Albanian Language Media:

• The U.S. and Italy reaffirm their commitment to de-escalation in the north (RTK)

• Zvecan mayor does not see resignation as an option (Klan)

• Mandl reacts to scandalous choreography of fans in Serbia (RTK)

• PDK MPs remove barrier tapes that have limited space for journalists (media)

• Session fails to be held due to lack of quorum, Assembly goes on leave (RTK)

• PDK: We will engage for new elections as soon as possible (media)

• Prosecution files indictment against Serb for war crimes, and 'inhumanely torturing a person' (media)

Serbian Language Media: 

• Serbian List officials met Escobar in Washington (Kosovo Online, media)

• KFOR donates modern water pump system to Devic Monastery (Kosovo Online, KoSSev)

• Dacic meets with El Gebaly (Tanjug)

• Mitsotakis thanks Serbia for assisting Greece's firefighting efforts (Tanjug, media)

• Radojica Mrdjinac and Dardan Beqiri new members of RTK board (Radio KIM)

Albanian Language Media  

The US and Italy reaffirm their commitment to de-escalation in the north (RTK) 

The President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, met at the White House with the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, with whom they valued the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia for the de-escalation of the situation in the north. 

"The United States and Italy reaffirm their shared commitment to the security, stability and prosperity of the Western Balkans and their longstanding support for the Euro-Atlantic integration of the region. They decided to strengthen coordination to favor de-escalation and reconciliation and acknowledged the crucial role of Quint," their statement said.

The United States welcomes the Italian government's commitment to the Western Balkans, including the contribution of the Italian armed forces to the KFOR, EULEX, and EUFOR Althea missions.

Zvecan mayor does not see resignation as an option (Klan) 

The mayor of Zvecan, Ilir Peci, has said that he does not see resignation from this municipality as an option.

Peci, in a statement for Klankosova.tv, stated that all the directorates have started work, as he added that he is serving citizens regardless of ethnicity. 

"Actually, we are continuing to hold the mandate by serving the citizens regardless of ethnicity. For example, yesterday an agreement was reached with the Municipality of Drenas for inter-municipal cooperation", Peci said.

"We have 11 directors, each director has started work, so we have a lot of work to do, so we do not see resignation as an option", stated Peci.

He added that the work is progressing without problems, as he emphasised that there are also members from the Serb community in the directorates.

Mandl reacts to scandalous choreography of fans in Serbia (RTK) 

Lukas Mandl, Austrian member of the European Parliament, has reacted regarding the scandalous, war-inciting choreography of the fans of the Serbian club, Crvena Zvezda, in the football match against Fiorentina in Belgrade. 

"You still want to sanction which country? Kosovo? Josep Borrell, Oliver Varhelyi and Miroslav Lajcak can you see what's going on? Let's calm down. Let's contribute to the reduction of tension, reconciliation, peace, for all of us", he wrote on "Twitter". 

In the friendly match between Fiorentina and Crvena Zvezda, which took place in midweek in Belgrade, the "Delije" fan group of the Serbian team appeared with a choreography with a military tank and a slogan: "When the army returns to Kosovo".

PDK MPs remove barrier tapes that have limited space for journalists (media)

In the media section of the premises of the Assembly of Kosovo, for the second day in a row, a bar has been placed, moving the journalists and cameramen who follow the work of this institution, to the back. The Assembly has justified that it has placed the tape for security reasons. 

On the balcony of the Assembly, from where the full view of the session hall is possible, the teams of journalists who have covered the sessions are regularly stationed. It is the only space from which journalists can follow the proceedings of the Assembly. Pushing the teams back limits the full view of the boardroom. Due to this action, journalists boycotted Thursday’s session. 

The MPs of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Ganimete Musliu and Ariana Musliu-Shoshi, have removed the tapes that have limited the space for journalists, and they immediately moved to their previous space.

Session fails to be held due to lack of quorum, Assembly goes on leave (RTK)

Today's session of the Assembly of Kosovo failed due to lack of quorum, and it has been postponed to the fall session.

The Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Saranda Bogujevci, said that due to the lack of a quorum, there are no conditions to continue with the session, and as a result, everything about the points mentioned in this last session for the spring session will be passed on to the autumn session, including the international agreements scheduled to be voted on in this session. From today, the Assembly of Kosovo goes on vacation to return to work in the second week of September.

PDK: We will engage for new elections as soon as possible (media)

The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) promised today that it will be strongly committed for extraordinary elections in Kosovo as soon as possible.  The head of the parliamentary group of the PDK, Abelard Tahiri, said after the failure of the Assembly session due to the lack of quorum, that the government closed the session to make it impossible to discuss what he called “Zdravo” affair.

"We were prevented through decision-making for this debate to happen today as we requested and to seek clarity both from Prime Minister Kurti and from the (LVV) head of the parliamentary group about Radojicic’s implication and involvement of in decision-making in the Parliament of Kosovo and the government. So, the same logic today in the most shameful way possible, this coalition, the 'Zdravo' coalition closed this session for which we were called, which was supposed to be the last spring session and they closed it just to make it impossible for us to discuss the issue of the 'Zdravo' affair", he said.

Tahiri emphasized that they are engaged every day to send the Kosovo to elections.

