25 Sep 14 Four months on without a new government, delays in forming key institutions are impacting on the economy, on talks with Serbia and on progress with the European Union. Nektar Zogjani BIRN Pristina Almost four months on from the general elections, Kosovo is stuck in political deadlock as a result of the failure initially to elect a speaker for the assembly and then proceed with the election of a new government. Ibrahim Rexhepi, an economic expert, said the country was losing a good deal result of delays in forming a government. According to him, looking at the budgetary spreadsheet

23 Sep 14 Hundreds of millions of euros from the Serbian budget that is supposed to help the Serbs in Kosovo have been misspent, a new TV investigation claims. Gordana Andric BIRN Belgrade An investigative team from B92’s television show Insajder has reported that Serbia paid about €634 million in 2012 and 2013 for different projects in Kosovo out of the state budget - about €867,000 per day. “Over all that time almost none of this money actually reached those to whom it was assigned and to whom is really is necessary," the Insajder team stated in a show broadcast on September 22. “Under

18 Sep 14 The announced pause in the European Union enlargement process has obvious consequences for the Balkan region, where several countries are anxiously knocking at the door. Gjeraqina Tuhina Brussels No new members will be allowed to join the 28-member European Union for at least the next five years.

18 Sep 14 After 45 ethnic Albanians killed in Kosovo were exhumed from a mass grave in Serbia, why has Belgrade not prosecuted officials who ordered the criminal operation to hide the bodies? Sian Jones Amnesty International The bodies of almost 900 Kosovo Albanians who were ‘disappeared’ by Serb forces have been exhumed in Serbia so far. By 2002, some 744 mortal remains had been found in mass graves on Interior Ministry land at Batajnica near Belgrade and 70 at Petrovo Selo; another 84 were found in Lake Perucac. These bodies have been returned to their families.

17 Sep 14 The latest CIA report says several hundred jihadists from a number of Balkan countries have joined the extremist group Islamic State in the Middle East. Dusica Tomovic BIRN Podgorica Car bomb explosion in Iraq | Photo by: Wikimedia Commons Bosnia, Kosovo and Albania are the main recruiting grounds in the Balkans for radical Islamists seeking fighters for the wars in Syria and Iraq.

17 Sep 14 Party leader Fuad Ramiqi is among a number of Islamic leaders seized by police as part of a crackdown on Islamists in the majority-Muslim country. Nektar Zogjani BIRN Pristina Kosovo Police on Wednesday arrested Fuad Ramiqi, leader of Levizja Islamike Bashkohu [Islamic Movement Unite], LISBA, a hard-line Muslim organization that has transformed itself into a political party. The police operation is still ongoing; however, media reports said that besides Ramiqi, a number of other persons were also arrested, including prominent imams. Brahim Sadria, a police spokesperson, confirmed

15 Sep 14 A witness told the trial of the Kosovo Liberation Army’s ‘Drenica Group’ cell, accused of assaulting prisoners during the 1998-99 war, that he was severely beaten by the defendants. Nektar Zogjani BIRN Pristina The protected witness codenamed ‘Witness A’ told the court on Monday that he was seriously assaulted in captivity by Pristina’s former ambassador to Albania and Kosovo Security Force ex-commander Sylejman Selimi and other members of the Drenica Group. Witness A said the former KLA fighters beat him “because they said I had cooperated with Serbia” during Belgrade’s conflict

15 Sep 14 The remains of the ethnic Albanians who were killed during the late 1990s war and buried in a mass grave near the Serbian town of Raska were sent back to Kosovo for identification. Marija Ristic BIRN Belgrade The EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, said on Friday that it had received the remains of the ethnic Albanians who are believed to have been killed by Serbian forces during the conflict and their bodies then taken to the Rudnica quarry near Raska for secret burial in a mass grave. “EULEX personnel working for the Kosovo Department of Forensic Medicine (DFM) received fro

10 Sep 14 Four political parties aspiring to form the new government in Kosovo have handed management of the crucial EU-led talks with Serbia to the nationalistic Levizja Vetevendosja party - well known for its opposition to the dialogue. Nektar Zogjani BIRN Belgrade A coalition agreement reached between four opposition parties that aim to form a government in Kosovo has assigned management of the EU-led dialogue with Serbia to the nationalist Levizja Vetevendosje [Self-Determination Movement] party. The agreement was reached on Wednesday between Levizja Vetevendosje and a three-party coalit

09 Sep 14 The government in Tirana said that an Albanian port on the Adriatic Sea which had been promised to Kosovo could now be leased to a Chinese state-owned company. Nektar Zogjani BIRN Pristina The Albanian transport ministry told BIRN on Tuesday that negotiations over awarding a concession for the use of the Shengjin port to China have been going on for the past few months. "They [Albanian government officials] are currently talking with a Chinese state-owned company about awarding a concession on the port of Shengjin, but there is no deal yet," said transport ministry spokeperson Gen