The Kosovo Parliament’s approval of a controversial law regulating the Independent Media Commission has sparked widespread criticism, raising concerns among local and international organisations and media freedom advocates about potential threats to press freedom. A new law regarding the Kosovo Independent Media Commission, IMC, was approved by the Kosovo Parliament on July 11, 2024, and…
Kosovo’s flag at the opening ceremony of the Paralympics. Photo: Kosovo Paralympic Committee/Facebook The Paris Paralympics will include 4,400 athletes with physical, visual and intellectual impairments competing in 22 sports from August 29 to September 8. France 24 has reported that 2 million tickets have been sold so far.
Months before the next parliamentary election, PM Kurti’s government has almost doubled the minimum wage to 2 euros an hour, or 350 euros a month for a full-time job. The Kosovo government announced on Wednesday that the new minimum wage will be 2 euros per hour, which amounts to 350 euros gross a month for…
As part of the tour in three Western Balkans countries, CIA Chief William Burns visited Kosovo to meet President Osmani and Prime Minister Kurti. The Chief of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns spent two days in Kosovo for official meetings with the country’s top leadership in a surprise visit. His trip also…
Through its vibrant culture, Prishtina is attracting an increasing number of tourists, challenging the once-dominant stereotype of Kosovo as a troubled place to visit. Despite stereotypes of Kosovo’s capital as being uninteresting and dangerous, Dyonne Beaudine van Hoorn found Prishtina to be very safe, along with having a lively youth culture. “Everyone thought I was…
Kosovo has received a multi-million grant from the United States. But the U.S. ambassador remarked that relations with Albin Kurti’s government remain “less positive than we had hoped”, following a row over plans to open the controversial Mitrovica bridge. The United States has agreed to give Kosovo a €31 million ($34.5 million) grant despite a…
In an interview with Prishtina Insight, Marko Milosavljevic from the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) in Serbia delves into how political actors make Kosovo’s and Serbia’s civil society cooperation attempts harder. Since political talks between Kosovo and Serbia stalled, civil society in both countries are facing significant obstacles to maintain the cooperation between citizens…
Amid tensions over the possible reopening of the main bridge in Mitrovica, an EU official told BIRN that the issue will be returned to the dialogue table in Brussels and warned Kosovo not to open the bridge without prior coordination. Workers were patiently refurbishing the main Mitrovica bridge in north Kosovo on Friday afternoon as,…
Securing funding is not the only problem that some film festivals face. Yuliia Kovalenko, a Ukrainian film critic and programmer at Docudays in Kyiv who was involved in the Focus on Ukraine programme at Dokufest, told BIRN that her annual event was first hit by COVID-19 and then by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022….
David Loyn, a BBC correspondent during the Kosovo war recounts moments of his work in a country that was descending to armed conflict. David Loyn, a BBC correspondent who reported on the war in Kosovo in 1998- 1999, maintains that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s actions in Kosovo amounted to ethnic cleansing. He emphasised that the…