Kosovo government

AFP 2016/ ATTILA KISBENEDEK

PRISTINA - The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has assigned the "geographic area" of Kosovo the +383 dialling code pursuant to the Brussels agreement on telecommunications and a formal letter from Serbia.

Despite reports that the Kosovo government will push ahead with the establishment of an autonomous Association of Serbian Municipalities in the mainly Serbian north of the country, officials have confirmed to BIRN that an agreement is not in sight yet.

Kosovo is to get its own international dialing code after reaching a telecoms deal with Serbia, officials said on Sunday.

According to a Kosovo government statement, the Minister for Dialogue Edita Tahiri said the ITU would allocate the new code to Kosovo on December 15.

A year after Kosovo government announced it had reached an agreement with the World Bank and the US company Contour Global to build a new power plant, the bank is still far from committing itself to the project.

BRUSSELS - A plan for the next stage of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue that was presented by Kosovo's Minister for Dialogue Edita Tahiri on Wednesday is, in fact, an old document put together by the Kosovo government more than two years ago, diplomatic sources close to the negotiation process between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels have told Tanjug.

Since taking up office as Kosovo's head of state in February, President Hashim Thaci seems to have moved away from the limelight.

In government as Prime Minister, Thaci supported the establishment of the Specialist Chambers in the Hague, a new court that will deal with war crimes committed in Kosovo during 1998-2000.

Marko Djuric says it is "impermissible" for Edita Tahiri's report on Brussels agreement implementation to be included in the Chapter 35 negotiating framework.

Tahiri is a minister in the Kosovo government, in charge of the ongoing Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, while the chapter in question, a part of Serbia's EU accession negotiations, relates to Kosovo.

BELGRADE - Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic spoke at a debate in Belgrade with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who urged Serbia to recognize the independence of Kosovo, saying it would benefit regional stability.

Vucic said on Tuesday that the Serbian government rejected Pristina's decision to put the Trepca complex in the Serb-majority north of Kosovo under its control.

"This mining complex is vital for the survival of Serbs in the north of Kosovo… For us, this decision is null and void," Vucic told a press conference in Belgrade.

BELGRADE - It is still unknown who set on fire the unfinished Temple of Christ the Savior in downtown Pristina. Office for KiM once again warns of the danger of growing Albanian extremism and chauvinism in the southern Serbian province.