Kosovo can take a step closer to joining Uefa this week, a move that could lead to a place in 2018 World Cup qualifying. Membership of Europe’s football governing body will allow the former Serbian enclave’s national team and clubs to start playing in continental competitions.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/sep/15/kosovo-uefa-membership-2018-world-cup

Serbia and Kosovo have reached a “landmark” agreement in several key areas, according to the EU, in a major step towards normalising ties after their war in the 1990s and Pristina’s eventual unilateral declaration of independence.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/26/serbia-and-kosovo-in-co-operation-deal

The European Union’s biggest foreign mission has been accused of using its powers to try to silence a whistleblower who claims to have uncovered evidence of possible corruption.

Kosovo authorities say they have cut off the water supply to tens of thousands of people in the capital after police arrested five suspects linked to Islamic State who were allegedly planning to poison a reservoir.

Pristina’s water authority said the water supply was shut off early on Saturday “because of security issues”, and that samples were being tested for suspicious substances.

A conceptual artist is transforming a football pitch in Kosovo into a giant art installation, with thousands of dresses hung on washing lines in a powerful and poignant tribute to survivors of sexual violence. The exhibition, Thinking of You, will go on show in the city stadium of Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, on Friday, the 16th anniversary of Nato forces entering the city after a three-month bombing campaign.

Tony Blair has added Serbia to the list of countries he is paid to advise, despite his role as the chief proponent of the bombing of Belgrade in 1999. Blair will counsel the Serbian prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic, who was information minister during the war and was once such an outspoken critic of the British politician that he was listed as an editor of a book titled English Gay Fart Tony Blair.

For the thousands of Kosovans who have left their country for Hungary in recent months, Vila Lira has stood as poetic reminder of the opportunities and risks of trying to sneak into the European Union.

The International Olympic Committee has granted full recognition to Kosovo, meaning the Balkan country can send an independent team to the 2016 Games in Rio.

The IOC made the decision Tuesday, formally ratifying the provisional recognition granted in October by the executive board.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Serbia has refused to accept the breakaway province’s independence. The move to give Olympic recognition to Kosovo had been opposed by Serbian officials. Kosovo becomes the 205th national Olympic committee recognized by the IOC.

The final in Julian Borger’s series on Kosovo explores how senior figures in the governing party are being targeted in a major Eulex inquiry

The EU legal mission in Kosovo, under fire for allegedly shielding powerful local politicians, reopened an investigation on Friday into connections between a convicted hit-man and senior figures in the governing party.

Mission to combat organised crime dropped investigations of cases implicating senior Kosovan politicians, says study

Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
The Guardian, Thursday 6 November 2014 22.42 GMT

The European Union’s €1bn flagship foreign mission to combat organised crime and corruption in Kosovo repeatedly shunned or dropped investigations of cases implicating senior Kosovan politicians, according to a new study of the mission’s six-year existence.