North Mitrovica

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - Pristina's special police raided the offices of the Serbian Directorate for Development Land and Roads and the Directorate for Housing and Office Space in the north of Kosovska Mitrovica on Thursday, expelling around 70 employees who were inside at the time.

US Ambassador to Kosovo Jeffrey Hovenier expressed concerns today about the potential risks associated with reopening the bridge over the Iber River in Mitrovica. Hovenier warned that this action could pose a "real danger" to the safety of NATO troops stationed in Kosovo, including American soldiers, as reported by "KosovaPress."

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Friday that, by land-grabbing in a Serb-majority municipality, Pristina PM Albin Kurti's "occupation gauleiter" in northern Kosovska Mitrovica had taken a new step towards militarisation and occupation of the north of Kosovo-Metohija by Kurti's parapolice.

The newly elected mayor of the Kosovo-Serb majority municipality of North Mitrovica took his oath of office on Friday in a tense atmosphere following extraordinary local elections a month ago that most local Serbs shunned. 

Erden Atic is a member of the ruling Vetvendosje party, which has few members in the town.

Local mayors in the divided town of Mitrovica are to appeal to the Koosvo government to intervene after the four-year dispute over land rights in Kroi i Vitakut, an Albanian-majority neighbourhood in a Serb-dominated area of the municipality, boiled over again in recent weeks.

BELGRADE - Deputy leader of the Citizens' Initiative SDP Ksenija Bozovic said Thursday that she expected the trial against the party leader Oliver Ivanovic to begin before the end of 2015, pointing out that his defense was fully prepared for the trial.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - The parliamentary elections in the north of Kosovo run by the Pristina authorities will be held on Sunday for the first time, preparations are under way as planned and seven polling centers have been opened in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - Councilors of the North Mitrovica municipality, northern Kosovo-Metohija (KiM), have adopted their municipal charter and the newly-elected mayor Goran Rakic was sworn in.

Of the total of 18 councilors present at the meeting late on Wednesday, 13 voted in favor and five voted against the document.