Head of the Administrative Office in Northern Mitrovica, Adirana Hodzic, assessed the situation in the north to be positive.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Isa Mustafa writes in an opinion piece today that 17 February – Kosovo Independence Day and 28 November, Albania Independence Day are days to be celebrated and not used for political interests and violent protests. “Kosovo was not easily liberated. Entire generations made sacrifices in the name of independence. Around 15,000 people were killed in the last war and 20,000 women were raped by Serbian military forces and to this day there are still 1600 missing persons.

The Association of Kosovo Journalists (AKJ) condemned the attack yesterday on Gazmend Morina, a journalist of news website veriu.info, who was physically assaulted by a member of the Municipal Assembly of Mitrovica. “The Association of Kosovo Journalists was informed that journalist Gazmend Morina was attacked with iron rods by a member of the Municipal Assembly in Mitrovica. The AKJ calls on relevant authorities to take urgent measures against the attackers.

The paper reports that according to the Kosovo business registration agency, there are currently 59 news websites running in Kosovo with 44 that were registered in 2015 alone. Sociologist Fadil Maloku believes unfair competition and the absence of a media control mechanism is behind the soaring number of news websites in Kosovo. Maloku adds that political parties, be it the ruling or the opposition, can influence these websites and this, in his view, is due to the fact that Kosovo is still a transitioning society.

The leader of the New Kosovo Alliance Behgjet Pacolli has addressed the Constitutional Court asking it to interpret the Kosovo Assembly resolution of 2011 stipulating that the next president of Kosovo should be elected directly by the people instead of by Assembly. At the time, the resolution was ratified after a political agreement reached between the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) leader Hashim Thaci, Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) leader Isa Mustafa, and New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) leader Behgjet Pacolli.

Kosovo Ombudsperson Hilmi Jashari signed the decision establishing the National Mechanism for Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment as a special structure that will operate within the Ombudsperson Institution. The establishment of this mechanism is in line with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) and will carry out regular inspection in places where people deprived of freedom are kept.

The UNDP Kosovo Development Coordinator, Andrew Russell, met yesterday with Kosovo Health Minister, Imet Rrahmani. Russell and Rrahmani discussed the cooperation between the UNDP and the Ministry of Health. Minister Rahmani informed Russell on the priorities of his work related to the implementation of laws on health, restoring trust in the health system, strengthening the capacity and development of health reform with particular focus on the health of mother and child, malignant diseases and vascular diseases.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa informed on Thursday during the meeting of the government that the U.S. Secretary of state gave full support to the work of the government. Mustafa said he feels happy for the support that the U.S. is giving to Kosovo. He informed that he discussed with Secretary Kerry the current issues in Kosovo, Euro-Atlantic integration orientation, the work of the government, stability and peace of the region and the issues which currently concern Kosovo.

Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga welcomed Tuesday’s decision of the Board of the “Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund” (GCERF) taken in Geneva, to include Kosovo in this Fund’s initiatives on prevention and facing of violent extremism through local initiatives.

Kosovo Open Society Foundation along with civil society partner organisations will submit today to the Head of EU Office in Kosovo Samuel Zbogar a petition with over 54,000 signatures calling for visa liberalization for Kosovo. The petition will also be delivered to the European Integrations Minister Bekim Collaku. The visa liberalization awareness campaign began this April with a letter the Kosovo civil society organisations sent to the EU institutions urging them to apply transparent and fair criteria when assessing Kosovo’s compliance to visa liberalization roadmap requirements.