"This government which steals the state reserves, this government which steals even the citizens' bite of bread, in wheat and oil, what should we expect and more, why should we allow them to continue their work even further. So, as a PDK parliamentary group, we will all continue together and have a continuous commitment to send the country to elections, their continuation means even greater theft, and even greater implication of Radojcic in the decision-making of the Assembly of Kosovo. I consider that this session, which was not possible to be held today, may also be the result of Radojcic's own commitment... We will commit ourselves every day, every second, every minute so that our country goes to the elections and has a new government as soon as possible. And it is these same people who are preventing us from discussing the sanctions that have been imposed on our country by both the EU and the U.S., so this tendency to close this session in such a shameful manner is in order to prevent talk about the sanctions,” he said.

Tahiri emphasized that they are doing their utmost to collect the required number of signatures to overthrow the government.

Prosecution files indictment against Serb for war crimes, and 'inhumanely torturing a person' (media)

The Special Prosecutor's Office of Kosovo has announced that it has filed an indictment for war crimes at the Basic Court in Pristina - Special Department, against the defendant with the initials Z.A. of Serbian nationality.

As the Special Prosecutor's Office announces, there is a well-founded suspicion that the defendant Z.A, during the war in Kosovo, in complicity with other members of the Serbian police, 'dressed in a Serbian police uniform and armed, had detained in the center of the city of Kamenica the injured B.M. inhumanely torturing him, mistreating him and causing him serious bodily injury, trauma and health consequences, as well as seriously threatening his life for one and a half hours, actions which are sanctioned according to local laws, customs of war and the Geneva International Conventions and Additional Protocols'.

Further in this announcement, it is stated that the suspect participated in the forced expulsion and displacement of the citizens of Kamenica and the district.

"Also, the defendant Z.A. in collusion with other members of the Serbian police and paramilitary groups, participated in the forced expulsion and relocation of the citizens of Kamenica and the surrounding area, then they started looting houses, and then with the aim of damaging the property of Albanians, they set them on fire, they also took part in the mistreatment of Albanian civilians", the announcement states.

 

Serbian Language Media

Serbian List officials met Escobar in Washington (Kosovo Online, media)

Serbian List officials met yesterday State Department Assistant Deputy Secretary Gabriel Escobar in Washington.

In a meeting the stance of the Serbian side about political and security situation was conveyed, the need to respect all signed agreements, including the one on Community of Serb Municipalities, and road-map about de-escalation of the situation in northern Kosovo.  

KFOR donates modern water pump system to Devic Monastery (Kosovo Online, KoSSev)

KFOR soldiers visited the Serbian Orthodox Church Devic Monastery in Srbica municipality to attend the donation ceremony of a new water pump system, Kosovo Online portal reports.

As KFOR said in a post the new water pump replaced outdated equipment.

“KFOR Soldiers visited the Devič Monastery, a Serbian Orthodox monastery in Llaushe, to take part in a ceremony marking the donation of a new water pump system, which replaced the severely deteriorated equipment which was previously in place. KFOR assisted with equipping the monastery with an updated pump, ensuring reliable access to clean water in this location going forward.

#KFOR remains committed to maintaining a Safe and Secure Environment and Freedom of Movement for all people in #Kosovo under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999”, reads the post of KFOR on social media.

Dacic meets with El Gebaly (Tanjug)

Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic met with the Speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives Hanafy El Gebaly on Thursday, Tanjug news agency reports.

The parties noted that Serbia and Egypt were connected by a decades-long friendship and were very proud to celebrate the 115th anniversary of their diplomatic relations this year.

They highlighted the key contribution a historic visit to Serbia by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi had made to multi-faceted development of bilateral relations, which have been raised to the level of strategic partnership, the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Dacic and El Gebaly noted that they were pleased with the extremely successful development of the traditionally good bilateral ties, in which they said parliamentary cooperation occupied a very important place.

They agreed that there was great potential for further development of overall bilateral cooperation, including stepped-up political dialogue and exchanges of visits at high and the highest level, and noted that a return visit to Egypt by President Aleksandar Vucic at a mutually acceptable date would be of the greatest significance in this regard.

Mitsotakis thanks Serbia for assisting Greece's firefighting efforts (Tanjug, media)

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis thanked Serbia and its President Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday for assisting Greece's efforts to contain forest fires that have been raging across the country for days now.

"I want to express our gratitude to Serbia and to the 38 Serbian firefighters who, along with 14 vehicles, are on the ground, helping us in the fight against forest fires. Serbia, we thank you!" Mitsotakis wrote in a post on the social media network X, formerly known as Twitter.

Following an agreement between Vucic and Mitsotakis and a subsequent order by Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic, the Emergencies Sector of the Serbian Ministry of Interior has sent a 38-member firefighting and rescue team to Greece.

The Serbian team is composed of 36 firefighters-rescuers and two medical staff members, who will be available to help their Serbian colleagues as well as the local population in Greece if required.

Radojica Mrdjinac and Dardan Beqiri new members of RTK board (Radio KIM)

By secret votes MPs at Kosovo Assembly elected two members of the RTK board, Radio KIM reports.

Radojica Mrdjinac from the Serbian community and Dardan Beqiri from non-majority communities were elected.

RTK board members are appointed by the Kosovo Assembly. It consists of nine members from the Albanian community, two from Serbian and one from other non-majority communities.

PDK MPs did not take part in the voting as they left the assembly session and also did not vote for other drafts and proposals put on vote at the Kosovo Assembly yesterday.