Headlines - 28.08.2013 Thaçi and Dacic cancel their participation at UNSC session (Tribuna) Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi and his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic have cancelled their participation at the United Nations Security Council session which will be held on Thursday. Sources in New York told RTK that Dacic was the first to cancel his participation, followed shortly after Thaçi. Kosovo will be represented in New York by Foreign Affairs Minister Enver Hoxhaj. Hoxhaj: Kosovo has achieved progress (Epoka e Re) The UN Security Council will discuss on Thursday the report of the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, on the developments in Kosovo. Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Enver Hoxhaj, stated on Tuesday that this report is more objective than the previous ones. “Kosovo has marked more progress that reflected in the reports of the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. There were    discrepancies between the progress reached in Kosovo and presentation of this progress in Ban Ki-moon’s reports. But I consider that the most recent report is objective,” said Hoxhaj. Symbol will be discussed at level of working groups (Koha) The paper reports on the front page that the 15^th round of talks between Kosovo and Serbia concluded without an agreement on telecommunications and energy. Even after seven hours of talks, prime ministers Hashim Thaçi and Ivica Dacic failed to reach an agreement on capital issues, especially on local elections, which was one of the main topics of the meeting. The two leaders gave different statements about voting ballots. Thaçi refused to comment on the design of ballots for the November local elections, whereas Dacic said an agreement was reached for the issue to be discussed at the level of working groups in the coming days.  Administrative Office not included in elections preparations (Koha) Adriana Hodzic, head of the Kosovo Government’s administrative office in northern Mitrovica, said the situation in the northern part of Kosovo remains tense, with numerous incidents and without any arrests. “I believe that after the November elections, there will be a new municipal leadership that will cooperate with security institutions in creating conditions for a peaceful life for residents of northern Mitrovica,” she added. Hodzic also said, “it seems an agreement was reached in Brussels on voters’ lists – therefore, regarding the issue of northern Mitrovica, this seems to be an issue between Pristina and Belgrade. I personally have no information on who are the members of the Municipal Election Committee in northern Mitrovica or what they are doing. I only heard through the media about the selection of staff by the OSCE.” In a separate box within the same article, the paper reports that Hodzic will run as an independent candidate in the November elections in northern Mitrovica. Kosovo’s Ambassador to Japan targeted by EULEX (Bota Sot) The EU rule-of-law mission (EULEX) has targeted Kosovo’s Ambassador to Japan, Ahmet Shala, for his activities while he was chairman of the Kosovo Privatization Agency during the tenure of UNMIK. Shala is suspected of several transactions during the privatization of two socially-owned enterprises. The paper recalls that Shala was earlier accused as a suspect in the privatization of Kosovo’s assets and wealth during the time of UNMIK. The paper quotes reliable sources as saying that EULEX has even asked for Shala’s passport to be confiscated. Civil society: Judiciary to blame for high level of corruption (Koha) Civil society representatives in Pristina argue that the prosecution and courts are among the key institutions to blame for the high level of corruption in Kosovo. Merita Mustafa, manager of the program Transparency and Anti-corruption in the Kosovo Democratic Institute, says the high presence of corruption in Kosovo institutions is obstructing the country’s development. “We can easily blame the prosecution and the judiciary, because they are the competent institutions and they have all the capacities to conduct investigations and trials for corruption,” Mustafa said.