This opinion piece by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaci originally appeared in the British paper The Independent.

The Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo voted last month to amend the country's Constitution to enable the creation of a Special Court that will adjudicate alleged crimes committed by Kosovo Albanians during and immediately after the 1999 liberation war.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has accepted Kosovo as a full member of this organization. The decision was announced yesterday at the IAFF congress in Beijing, where Kosovo received 187 votes. Kosovo’s Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Kujtim Shala, congratulated the leaders of the federation and Kosovo athletes, wishing them success in the further international advancement of this sport.

Ramush Haradinaj, leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), said in an interview with Epoka e Re that Kosovo should go to early national elections in October this year “in order to save itself from the bad governance of [Prime Minister] Isa Mustafa”. Haradinaj did not rule out the possibility of the AAK, Initiative for Kosovo and the Vetevendosje Movement, running with a joint list in the event of early elections. The AAK leader also said that the special court is an unnecessary experiment and that it benefits only Prime Minister Mustafa.

Head of Kosovo’s technical delegation in the discussions between Kosovo and Serbia held in Brussels, Rrahim Pacolli, has proposed to the government of Kosovo to stop the discussions with Serbia, due to the lack of implementation of the agreement on the freedom of movement. “Serbia’s non-implementation of the agreement for the free movement of the citizens shows once again lack of seriousness and stability demonstrated continuously by the Serbian political elite towards the international factor.

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Xhavit Haliti, writes in an opinion piece today that Kosovo’s future was put into question by two major events: the political stalemate and the special court. “The six-month political stalemate after the elections last year left our international friends worried for Kosovo. After that, the rejection of the special court also affected Kosovo’s relationship with the international community. The representatives of the European Union and the United States have asked Kosovo directly to establish the special court.

The paper reports that around 40 percent of women fit for work, are unemployed in Kosovo, while the employment rate among women of working age is about 13% while for men is 40%. These data were published in the latest report of the Kosovo Statistics Agency, called "Women and Men", which states that nearly 50% of employed women work in the public sector and service occupations.

The Municipality of Shtime/Stimlje in recent years has managed to make quite large investments in the field of education, and at the same time to create conditions and higher standard in order to increase the interest of children to attend school. Also the interest of children from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) communities to continue their education has increased. Besnik Shala from the Education Sector in the Municipality of Shtime/Stimlje, said that in this municipality in the recent years has increased the interest of RAE children that continue their education.

In Pristina on Sunday was held a symbolic march against homophobia, marking the International Day Against Homophobia, 17 May. The march was called by three organizations dealing with the protection of LGBT rights in Kosovo: The Center for Social Emancipation, Equality and Freedom Center and Center for Social Group Development. The event had the support of the American agency USAID, the Ministry of Culture and the Civil Right Defender. One of the participants of the march was also the American ambassador, Tracey Ann Jacobson.

Several news agencies carry today the opinion piece of the EULEX's Head of the Mission, Gabriele Meucci, distributed to the media on Wednesday. See below the full op-ed as written by Meucci:

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Kosovo, in the period March – April 2015,  organized a few workshops on the topic of women’s property rights.  The participants were informed on the procedures on registering properties and equal access to property by women and men. The OSCE Head of Mission in Kosovo, Jean-Claude Schulmberger, said that one of the reasons of gender inequality is connected directly to the unequal exercise of property rights.