logo
Five facts about Kosovo: three flags, pop royalty and love of US

Five facts about Kosovo: three flags, pop royalty and love of US

Yahoo07-02-2025

Kosovo, one of Europe's poorest countries beset with rocky relations with its larger neighbour Serbia, holds parliamentary elections Sunday.
Here are five things to know about the former Serbian province, which broke away from Belgrade in a bloody war in the 1990s and is still pushing for full global recognition of its statehood.
- America the great -
Kosovo's reputation as "the most pro-American country" in the world continues to be visible on the streets.
The love for all things American is rooted in gratitude for Washington's support during Kosovo's struggle for independence from Serbia, including the US-led NATO intervention that ended the war in 1999.
The capital Pristina is home to a statue of former US president Bill Clinton, a bust of former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and a boulevard named after George W. Bush.
Klinton and Medllin -- a Kosovar twist on Clinton and Madeleine -- are also popular names for children born after the conflict.
With popularity also comes influence.
Washington wields heavy clout in Pristina, leading to the joke that Kosovo has two governments: one that is elected and another in the super-modern US embassy, perched on a hill overlooking Pristina.
- Pop stars and diaspora -
Kosovo is home to around 1.6 million people, with another 800,000 estimated to be living abroad, mostly in Germany and Switzerland.
The diaspora is a hefty economic force, sending home millions of euros in vital remittances annually, while also spending an untold amount of cash during summer holidays.
Kosovo is also home to one of Europe's youngest populations, with half aged under 25.
However, it has one of the highest youth unemployment rates, which together with the poverty level of just above 19 percent, is a major factor in pushing people to emigrate.
Some of Kosovo's most famous ambassadors are its diaspora pop stars, including the UK-raised Dua Lipa and Rita Ora, who both speak proudly of their Kosovo roots and do not miss a chance to promote its independence.
- Three flags -
Three different flags can be found flying across Kosovo.
The official flag bears the diamond shape of its territory and six stars symbolising the six main ethnic groups on a blue background.
It is jokingly called a "towel" by members of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, who believe the flag was adopted largely to please Western patrons who wanted a neutral symbol.
But the colours more commonly flown across Kosovo are the pan-Albanian symbol of a black double-headed eagle on a red background, which is also the official flag of neighbouring Albania.
The exception is in enclaves home to Kosovo's Serb minority, who still fly the Serbian tricolour flag as a symbol of their loyalty to Belgrade.
- Recognition -
Kosovo declared independence in 2008 -- a decision that was recognised by more than 100 nations, according to its foreign ministry.
Serbia, however, has fiercely refused to recognise the young democracy and with help of Russia and China has lobbied heavily against its international recognition and played a pivotal role in helping block its UN membership.
In 2017, Belgrade launched a "derecognition campaign" aiming to persuade countries that have recognised Kosovo to reverse that decision.
Serbia said it has succeeded in convincing some 28 countries to revoke their recognition of Kosovo to date.
However, the "derecognition campaign" is not without controversy.
Kosovo authorities have accused Serbia of spreading disinformation, saying that they had not received a single official communique from any of the countries Serbia has alleged no longer recognises the government in Pristina.
- Moderate Islam -
More than 90 percent of Kosovars identify as Muslim, making it one of Europe's few Muslim-majority territories.
Most followers of the faith in Kosovo practise a liberal form of Sunni Islam.
Research shows that for many, religion is a private matter and ethnicity takes precedence.
"The religion of the Albanians is Albanianism," goes one common saying in the Balkans.
But recent years have seen growing pockets of extremism, leading authorities to crack down on a handful of radical clerics.
ih-ds/fg

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Members of the Fulbright scholarship board resign, accusing Trump of meddling

time28 minutes ago

Members of the Fulbright scholarship board resign, accusing Trump of meddling

All 12 members of the board overseeing the prestigious Fulbright scholarships on Wednesday resigned in protest of what they call the Trump administration's meddling with the selection of award recipients, according to a statement. A statement published online by the board members said the administration usurped the board's authority by denying awards to 'a substantial number of people' who already had been chosen. Another 1,200 award recipients who were already approved to come to the U.S. are undergoing an unauthorized review process that could lead to their rejection, the board members said. 'To continue to serve after the Administration has consistently ignored the Board's request that they follow the law would risk legitimizing actions we believe are unlawful and damage the integrity of this storied program and America's credibility abroad,' the statement reads. Congress established the Fulbright program nearly 80 years ago to promote international exchange and American diplomacy. The highly selective program awards about 9,000 scholarships annually in the U.S. and in more than 160 other countries to students, scholars, and professionals in a range of fields. A message seeking comment was left with the State Department, which runs the scholarship program. The resignations were first reported by The New York Times. The intervention from the Trump administration undermined the program's merit-based selection process and its insulation from political influence, the board members wrote. 'We believe these actions not only contradict the statute but are antithetical to the Fulbright mission and the values, including free speech and academic freedom, that Congress specified in the statute,' the statement said. 'It is our sincere hope that Congress, the courts, and future Fulbright Boards will prevent the administration's efforts to degrade, dismantle, or even eliminate one of our nation's most respected and valuable programs.' Award recipients are selected in a yearlong process by nonpartisan staff at the State Department. The recipients who had their awards canceled are in fields including biology, engineering, medical sciences, and history, the board members said. The announcement comes as the Trump administration ratchets up scrutiny of international students on several fronts. The administration has expanded the grounds for revoking foreign students' legal status, and recently paused scheduling of new interviews for student visas as it increases vetting of their social media activity. The government also has moved to block foreign students from attending Harvard as it pressures the Ivy League school to adopt a series of reforms. ___ standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at

