Friday 10th October 2008 MEDIA HEADLINES IN ENGLISH

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

Kosovo neighbours recognize its independence,
Serbia blocks Nazi protests, and
Fears of recession continue in Wall Street

KOSOVO
Both Montenegro and FYR of Macedonia in a coordinated move recognized Kosovo's independence yesterday. Montenegro's Foreign Minister Milan Rocen said
"This is not a decision against Serbia, but for our future.” The Macedonian foreign minister also suggested the move was inevitable and that it corresponds with reality.

Serbia called the moves by its Balkan neighbors a betrayal and expelled the Montenegrin ambassador from Belgrade. Serbia said Montenegro's move was a particular betrayal, given that the country was both a close ally and a neighbor. Montenegro split from Serbia only in 2006, and its officials sided with Serbia during the region's ethnic wars in the 1990s.

The EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn and Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci yesterday signed the Agreement on Economic Support of about 123 million euros in the process of Kosovo’s association to the European Union. These funds are a part of the package promised to Kosovo at the donors’ conference in Brussels.

Opposition political parties have accused Kosovo government for failing to prevent the adoption of the Serb resolution in the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
AAK leader, Ramush Haradinaj said that the endorsement of the Serbian resolution is the worst hit suffered by the state of Kosovo in the last nine months.

Great Britain has decided to withdraw its soldiers from the KFOR reserve corps in Kosovo by the end of this year. British Defense Minister John Hatton said the main events relating to the independence of Kosovo had passed without incident and that the security situation in Kosovo was now stabile, although fragile.

Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said that he had agreed with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, on speeding up the dialogue on the reconfiguration of UNMIK.
“I am optimistic that this process will soon yield positive results”, Jeremic said.

An Albanian resident of the Three Skyscrapers neighbourhood in northern Mitrovica has come to the rescue of his Serb neighbor from three Serb assailants. The Albanian resident came to the rescue of his neighbor after hearing her scream. According to police, the assailants fled to an unknown direction.

First ID card with Kosovo symbols will be presented today in Pristina in a ceremony organized by the Interior Ministry. This comes a few weeks after authorities in Pristina issued its first passports with Kosovo symbols.

Kosovo citizens continue to apply for asylum in European countries. Yesterday Switzerland said the number of asylum seekers increased in the third quarter of the year by almost 40 per cent over the previous three months. More than 4,400 applications have been handed in, among them 405 from Serbia and Kosovo.

REGIONAL
Serbia's police have banned pro- and anti-Nazi rallies scheduled in Belgrade for the weekend. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic says both marches planned for Saturday will be banned because they could trigger violence in the Serbian capital. The decision to ban the anti-Nazi rally has triggered outrage among pro-democracy groups.

Prosecutors in Albania decided on Wednesday to open criminal proceedings against Bosnian businessman Damir Fazlic over alleged illegal financial activity in Albania. According to media reports, Fazlic established improper activities included selling a business worth 1.750m euros that was never active without paying any taxes for the transaction.

The Hague Tribunal sentenced on appeal the former leader of Serbs in Croatia, Milan Martic, to 35 years in prison on Wednesday for ordering atrocities in a region of Croatia. The appeals chamber reaffirmed Martic's guilt on 16 counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, persecutions, torture, deportation, attacks on civilians and destruction of civilian areas.

INTERNATIONAL
Fears of a recession continue as Wall Street markets plunged again. The decline also continued in Asia, where stocks plummeted in early trading today. The US government has invested heavily in U.S. banks but General Motors' stock fell to its lowest price since 1950 on fears it will not be able to weather the downturn.

Thailand's political stalemate erupted into open conflict this week when police clashed with protesters carrying sharpened sticks and iron bars. At least one person was killed and hundreds were injured when the People's Alliance for Democracy, tried to prevent Prime minister Somchai from addressing the opening session of Parliment.

US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates called on NATO allies Thursday to target Afghanistan's drug traffickers as part of a wider effort to confront a resurgent Taliban, which he said is using heroin money to fund the insurgency.

WEATHER
The day will be sunny with possible light rain in the afternoon. During the weekend temperatures will move from 6 to 16 Degrees Celsius.

And that’s the latest. Thank you for listening and goodbye.