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The official HSK Zrinjski Supporters Club declined to comment for this story or help BIRN approach any Zrinjski Ultras.

The only Ultra who agreed to speak was Vlado Savic, one of the original founders of the Supporters Club. Zrinjski means everything to me, he said.

Savic blamed the far-right graffiti that has scarred Mostar on outsiders.

The guys in charge of graffiti have nothing to do with that, he said. People come from elsewhere and intentionally do that to defame us, make us look bad.

But in his home, where he was under house arrest after being convicted of armed robbery, BIRN saw a photo of Savic and another man making what appears to be a Nazi salute. Similar photos on Facebook show Savic making the same salute. He denied it was a Nazi salute, saying it was simply a gesture Zrinjski supporters make when they sing the club song.

In the neighbourhood around Savics home, not far from the supporters club, far-right hate symbols are hard to miss, from the Celtic cross, a signature of the Zrinjski fans, to 14/88, swastikas and phrases declaring that the fascist WWII-era Independent State of Croatia, NDH, will come again.

The hate graffiti also adorns Mostars Partisan Cemetery, where Communist partisans who fought the Nazis during WWII are buried.

Every February 14, visitors to the cemetery mark the anniversary of the towns liberation from fascism in 1945. In 2015, on the 70th anniversary, they were met with projectiles and insults hurled by a group of what one participant in the commemoration, Stefica Galic, described as neo-Nazis.

Authorities at the time said three people had been arrested, but that has not stopped such incidents from repeating every year, said Galic.

They stand over the road, waiting, she told BIRN. Zrinjski supporters have some premises across the road from the Partisan Cemetery and they were already waiting there.

The local interior ministry said those involved in the intimidation had been identified and prosecuted, but did not identify them when asked to do so by BIRN.

Michael Colborne contributed to this article from Kyiv, Ukraine.

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In Bosnian River Town, Far-Right Symbols and a Link to Ukraine - Balkan Insight

The results of an audit of the Ukrainian economy and the vectors of economic development drafted by the government should become the basis for the creation of Ukraine's National Economic Strategy until 2030, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

He said this in his speech at the presentation of the country's economic audit in Kyiv on Friday, November 6, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"Based on the audit and vectors, we are waiting for the appearance of the National Economic Strategy until 2030. I know that the government has already begun to work actively on this, involving many experts, business representatives, the public, international analysts, and scientists," Zelensky said.

According to him, the strategy should be a master plan and a roadmap for all branches of government in Ukraine, rather than a non-binding declaration.

Zelensky stressed that the strategy should also be widely approved by citizens and be a kind of "economic Constitution of Ukraine, our great national idea."

"It's time to end the practice when public policy is determined by surnames on the doors of government offices, rather than by common values. With every new president, parliament or government, the country begins to invent a new breakthrough. It's time for a new tradition: the surnames of civil servants can and will change, but the vision, philosophy and the global goal of the country are unchanged," he said.

He noted that the audit of the Ukrainian economy is the result of hard and painstaking work. Zelensky recalled that a comprehensive analysis of the state of Ukraine had been made for the first time "to understand exactly what mistakes were made during these years, and where."

"The audit is an analysis of our complexes that frightened us and restrained our movement forward. All of them must be a thing of the past," he added.

He also said that based on the results of the audit, the government would present the main vectors of development of the Ukrainian economy until 2030, which will help clearly understand "where and why Ukraine's economy will move."

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on November 4 that Ukraine's economic breakthrough was an ambitious goal for the government. He also said that for the rapid recovery of the Ukrainian economy, the government had developed a vision of the economic development of the country until 2030. Shmyhal stressed that according to the government's forecasts, the Ukrainian economy will begin to recover from 2021 thanks to public investment and business support.

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Zelensky waiting for 'economic Constitution of Ukraine' - Ukrinform. Ukraine and world news

Kyiv (ICRC) - The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer completed his five-day visit to Ukraine today. Mr Maurer met the president of Ukraine as well as government and parliament officials and talked to the representatives of the non-government-controlled territories. He also visited either sides of the contact line in the Donbas region, where the ceasefire is holding since late July this year.

The discussions have been focused on the cumulative consequences of the six-year conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic on people and communities on both sides of the contact line in the Donbas.

Mr Maurer addressed the issue of people missing in connection with the conflict and establishment of the Commission on Missing Persons, access to water and health services as well as perspectives on the risks for the population of mines and other unexploded ordinance. The ICRC president has been also seeking for prospects for securing the systematic and unhindered access of the ICRC to all detainees held in connection with the conflict in the Donbas. Furthermore, he reiterated the need for mechanisms to allow safe passage of civilians with urgent humanitarian needs across the line of contact during COVID-19 pandemic.

Water, electricity and gas installations have always been particularly vulnerable in the conflict and the ICRC has been investing many resources in maintaining the water supply systems. Mr Maurer visited one of the filtrations stations of the Voda Donbasa company that supplies water to people living on both sides of the contact line in the Donetsk Region. The ICRC has so far invested over 15.5 million CHF in maintaining and servicing both water supply companies in the Donbas.