Russia sends its most valuable planes as far away from Ukraine as possible
Russia sends its most valuable planes as far away from Ukraine as possible

Yahoo

time30 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Russia sends its most valuable planes as far away from Ukraine as possible

Russia has scattered its most valuable warplanes to a remote airbase in the far east of the country, after a surprise Ukrainian drone attack devastated its strategic bomber fleet last Sunday. Two Tupolev Tu-160 planes have been moved 4,000 miles from the front lines to the remote Anadyr airbase, which can only be accessed by air and sea, satellite imagery showed. Located on the desolate Chukotka Peninsula, the airfield is around 410 miles from Alaska and was set up during the Cold War to defend Russia from potential US attacks. The supersonic Tu-160 bombers can carry nuclear weapons and are by far the most expensive in Russia's inventory, with a price tag of around $500 million per unit. By comparison, the B-52 Stratofortress, the mainstay of the US's bomber fleet, has an estimated value of roughly $94 million. In addition to being expensive, Tu-160s are rare. Russia is thought to have only 16 operational airframes, and Ukraine said it damaged some in last Sunday's attacks. Prof Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow for air power at the Royal United Services Institute, told the i newspaper that imagery from the Anadyr base could suggest Moscow was trying to reduce the risk of more drone attacks. Dubbed 'Operation Spider's Web', the June 1 strikes were the result of 18 months of meticulous planning by Ukraine's security service (SBU), which on Wednesday released a video detailing how the strikes played out. Agents smuggled 'cheap drones' into Russia, 'right under the nose' of the Russian security agency, captions from the video read. These drones were placed inside modified wooden cabins mounted on the back of lorries, then driven to locations near their targets by drivers who were seemingly unaware of their cargo. Once near the airbases, the cabins released the drones to attack aircraft on the bases. 'Everything was planned down to the second,' the video explained. 'It happened simultaneously in three different time zones, involving 117 drones.' 'The SBU's web was to entangle all of Russia,' it said. The SBU planned to attack five airfields, although only four were hit, as drones exploded prematurely while en route to a base in Russia's far east. Admiral Pierre Vandier, Nato's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, lauded the operation, saying it was a reinvention of the 'Trojan horse method', with new 'technical and industrial creativity'. Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, on Wednesday said Moscow's nuclear deterrence 'has not suffered significant damage', and that the affected equipment 'can and will be restored'. Experts, however, said it would take years for Russia to recover from the assault, which Ukrainian officials estimated caused $7 billion worth of damage. Several Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers are believed to have been destroyed in the operation. Kyiv said last week that Russia had used a Tu-160 to launch a cruise strike against Ukraine. It claimed this indicated a shortage of Tu-95s and Tu-22s, as Moscow usually uses these older models for strikes rather than the more expensive and scarce Tu-160. Both the Tu-95 and Tu-22 are no longer produced. Russia does assemble new Tu-160s, however only two are thought to have been completed since 2022. Though the Tu-160 is a Soviet-era design, in 2018 the Russian ministry of defence ordered 10 new airframes at a cost of 160 billion roubles. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.

Judge sides with city of Austin in lawsuit involving former American-Statesman site
Judge sides with city of Austin in lawsuit involving former American-Statesman site

Yahoo

time30 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Judge sides with city of Austin in lawsuit involving former American-Statesman site

