Culture and Society: Celebrations marking end of Ramadan under way in Balkans

01/10/2008

Balkan Muslims celebrate the end of the Islamic holy month of fasting. Also in the news: a Turkish film wins the Golden Shell award, and Cypriot shooter Andri Eleftheriou takes gold at the International Sport Shooting Federation's World Cup Final in Minsk.

Muslims pray in Skopje's central mosque, Sultan Murat, at the start of the three-day Eid al-Fitr festival on Tuesday (September 30th). Muslims in Macedonia, about a quarter of the population, are predominantly ethnic Albanians. [Tomislav Georgiev]

Muslims throughout the Balkans began celebrations Tuesday (September 30th) of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Islamic holy month of fasting, Ramadan. The day is a public holiday in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, northern Cyprus, Kosovo and Turkey. Festivities continue for three days.

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"Pandora's Box" by Turkish director Yesim Ustaoglu won the Golden Shell award for best film at the San Sebastian film festival in Spain on Saturday (September 27th). One of the film's stars, 90-year-old French actress Tsilla Chelton, shared the best-actress award for her role as a grandmother afflicted with Alzheimer's disease.

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Greek President Karolos Papoulias and his Italian counterpart, Giorgio Napolitano, inaugurated an exhibition of more than 80 illegally excavated ancient treasures returned from US and European museums and private collections. The opening ceremony took place last week at the new Acropolis Museum in Athens. The exhibition runs until December 31st.

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The film "Alexandra" by Romanian director Radu Jude won the Grand Prize at the ninth edition of the "7 Arts" National Film Festival, which ran from September 22nd to Friday (September 26th) in Calarasi, Romania. Jude's film "Lampa cu caciula" won at last year's festival.

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Cypriot shooter Andri Eleftheriou won the gold medal in the women's shotgun skeet at the International Sport Shooting Federation's World Cup Final in Minsk, Belarus. Eleftheriou scored 73 out of 75.

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The European Handball Federation on Sunday (September 28th) selected Serbia to host the Men's Handball European Championships in 2012. Serbia was competing with France and Germany. Contests will take place in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Vrsac and Nis.

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Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, former number one female tennis player in the world, won the 2008 China Open women's singles on Sunday (September 28th). Jankovic defeated Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova.

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UNICEF Romania on Monday (September 29th) named Romanian football legend Gheorghe Hagi an ambassador for children's rights. He signed a pledge to use his professional reputation and knowledge to help UNICEF campaigns. Other football celebrities who became UNICEF ambassadors include Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Francesco Totti.

(Various sources – 24/09/08-01/10/08)