The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) athletics world governing body on Wednesday admitted Kosovo as a member. Kosovo was granted provisional membership at an IAAF council meeting in Beijing. But it will have "full rights and obligations" as the 214th member of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), said a statement by the ruling body. "The application was judged to meet the requirements" set out by the IAAF constitution, the statement added.

Pristina: Kosovo lawmakers on Thursday adopted legislation banning citizens from fighting in foreign conflicts in a bid to prevent young people from joining jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq.

The legislation provides for up to 15 years behind bars for anyone violating the ban on taking part in armed conflicts abroad.

It specifically forbids participation in a foreign army, police or paramilitary formations in any form of conflict outside the territory of Kosovo.

Police in Kosovo fired tear gas to disperse groups of stone-throwing protesters Saturday as thousands took to the streets of Pristina to demand the dismissal of a Serb minister accused of insulting the ethnic Albanian majority.

The clashes erupted at the end of a rally in the capital at which some 7,000 people, according to police, called on the government to fire Labour and Social Welfare Minister Aleksandar Jablanovic, one of three Serb ministers in Prime Minister Isa Mustafa's cabinet.

BRUSSELS – The EU named a new prosecutor on Thursday to investigate possible crimes against humanity, including murder and organ trafficking, by several leaders of Kosovo’s 1990s guerrilla army, some of them now senior officials.

Lawyer David Schwendiman succeeds fellow U.S. national, Clint Williamson, a diplomat and prosecutor who headed the Special Investigative Task Force into events after Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war.

AFP
By Ismet Hajdari

Pristina (AFP) - Just when Kosovo appeared to be heading for a degree of stability and normalcy, feuding politicians and fresh corruption scandals have plunged the fledgling Balkan nation into its worst political crisis to date.

A quirk in the young nation's constitution has left Kosovo in a seemingly unfixable political deadlock that could yet force fresh elections only five months after the last vote.

The constitution decrees that the party with the most seats gets to appoint parliament's speaker and try to form a government.

Kosovo's foreign minister Enver Hoxhaj said Wednesday he will attend a regional conference in Belgrade in his first such visit since the territory unilaterally seceded from Serbia in 2008.

"This visit is an indicator of the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia as two independent and sovereign states," Hoxhaj said in a statement.

While refusing to recognise the independence of its former southern province, Serbia has agreed to improve relations with Kosovo for the sake of its integration into the EU.

Kosovo headed for political deadlock on Thursday as lawmakers vying for control following last month's snap elections staged a walkout after failing to agree on a key parliament post.

Parties opposed to Prime Minister Hashim Thaci teamed up in the 120-seat assembly to back his rival Isa Mustafa for the post of parliament speaker.

Mustafa received 65 votes, including 20 from members representing Kosovo's ethnic minorities, prompting 37 deputies of Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) to leave the session in protest.

Pristina (AFP) - Kosovo's snap parliamentary election passed off peacefully on Sunday with Serbs in its restive northern region taking part for the first time in a possible boost for the country's EU hopes.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, an ex-guerilla chief who has dominated politics since the country declared independence in 2008, is seeking re-election but faces a potential backlash in Europe's poorest country over high unemployment and rampant corruption.