A judge this week ruled in favor of the city of Austin in a case involving the former American-Statesman site just south of downtown along Lady Bird Lake. The ruling denied a motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit filed by the Save Our Springs Alliance, an environmental watchdog group. The lawsuit alleged that the Austin City Council violated key provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act in 2022 when it approved a special type of zoning known as a planned unit development, or PUD, for the former Statesman site. The lawsuit sought to void the council's Dec. 2, 2022 vote to approve the PUD, based on the alleged open meetings violations. The Statesman moved several years ago from the site at 305 S. Congress Ave. to a new location near the airport. In arguing their case before District Judge Jan Soifer on May 15, Save Our Springs attorneys Bobby Levinski and Bill Bunch contended that the council granted the PUD zoning in violation of two key mandates of the Texas Open Meetings Act: proper public notice, and a reasonable opportunity for the public to speak before the vote was taken. Levinski said today that the Save Our Springs Alliance might appeal the ruling. "Given the importance of this case for governmental transparency and proper enforcement of the Texas Open Meetings Act, we'll be evaluating our options for appeal," Levinski said. "This case ultimately impacts the ability of residents to weigh in on important matters that affect their community, including the relocation of the Hike and Bike Trail and removal of the natural, tree-lined aesthetic of the Lady Bird Lake shoreline. Every case has its challenges, and we may need to work on it a little longer to ultimately prevail." More: Lawsuit seeks to halt planned redevelopment of former Statesman site on Lady Bird Lake Casey Dobson and Sara Wilder Clark represented the landowner, the Cox family of Atlanta, along with Austin-based Endeavor Real Estate Group. The Cox family hired Endeavor several years ago to create plans to redevelop the prime waterfront site. The site formerly housed the newspaper offices and printing plant. Cox sold the Statesman but retained ownership of the 18.9-acre site, a property many developers had long coveted and said was ripe for new development. Dobson did not immediately respond to an email for comment about the ruling and what it means for future plans to transform the property into a mixed-use project with high-rise buildings and other uses, which could include housing, office and retail development. Richard Suttle Jr., an Austin attorney and the spokesperson for the planned redevelopment, said he hasn't seen a final judgment yet in the case, so couldn't comment on what it might mean for the future planned redevelopment. Dan Richards represented the city in the lawsuit. Richards said Soifer's ruling, signed Monday, means "the trial court case is basically over." At last month's hearing, Richards told Soifer that voiding the PUD could jeopardize the developer's ability, in the current economic climate, to secure a new amendment offering the same level of community benefits — such as 6.5 acres of green space — at the site. At the same hearing, Dobson and Wilder Clark said the PUD zoning change was properly noticed, and the public was given sufficient opportunity to speak at nine different meetings. However, Levinski said that, while the PUD was listed on the council agenda as a zoning item, that posting was misleading because it failed to provide "full disclosure of the subjects to be discussed." The proposed PUD ordinance encompassed "numerous provisions that extend well beyond traditional zoning regulations," Levinski told Soifer. Those included "sweeping changes" to environmental protections and other city land-use codes, including a failure to disclose height limits, setbacks and the elimination of two restrictive covenants. "There are so many different parts of this (PUD) ordinance that are not zoning, yet it was sold to public as a rezoning," Levinski said. The zoning changes included modifications to the Lady Bird Lake shoreline; the relocation of the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail inland away from the lake; the removal of more than 90 mature trees; code waivers; and "amendments to almost every chapter of Austin's land development code," Levinski told Soifer. In arguing their case before Soifer, Leviniski and Bunch said that the Texas Open Meetings Act requires a public notice identifying these major changes to city standards and a public 'right to speak' on them before council granted the approvals. The Cox owners and Endeavor have the right to build high-rises — up to 725 feet tall — within 140 feet of Lady Bird Lake. The development would be "forever exempt from a plethora of water quality, parkland and lakeshore rules and regulations," according to the Save Our Springs Alliance. "The key here is the Statesman PUD went beyond zoning," Levinski said. "This didn't give sufficient notice to the public to say what is occurring with this zoning." Among other issues, he said the PUD included "non-zoning provisions, including items the council doesn't have authority over." There was a way the city could have described with greater detail what was occurring with the zoning case, "but they chose not to, and it's deceptive that they chose not to," Levinski said. The level of specificity "gets enhanced" when the issue involves matters of "significant public interest," Levinski said. "It's not enough to rely on the assumption that the general public may have knowledge of the subject matter." Dobson and Wilder Clark, however, told Soifer that the public notices complied with the Texas Open Meetings Act. The notices properly and adequately disclosed the subject of the PUD at various meetings on the council's printed public agenda, Dobson and Wilder Clark said. Moreover, all the details that Save Our Springs claims were lacking from the notice were available at "the click of a link" in backup materials on the council's online agenda, Wilder Clark said. "Not only did (the public) get to talk in meetings, but they got to submit written testimony," Wilder Clark said. She also noted that the council postponed meetings on the case. Showing slides of newspaper articles, Dobson said the proposed redevelopment of the Statesman site was front-page news. He said the case was "noticed out of the wazoo." "(Opponents) think this was done in the dark of night, with adequate notice to nobody," Dobson said. "In fact, the polar opposite happened." Dobson said no special notice was required, and opponents "didn't need it. They wrote letters, they spoke at length to (the city) Planning Commission and City Council. This did not take place under the shroud of secrecy," Dobson said. Countering the city's arguments, Bunch said the city "invented out of whole cloth" its position that it upheld the open meetings act, saying "there's no support for that in the entire body of open meetings cases." Early in the hearing, Dobson showed a photo of the current Statesman site "in all its glory," showing a low-slung building surrounded by a near vacant parking lot with lots of asphalt and concrete. Attorneys for the city and the developer stated that "virtually no one" opposes the proposed development, which may include condominiums, apartments, a hotel, office space and retail areas. Noting the site's popularity as a prime location for viewing the famed bat colony under the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge, they emphasized the new development will enhance the bat viewing area. Additionally, they said the project has the support of bat conservation groups. Last year, the Save Our Springs Alliance won a lawsuit contesting the city's creation of a special financing district, a so-called tax increment reinvestment zone, to fund infrastructure improvements within the proposed Statesman redevelopment project. A judge ruled that financing method unlawful. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Judge rules for city in case involving former Statesman site

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store