The paper carries the below article, initially published  in The Wall Street Journal.

Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci hit back at criticism of his country’s record in containing Islamic extremism, saying his nation – Europe’s youngest – is fighting hard against radical “elements.”

Over the last five years, around 300 Kosovars, out of a majority-Muslim population of 1.8 million, have joined Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, according to the government.

By New York Times Editorial Board

Saudi Arabia has frustrated American policy makers for years. Ostensibly a critical ally, sheltered from its enemies by American arms and aid, the kingdom has spent untold millions promoting Wahhabism, the radical form of Sunni Islam that inspired the 9/11 hijackers and that now inflames the Islamic State.

European soccer’s governing body voted Tuesday to formally recognize the Kosovo Football Federation as its 55th member in a vote at its annual congress in Budapest. Serbia, which does not recognize Kosovo, reacted angrily to the decision and said it would work to overturn it.

Koha Ditore re-runs an opinion piece originally published in New York Times by Karin Huster, a nurse with the non-profit organization Last Mile Health.

By DAN BILEFSKY and SOMINI SENGUPTAJULY 29, 2014

PARIS — A special European Union prosecutor said Tuesday that senior members of the Kosovo Liberation Army engaged in a campaign of persecution against ethnic Serbs after the 1998-99 Kosovo war, and said evidence suggested that the armed group had targeted a number of individuals after the war to harvest and sell their organs.