial choice of a longtime ally of the late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic came on one of the most important days on the calendar for Serbian nationalists. Not only is June 28 celebrated as St. Vitus Day by Orthodox Christians, it is also the date of one of the most momentous events in the country's history: the Battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389, when Serbian forces battled and were defeated by an invading army...

The wartime spokesman of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic was asked on Thursday to form a coalition government with a nationalist party, raising concerns among diplomats and investors about Belgrade's bid for European Union membership. Ivica Dacic, head of the Socialist party once led by Milosevic, said after being given the mandate to govern: "There will be no return to the 1990s," the decade when the former Yugoslavia was ripped apart by war. "As prime minister, I will never make a decision that will be an injustice to Serbia and its citizens," Dacic said after meeting President Tomislav Nikolic, head...

BELGRADE, Serbia – Socialist leader Ivica Dacic won a mandate Thursday to form a new Serbian government, marking a full-scale return of the late Slobodan Milosevic's former allies to power for the first time since the autocrat's ouster in a popular revolt in 2000. President Tomislav Nikolic formally approved Dacic as prime minister designate to lead the new coalition government that would include the Socialists, Nikolic's nationalists and a small center-right party. Although Nikolic and his nationalists claim to have shifted from being staunchly anti-Western to pro-European Union, a new nationalist-dominated government is likely to stall Serbia's proclaimed EU membership...

15 June 2012 Last updated at 15:45 GMT Why Russia is standing by Syria's Assad As the United Nations warns that Syria has descended into civil war, Russia continues to back President Bashar al-Assad in the face of growing international condemnation. Konstantin von Eggert, political commentator for Kommersant FM radio in Moscow, looks at why the Kremlin is steadfastly supporting the beleaguered Syrian government. Foreign policy analysts usually tend to explain Moscow's inflexible stance on Syria by evoking arms sales to Damascus (Bashar al-Assad's regime is said to have placed orders for Russian hardware to the tune of $3.5bn) and...

The European Parliament on Wednesday (13 June) approved draft laws that would strongly increase Brussels' power over eurozone countries' budgets. But they tempered the previously austere proposals with measures for growth, debt redemption and democratic scrutiny. "This is the core of a fiscal union," said Austrian MEP and socialist leader Hannes Swoboda. "This is the first time that there is a structural solution [to the eurozone crisis] on the table," said Liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt. His Green counterpart Daniel Cohn-Bendit called it a "milestone" for the strength of agreement among MEPs. The pair of laws—also known as the two-pack—is among...

Republican Riot Saying it, so you don’t have to. June 04th 2012 06:49:15 AM WASHINGTON TIMES PRINTING NAZI PROPAGANDA Posted by Julia Gorin  Well we knew it wouldn’t be long. If nationalists win a Serbian election, it follows that there will be an article in the Washington Times by Croatian-supremacist Jeffrey Kuhner, as usual angling for a new war against Serbia — by making the argument that Serbia wants it. As a typical rapist would.Below is the letter I submitted to Washington Times, followed by a deconstruction of Kuhner’s latest excuse for Serbia needing another good bombing. Dear Editor:Are...

(Reuters) - At least three Kosovo Serbs and a NATO soldier were wounded in a gunfight on Friday, as peacekeepers tried to dismantle Serb barricades blocking traffic, a Reuters witness said. NATO troops in the Kosovo Force (KFOR) fired tear gas and small arms and some protesters fired back with handguns. The troops, in armored personnel carriers, were confronted by hundreds of Serbs who pelted them with stones near roadblocks in the villages of Rudare and Dudin Krs outside the town of Zvecan in a Serb-dominated northern area of Kosovo. The roadblocks are among the last on major roads yet...