BIRN Kosovo News and Events

The highlight of Life in Kosovo this month was the episode which featured exclusive interviews with Madeleine Albright, the former US Secretary of State; the three members of the Kosovo Negotiating Team, namely Fatmir Sejdiu, president of Kosovo, Agim Ceku, prime minister, Hashim Thaçi, leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo; and Haki Abazi from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

This Friday’s Life in Kosovo will look into an alarming increase in violence among high-school students.

In the municipality of Podujeva, a student was recently caught carrying a firearm, while in Pristina rioting and knife fights between students ended up with a number hospitalised.

Muhamet Hajrullahu, a BIRN Kosovo journalist, took part in the “Generation Europe: Regional Youth Conference”, in Zagreb on May 11, 2007.

This Friday, the Life in Kosovo TV debate will feature an exclusive interview with Mehmet Gjevori which was conducted shortly before the death of the well-known author of works on education and linguistics.

BIRN’s televised debate Life in Kosovo will for the first time on Kosovo television discuss the orientation and ideologies of local political parties.

Jeta Xharra, BIRN Kosovo Director participated in a conference entitled “Ready to Govern: Developing a Strategy for Kosovo’s First 120 Days” .

This next Life in Kosovo show will discuss the controversial imposition of Value Added Tax, VAT, on NGOs.

Since January 1, 2007, many humanitarian organisations have been complaining that they are not able to bring humanitarian aid into Kosovo because of the high taxes.

BIRN’s televised show Life in Kosovo, in its upcoming edition on April 6, will discuss economic issues and the problems Kosovo will face once its political status is determined.

BIRN and the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, ICTY, are organising two seminars on reporting about the work of the ICTY for journalists from Kosovo and Macedonia next week in Pristina and Skopje.

The upcoming edition of BIRN’s Life in Kosovo TV show on March 23 will look at the return of refugees and displaced persons to the territory.

On 9 March 2007, BIRN’s televised debate show will address the issue of visas and the numerous difficulties Kosovars have when seeking to travel abroad.

Life in Kosovo will look at the extent to which citizens are informed about procedures for obtaining visas, what diplomatic offices in Pristina offer, whether the territory is to be covered by visa liberalisation policies and who should negotiate for concessions in this regard.

The Life in Kosovo show this Friday, 02 March, will discuss electricity in Kosovo, with a particular focus on the new power plant Thermo Central Kosova.

BIRN’s Life in Kosovo television show, in its 23 February edition, will look at how key texts published by Kosovo academics and scholars plagiarise others’ work.

With recent cases exposing how medical professors published books passing off the work of foreign authors as their own, the debate will also address more general concerns about the quality of studies at the Public University of Pristina.

This week’s show on Friday, February 16, features analysis and comment on developments since the February 10 protest in Pristina.

Two people died and over 80 were injured in the violent protest against the UN proposal for Kosovo’s final status organised by the Vetevendosje (self-determination) movement.

BIRN Kosovo staff made a number of regional and international media appearances in the last few weeks, in conjunction with the coming out of the plan for Kosovo’s final status.