The ICRC president also visited construction sites of health facilities on both sides of the contact line. He saw Gorlovka ambulatory and laid the foundation stone to the first Emergency Health Care Department in Ukraine that the ICRC is building in the Bakhmut hospital, which will serve 200,000 people. The ICRC is investing 3.5 million CHF in building the department, equipping it and training its staff.

Support to people caught in the Donbas conflict is ICRC's 8th largest operation in the world. This has been Mr Maurer's third visit to Ukraine as ICRC president. The first took place in February 2015 and the second in March 2017.

For further information, please contact:

Sanela Bajrambasic, ICRC Ukraine Communication Coordinator, +380 95 262 80 49, https://twitter.com/sbsanelab1

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Ukraine: Addressing the cumulative effects of conflict and COVID-19 in the Donbas - Ukraine - ReliefWeb

The city of Kyiv and all regions in Ukraine are not ready to ease quarantine measures introduced to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to data provided by the Health Ministry on November 6.

The highest incidence rate of COVID-19 during the past 14 days has been recorded in Chernivtsi region (585.5 per 100,000 population), Zhytomyr region (492.5), and Khmelnytskyi region (481.7).

The lowest incidence rate of COVID-19 in the last 14 days has been reported in Kirovohrad region (111.3), Dnipropetrovsk region (146.5), and Luhansk region (182.8).

The incidence rate of COVID-19 in the city of Kyiv is 311.6 per 100,000 population. An average incidence rate across Ukraine is 288.3 per 100,000 population.

The Health Ministry explains that regions with high prevalence of COVID-19 are considered to be regions that have one of the following indicators: the occupancy of beds in health facilities intended for hospitalization of patients with confirmed COVID-19 exceeds 50% during the past five days; the average number of PCR and ELISA tests conducted during the past seven days is less than 24 per 100,000 population; the detection rate of COVID-19 is more than 11%; the growth rate of COVID-19 is more than 10%.

As of November 6, 440,188 COVID-19 cases were laboratory confirmed in Ukraine, including 9,721 cases recorded during the previous day.

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Health Ministry: None of regions in Ukraine ready to ease quarantine measures - Ukrinform. Ukraine and world news

Somerset County, long a Republican stronghold in New Jersey, is on the verge of the unthinkable just a few years ago being under complete Democrat leadership at the county level.

As of Thursday afternoon, county freeholder candidates Doug Singleterry of North Plainfield and Paul Drake, a former Hillsborough committeeman, are in the lead over their Republican opponents by more than 15,000 votes, with about 80% of votes counted.

In the race for county surrogate, Democrat Tina Jalloh has the lead over Republican opponent Frank Bruno, 75,720 votes to Brunos 59,551 votes.

And although the countys board of elections is still counting ballots, the Republican candidates are aware the race is essentially finished.

Theres no path to victory for the county-level Republican candidates in Somerset County, said Tim Howes, chairman of the countys GOP. We have conceded the election.

All three wins would mean Democrats are in control of every elected office in Somerset County. Before 2017, no Democrat had won a county office since 1979, and before 2019, there were no Democrats on the freeholder board.

Four years ago when Steve Peter won the clerks office, we made it a goal to expand our contributions to the county government and represent the growing diversity that is Somerset County, Peg Schaffer, the countys Democratic chair, said in a release.

Tina, Doug and Paul join an already great team who will lead our county through this century and beyond, she said.

This political shift represents a tide turn in Somerset County politics.

Since the 2004 presidential election, fewer Somerset County residents have voted for the Republican nominee in each consecutive election, according to data from the states division of elections.

In the 2004 race between John Kerry and former president George W. Bush, 72,508 residents in the county voted for Bush. The number of votes for the Republican nominee has consistently decreased in the county, with a most recent total of 65,505 votes for Donald Trump in 2016.

As of Thursday, with all the votes not yet counted and certified, only 51,400 county residents have voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

But despite the Republican losses at the county level, Howes said he believes there is a path forward for the GOP.

Our county-level candidates did significantly outperform President Trump in Somerset County, Howes said. So despite the loss, it does appear there are thousands of Somerset County residents who remember what these Republican candidates have done for Somerset County.

He noted the countys GOP is still watching the local races across Somerset County, which they believe the Republicans will continue to hold their leads in some municipalities.

Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican who served two terms on the Somerset County freeholder board in the 1980s, said the recent political shift in Somerset mirrors a national trend.

Republicans have been losing ground across the country as the party has moved continuously to the right," Whitman said.

Somerset County has had Democratic freeholders before, in my first race my teammate and I ran against one, so that is not a total game changer, she added. "Until Republicans become a more open and welcoming party, however, they will continue to lose ground.

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NJ Advance Media staff writer Kelly Heyboer contributed to this report. Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com.

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Democrats on verge of taking control of N.J. county where Republicans once reigned supreme - NJ.com