Kosovar Interior Minister Skender Hyseni says there have been no recorded cases in the past year of citizens joining the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq. "It is now a year that we did not record any case of the departure of the citizens of Kosovo in foreign wars," Hyseni said on August 24, adding that authorities should still not be "comfortable." Pristina has come under pressure for a perceived failure to crack down on Middle East-funded Islamic charities and radical religious figures blamed on young Kosovars joining extremist groups.

U.S.

Work to reopen a bridge that that physically and symbolically divides ethnic Serbs and Albanians in a Kosovo city has reportedly begun. The dpa news agency said construction equipment was in action on August 14 at the Mitrovica Bridge, which spans the Ibar River in the northern city of Mitrovica. The bridge has been closed to cars for more than five years. http://www.rferl.org/content/kosovo-mitrovica-bridge-work-begins/27920745.html

Kosovo's special war crimes court has convicted a former ethnic Albanian guerrilla fighter of war crimes against civilians after the country's war ended. http://www.rferl.org/content/kosovo-court-convicts-former-guerrilla-war-crimes/27909293.html  

Montenegro's police have arrested a Montenegrin suspected of killing at least six ethnic Albanians, including two women, during the late 1990s war in Kosovo. http://www.rferl.org/content/article/27901470.html  

Iran's promotion of its brand of Shi'ite Islam across the Middle East has been obvious for decades, but such activities in Europe largely managed to fly under the radar. But its Balkans-centered efforts have come under scrutiny in recent years, leading to the arrest this week of an Iranian cleric in Kosovo on charges of financing terrorism and money laundering through a nominally nongovernmental organization he operates.

Authorities in Kosovo said on July 25 that they have charged an Iranian man with “financing terrorism and money laundering” through a nongovernmental group he operates called the Qur’an Foundation of Kosova. http://www.rferl.org/content/kosovar-officials-charge-iranian-ngo-leader-with-financing-terror/27879966.html  

The United States is urging Western Balkan countries to intensify efforts to consolidate their democracies. http://www.rferl.org/content/us-urges-western-balkans-to-strengthen-democracy/27850200.html

A Kosovar court sentenced a Serbian citizen to 13 years in jail for "attempted terrorist" activities after he was arrested in Pristina in a vehicle packed with more than 11 kilograms of explosives. The Pristina Basic Court on June 29 found Slobodan Gavric guilty of "intent to intimidate and destabilize the population, and...to destroy the most important political, constitutional, economic, and social structures" of Kosovo. A veterinarian employed in Serbia's Agriculture Ministry, Gavric was arrested on December 25, 2014, when police stopped him in a residential area of Pristina with many emb