Tuesday 19th August 2008 MEDIA HEADLINES IN ENGLISH

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

UNMIK-EULEX technical agreement signed,
Serbia to sell to Gazprom, and
Pakistan President resigns

KOSOVO
The UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) signed a memorandum of understanding Monday with the EU's Rule of Law mission, EULEX. "The technical agreement gives Unmik...the green light for transferring assets to us," including office space, vehicles and other equipment, said a spokeswoman for EULEX.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister yesterday highly evaluated the performance of his Cabinet during its first six months. “The past six months have entered Kosovo’s recent history,” Hashim Thaçi said, adding, “We made decisions on state symbols, a constitution, and Kosovo was recognized by the world’s most powerful countries.”

However, local media criticized Thaci for seeing only successes and not a single failure, which includes the current situation in northern Kosovo or that Kosovo is so far recognized only by 45 countries.

A Serbian official has criticized the Government of Kosovo of wasting too much energy in lobbying for Kosovo’s independence, and leaving aside the problems of its citizens. “I call on the Government to pay more attention to social problems such as employment, and infrastructure projects,” Oliver Ivanovic said

Talking about Kosovo’s north, Thaçi expressed the Government commitment to exercise authority over the entire territory. He added that the Government is willing to invest more in the north, and promised that Customs in the north will be functional soon, especially after deployment of EULEX.

However, the suspension of Customs Director Naim Huruglica by the government last month has led to a conflict between the Government and UNMIK, media report. For UNMIK, according to its spokesman, Huruglica is on regular annual leave; otherwise he would be able to normally carry out the duties of Customs Director.

Commenting on the latest efforts of the Serbian Government to buy Albanians property in the north, Mitrovica Mayor Bajram Rexhepi stated that Serbia is aiming to ethnically cleanse Kosovo’s north. However, he said owners are entitled to decide about their property, adding that he will discourage such sales, calling them politically motivated.

Serbia’s Defense Minister said yesterday that there has been no information so far that would indicate a possibility of a new major conflict in Kosovo, but that isolated incidents are possible. During an inspection of military base being built near Bujanovac, Dragan Sutanovac said that the Serbian army has good cooperation with KFOR.

REGION
Serbia will adhere to the provisions of an energy agreement with Russia that includes the sale of its state-owned oil producer to Gazprom and the construction of part of the South Stream gas pipeline across its territory. “We will stick to the deal,” Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said.

Italy has approved the construction of a 400-kilovolt power link with Albania to boost its electricity imports, the economic development ministry said on Monday. The new interconnector will connect Italy's southern port of Brindisi and Albania's Valona. Its total length will be 155 km with a 130 km long submarine link.

Five wildfires were reported to be active across FYROM, the Crisis Management Centre said on Monday. But the largest one worrying most firefighters is the fire on the Belasica Mountain in the southeast of the country which has been raging since Saturday, engulfing around 100 hectares.

INTERNATIONAL
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, facing impeachment by parliament, has resigned after nine years in power. Leaders of Pakistan's ruling coalition are to meet in Islamabad to discuss who will succeed their long-time opponent.

Russia on Monday pledged to begin withdrawing its troops from Georgia, but there has been no evidence of the tanks, trucks and troops leaving. Meanwhile, American officials said the Russian military had been moving short-range ballistic missile launchers into South Ossetia.

The Israeli cabinet agreed yesterday to release 200 Palestinian prisoners, including two jailed 30 years ago for attacks on Israelis, as a gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. A spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the decision was aimed at bolstering Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.

WEATHER
Today will be sunny with temperatures ranging from a high of 26 to 12 degrees C. And more sun tomorrow, with temperatures reaching highs of 31 degrees Celsius.

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