Monday 8th September 2008 MEDIA HEADLINES IN ENGLISH

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

Holbrooke visits Kosovo,
Serbian opposition leader resigns, and
Pakistan’s new president

KOSOVO
Recognition of Kosovo will be among the topics that the Arab League will discuss today with Serbia’s Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremic, who is in Egypt. The Kosovo Government has decided to lobby for independence from home, as no Kosovo representative will take part in the upcoming Arab League meeting.

US diplomat and broker of the Dayton Peace Accord, Richard Holbrooke, is to address members of Kosovo Assembly in a special session. Holbrooke arrived in Pristina yesterday for his first visit after Kosovo declared independence. He is also expected to meet Kosovo’s leaders and hold a lecture at the University of Pristina.

UNMIK’s chief, Lamberto Zannier, said he is interested to see talks between Pristina and Belgrade but not on the status issue. Zannier said he cannot open new talks on such political issues but only on practical matters.

Kosovo officials have rejected the proposal from Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia that it would recognize independence of Kosovo if in turn Pristina recognizes its independence. A spokesperson of the president said Pristina’s stand is in line with that of the western countries which is to respect Georgia’s integrity.

President of FYR of Macedonia, Branko Crvenkovski, has said the recognition of his country’s constitutional name and border demarcation are issues that will determine whether his country will recognize independence of Kosovo. “These two important issues will affect the forming of our position,” Crvenkovski said.

OSCE’s latest report on human rights, ethnic relations and democracy for the period August 2007 and July 2008, criticizes Kosovo for influencing politically the institutions which should remain independent, like police, justice, and the media. The report does not address responsibilities for the violence in the north in February this year.

The state secretary in the Serbia’s Ministry for Kosovo, Oliver Ivanovic, said that UNMIK “has slowly ruined its credibility, especially the sector dealing with jurisprudence and police.” “The have not solved any serious crime in Kosovo and this puts in question their credibility,” Ivanovic said.

Opposition parties have called on Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni to report before the Assembly, for failing to lobby for Kosovo’s international recognition and for the delay in extending the diplomatic network. They have also called for his resignation. This is expected to be the first issue that the Assembly will attend to in its autumn season.

UNMIK has never given any accountability for the spending of €19 million from the Kosovo Budget allocated for emergency reasons to the Special Representative of the Secretary General in Kosovo. Media report that Ministry of Economy and Finance was never presented with a written report on how these funds were spent.

And talking movies, the ABC cinema in Pristina is smashing its attendance records by showing the movie “Time of the Comet”. Since the premier on Wednesday, the cinema is witnessing a rebirth after a long drought of attendance. A German Albanian production, the movie shows Albania before world war one. A 4,5 m euros production, it is the most expensive Albanian movie of all time.

REGIONAL
Tomislav Nikolic, a key leader of Serbia's nationalist Radical Party has resigned over an inter-party disagreement on a Serbia-EU deal, his party says in a statement. The statement said Nikolic resigned late on Friday both as the chief parliamentary deputy of the Serbian Radical Party, and as a deputy head of the party.

A row has broken out in France after a court postponed a trial, apparently because it was to take place during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. Critics say the decision is a breach of France's strict separation of religion and state. The lawyer said that his client would have been fasting and be in no position to defend himself properly.

A bus carrying mostly elderly Slovakian tourists crashed on a Croatian highway Sunday, killing at least 14 people and injuring 30. The bus skidded off the highway and slammed into a bridge pillar.

INTERNATIONAL
Asif Ali Zardari has won a sweeping victory in Pakistan's presidential election. The election was called after Pervez Musharraf resigned. Zardari faces severe economic problems and a rampant Islamist insurgency that are threatening Pakistan's stability.

Hurricane Ike has hit the northern coast of Cuba, where mass evacuations have taken place. The storm has already left at least 47 people dead in Haiti and is reported to have damaged 80% of homes on the Turks and Caicos islands. Winds of more than 195km/h are hammering the region and torrential rains have caused serious flooding.

WEATHER
Today rain is expected with a high of 34 degrees with a low tonight of 17 degrees; the sun will be out again tomorrow with a high of 23 degrees Celsius

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