Wednesday 6th August 2008 MEDIA HEADLINES IN ENGLISH

You’re listening to NEWS REPORT, a summary of today’s media, prepared by UNMIK ON AIR

Thaci rules out negotiations with Serbia
17 Albanians sentenced in Montenegro, and
Rwanda to reveal details of 1994 genocide

KOSOVO
There will be no negotiations on the Kosovo police, justice and customs or any of the six points suggested by Ban Ki-moon, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said yesterday. He said only the Constitution of Kosovo will be respected and not “ad hoc statements from whomever”, and that the biggest boss in Kosovo is the people of Kosovo.

The UN Security Council will meet to discuss the UN report on last March’s events in northern Mitrovica. Informal discussions already took place last week when the Russian Ambassador strongly criticized UNMIK’s former leadership of authorizing the police operation against protesters in the north.

Three Kosovo Serb teenagers were arrested yesterday in Mitrovica. A running fight between Serb and Albanian youth broke out late Monday night in the northern part of the divided town. Three civilians and one UNMIK police officer were injured, while considerable material damage was caused to cars and shops in the area.

The situation in the north of Mitrovica is a consequence of UNMIK’s bad management, according to Nuredin Ibishi, a Kosovo security analyst. He added that UNMIK never ceased negotiating with Serb parallel structures and Serbian interior ministry, and it never informed Kosovo local authorities about these confidential talks.

Former US diplomat Morton Abramovitz said that Kosovo institutions did not do a good job regarding the recognition of Kosovo. “The West and Kosovo have not done the job well in order to increase the number of states that recognize independence of Kosovo,” Abramovitz said.

At a meeting yesterday with the Prime Minister, Fehmi Mujota was appointed as the first Minister of the Security Forces of Kosovo. Mujota believes that the partnership with the International Community will deepen, while he expected support from KFOR in order to provide peace and security for all, and create a multiethnic Force.

Kosovo’s anti-corruption agency presented its recent report of the agency to the Government. Head of the agency, Hasan Preteni said €6 million has been lost due to corruption in the present Government. He also criticized lack of support by courts, since 10 corruption cases involving courts have been rejected as groundless.

REGION
A court in Podgorica yesterday convicted 17 Albanians, including four US citizens, of plotting a rebellion, and possessing illegal weapons around the time Montenegro became independent of Serbia in 2006. The judge sentenced the defendants to 51 years in prison ranging from three months to six and a half years.

Serbia's war crimes prosecution said yesterday it has charged the former mayor of Zvornik, in connection with the murder of some 700 Bosnian Muslims at the start of Bosnia's war in 1992. Branko Grujic was indicted along with former local military chief Branko Popovic for "war crimes committed against civilians".

Bulgarian dairy farmers intend to extend a nationwide strike and carry out acts of civil disobedience in protest over unpaid subsidies, a milk producers' representative said.
Protests by farmers were prompted by an EU decision to suspend aid under the SAPARD agricultural plan, and by failures to pay diary producers subsidies for milk.

INTERNATIONAL
Rwanda's government is to reveal details of a report containing allegations of French involvement in the country's 1994 genocide. The report is expected to contain the names of those alleged to be implicated and the accusations against them. Earlier this year France responsibility in the genocide, but political errors had been made.

Israel says it has carried out its last major airlift of Ethiopian Jews, ending a 30-year immigration scheme that has seen some 100,000 move there. But campaigners said thousands more Ethiopians of Jewish descent, known as the Falash Mura, should be admitted as they trace their roots to the biblical King Solomon.

WEATHER
It will be sunny today, reaching 27C, with overnight lows of 16C. The sun will continue to shine tomorrow, reaching 27C.

And that’s all for today, thank you for listening.