Balkans

As Nizam* sped toward Italy on a crowded migrant boat, he filmed what he believed was the final stretch of his harrowing journey.

The 21-year-old house painter from Bangladesh held up his phone, framing his face before panning to roughly 50 others packed onto the white fiberglass vessel. Behind him, a man covered his eyes with his hands, seemingly in tears, while another, smiling, patted him on the back. The boat’s stern sat low as it cut through the twinkling Mediterranean.

Outcome of trial may depend on whether James Rubin’s testimony – that Thaci was just a ‘front man’ for the KLA – is deemed credible.

On Monday, September 17, a rhetorical thunderclap shook the trial of Hashim Thaci and three co-defendants at the Kosovo Special Court in The Hague, KSC, as the defence presented its first witness, James Rubin, a former US Assistant Secretary of State from 1997 to 2000.

On August 26, Kosovo’s parliament finally managed to elect a Speaker, Dimal Basha of Vetevendosje, some seven months after general elections took place. Citizens of Kosovo and political observers alike breathed a sigh of relief, hoping this could be the beginning of the end of a frustrating political crisis.

The celebrations may have been premature. With the Speaker elected, the process of constituting Kosovo’s Parliament hit another, apparently insurmountable, hurdle, over the election of a deputy speaker drawn from the Kosovo Serb community. Another intervention by the Constitutional Court is likely to be needed. Meanwhile, negotiations on forming a government have yet to start.

Direktor Uprave za vanjske poslove i dijasporu Rijaseta Islamske zajednice u Bosni i Hercegovini, Muhamed Jusić, danas se u prostorijama Akademije nauka i umjetnosti Bosne i Hercegovine sastao s akademikom Mirkom Pejanovićem, potpredsjednikom Akademije i nekadašnjim članom Predsjedništva Republike Bosne i Hercegovine.

With a new season of ‘Big Brother VIP Kosova’ around the corner, calls are growing for greater moderation of violent, hate-filled content and better media literacy.

Eighteen-year-old Dea Hamiti has watched all three seasons of the Kosovo edition of Big Brother VIP. So have all her friends.

With media outlets in Kosovo and the region increasingly concentrated in the hands of major business moguls, journalists say censorship to protect the owners’ interests has become ‘the norm’.

A six-month investigation, involving over thirty sources, most of whom requested to remain anonymous due to consequences they fear they may face. This journalistic piece reveals that with the expansion of the media market in Kosovo, large businesses are increasingly taking control of journalistic work.