Friday 22nd of August 2008
MEDIA HEADLINES IN ENGLISH
You’re listening to NEWS REPORT, a summary of today’s media,
prepared by UNMIK ON AIR
“EULEX merely a technical mission”
Durres, Kosovo highway to cost much more
And the US and Russia deadlocked in the Security Council
KOSOVO
The chief of the EU’s law and order mission to Kosovo, says EULEX
is merely ‘technical’ mission and completely unrelated to
Kosovo’s final status. Yves de Kermabon added Serbs in Kosovo
are opposed to the arrival of the European Union mission because of
political pressure.
EULEX spokeswoman Karin Lindal said yesterday that
the EULEX mission will implement the Constitution of Kosovo and not
the Constitutional Framework “We work according to Kosovo laws,
if there is no such law, then we work according to UNMIK regulations.”
she added.
The Serbian government's message is quite clear that
EULEX is unacceptable without a UN Security Council decision and that
UNMIK is the sole legitimate body that can deal with the problems of
the province's Serbs”, Serbia’s Minister for Kosovo Goran
Bogdanovic said Thursday.
A Kosovo Police Spokesperson has confirmed that the
installation of videos cameras at the Zubin Potok/Zubin Potok gates
has been temporarily suspended Zubin Potok mayor Slavisa Ristic opposed
setting up cameras at the crossings, pointing out that not KPS but internationals
authorities should deal with such technical matters.
Serbia's foreign minister said that U.S. and Western
support for Kosovo's secession from Serbia has helped fuel tensions
in Georgia's separatist province of South Ossetia. "We have pointed
out to the international community from the very start that the unilateral
declaration of independence by Kosovo could present a dangerous precedent,"
the Minister said
Kosovo Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni, on an official
visit to Prague, laid a wreath at the grave of Czech student Jan Palach,
who burned himself in death in reaction to the August 21, 1968 soviet
invasion of Czechoslovakia, on the occasion of its 40-year anniversary.
The Austrian Embassy in Pristina announced yesterday,
that Austria will recognize Republic of Kosovo Passports
Regional
The Albanian Government admits the highway linking the country’s
coast with Kosovo will cost €630 million, €200 million more
than the original contract of €418 million. The admission comes
in a letter by Albania’s government to the International Monetary
Fund. The highway, which links the port of Durres with Kosovo, is the
country’s biggest public works project in decades.
It is in the interest of the Czech Republic and Slovakia
that Croatia joins the European Union as soon as possible, Czech and
Slovak prime ministers Mirek Topolanek and Robert Fico said in Prague
on Thursday. Formal obstacles resulting from the Irish "no"
to the Lisbon treaty must not stand in the way of Croatia's EU accession,
Fico said.
The temporary relocation of the European Parliament
to Brussels next month from Strasbourg has reignited a row about where
it should be based. An EU official has confirmed that about 200sq m
of the buildings ceiling caved in on 7 August and that the building
cannot be used. European law obliges the parliament to meet in Strasbourg
12 times a year. The total annual cost of the Strasbourg shuttle is
estimated to be 203million euros
International
The UN Security Council looks set for deadlock today over the situation
in Georgia. Washington says it is prepared to veto a Russian resolution
seeking to implement a six-point ceasefire plan. Russia has reiterated
its opposition to a rival French text, reaffirming Georgia's territorial
integrity.
Iraq's foreign minister has said Iraq and the US are
"very close" to a deal on the future of US forces in Iraq.
US troops' immunity from prosecution and the timing of a US pull-out
remain to be resolved, while draft deal being discussed includes a commitment
that US troops will start to pull out of Iraq's cities from next summer,
moving to large bases out of public view.
Senior politicians are due to meet in Pakistan to
try to resolve disputes which threaten to break up the coalition government.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said his party will pull out,
unless judges sacked by ex-President Pervez Musharraf are immediately
reinstated. The other disagreement is over who should succeed Mr Musharraf,
following his resignation on Monday.
Weather
Today will be sunny with a low tonight of 14 degrees; tomorrow will
be sunny with a high of 32 degrees Celsius.
And that’s all for today, thank you for listening.