PRISTINA: Kosovo votes on Sunday after a combative election campaign in which opposition candidates clashed with Prime Minister Albin Kurti over the economy, corruption and relations with the country’s old foe and neighbor Serbia.
Kurti, a leftist and Albanian nationalist, came to power in the small Balkan country in 2021 when a coalition run by his Vetevendosje party received more than 50 percent of votes and secured a seven-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament.
Political analysts say his popularity has been bolstered by moves to extend government control in Kosovo’s ethnic Serb-majority north. But critics say he has failed to deliver on education and health, and his policies in the north have distanced the country from its traditional allies, the European Union and the United States.
The EU placed economic curbs on the country in 2023 for its role in stoking tensions with ethnic Serbs, cutting at least 150 million euros ($155 million) in funding, Reuters has found.
A drop below 50 percent of the votes for Kurti’s party could potentially prompt coalition talks after the election.
Leading opposition parties include the center-right Democratic League of Kosovo which has campaigned on restoring relations with the United States and the EU, and joining NATO; and the Democratic Party of Kosovo, also center-right, which was founded by former guerilla fighters of Kosovo Liberation Army.
Nearly two million voters are registered in Kosovo. Voting starts at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) and ends at 7 p.m. Exit polls are expected soon after, and results later into the night.
KURTI’S DIVISIVE RHETORIC IN FOCUS
Kurti’s government has overseen some gains. Unemployment has shrunk from 30 percent to around 10 percent, the minimum wage is up and last year the economy grew faster than the Western Balkans average.
He says his policies in the north, which include reducing the long-held autonomy of Serbs living in Kosovo, are helping to bring ethnic Serbs and Albanians together under one system of government. But his rhetoric worries centrist politicians.
“When you have a bad neighbor, then you have to keep your morale high and your rifle full,” he said in a campaign speech near the Serbian border this week.
Differences of opinion have contributed to a bitter war of words with the opposition. The Elections Complaints and Appeals Panel, which monitors party and candidates’ complaints, has issued more than 650,000 euros in fines to parties this election season, three times the 2021 tally, data from NGO Democracy in Action show.
Kosovo, Europe’s newest country, gained independence from Serbia in 2008 with backing from the United States, which included a 1999 bombing campaign against Serbian forces.
Kosovo heads to election clouded by tensions with Serbia
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Kosovo heads to election clouded by tensions with Serbia
- A drop below 50 percent of the votes for Kurti’s party could potentially prompt coalition talks after the election
Bangladesh reintroduces ‘except Israel’ phrase on passports
Israel is a flashpoint issue in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, which does not recognize it.
The phrase “valid for all countries except Israel,” which was printed on Bangladeshi passports for decades, was removed during the later years of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s tenure.
Nilima Afroze, a deputy secretary at the home ministry, told Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) news agency on Sunday that authorities had “issued a directive last week” to restore the inscription.
“The director general of the department of immigration and passport was asked to take necessary measures to implement this change,” local newspaper The Daily Star quoted Afroze as saying Sunday.
In 2021, the words “except Israel” were removed from passports, although the then government under Hasina clarified that the country’s stance on Israel had not changed.
The country’s support for an independent Palestinian state was visible on Saturday when around 100,000 people gathered in Dhaka in solidarity with Gaza.
The Gaza war broke out after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
A fragile ceasefire between the warring parties fell apart last month and Gaza’s health ministry said Sunday that at least 1,574 Palestinians had been killed since then, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,944.
British lawmakers urge Foreign Office to recognize Palestine at French-Saudi conference
- ‘We need to do it with friends,’ Emily Thornberry MP says
- Meeting will be held at UN in June as calls for recognition grow
LONDON: Labour Party lawmakers in Britain are urging the Foreign Office to recognize a Palestinian state at a French-Saudi international conference scheduled for June.
France and Saudi Arabia will co-chair a meeting at the UN to gather support for recognizing Palestinian statehood, which French President Emmanuel Macron described as a critical moment.
Member of Parliament Emily Thornberry said the conference provided an opportunity for the UK, The Guardian reported.
“We need to do it with friends. We need to do it with the French. There are a lot of other countries sitting back and waiting,” the Labour lawmaker said.
There would be no Palestine left to recognize if Western countries did not act soon, she said.
Chris Doyle, the chair of the Council on Arab-British Understanding, said that recognizing a Palestinian state should have occurred long ago and acknowledgment now by France and the UK, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, would send a powerful message globally.
He also warned about Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, including the annexation drive and settlement expansion, which he said further hindered the establishment of a Palestinian state.
There was no immediate response from the Foreign Office but its position is that the UK will recognize Palestine at an “appropriate moment of maximum impact.”
Some Labour MPs have criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza, while Tel Aviv refused entry to the West Bank to two of them earlier this month.
During a France 5 interview last week, Macron said: We must move toward recognition (of the Palestinian state) and so, in the coming months, we will.
“I also want to participate in a collective dynamic, which must allow all those who defend Palestine to recognize Israel in turn, which many of them do not do.”
France is organizing and chairing the conference along with Saudi Arabia, which is adamant in its support for establishing a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 war borders, including the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
During a speech at the Extraordinary Arab and Islamic Summit in Riyadh in November, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
A total of 147 of the 193 UN member countries have officially recognized Palestinian statehood, including Spain, Ireland and Norway. France, Canada, Italy and Germany are among those yet to do so.
Two prison officers stabbed by Manchester bombing plotter in stable condition
- Two male officers sustained life-threatening injuries including burns, scalds and stab wounds in the attack
- A female officer was released from the hospital on Saturday
LONDON: Two prison officers allegedly stabbed by one of the plotters of a deadly bomb attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, eight years ago are in a stable condition in the hospital, the union representing them said Sunday.
Hashem Abedi, who in August 2020 was convicted of 22 counts of murder and sentenced to at least 55 years in prison for helping plan the 2017 attack, threw hot cooking oil over three officers on Saturday before stabbing them with “home-made weapons,” according to the Prison Officers Association.
Two male officers sustained life-threatening injuries including burns, scalds and stab wounds in the “unprovoked” and “vicious” attack at Frankland prison in the northeast of England, it added.
A female officer was released from the hospital on Saturday.
The union’s national chairman, Mark Fairhurst, said the attack was carried out in a separation center where inmates are allowed to use cooking facilities.
“To allow that type of prisoner to access the kitchen and use of the utensils that can be used as weapons against staff, and can inflict serious harm on staff, that needs to be removed immediately,” he told the BBC. “We’re now worried about the knock-on effect of this and copycat incidents.”
Abedi was convicted of assisting with the Manchester terror plot, in which his suicide bomber brother Salman Abedi killed 22 people by detonating a a bomb hidden in a knapsack as fans were leaving the Grande concert. In addition to those killed, more than 260 people were wounded and hundreds of others were left with psychological injuries.
Counterterrorism officials are leading the investigation into the attack, with assistance from local police.
Indonesia, Egypt upgrade ties to strategic partnership on Prabowo’s Cairo visit
- Jakarta, Cairo established diplomatic ties in 1947
- Prabowo was on a multi-day tour to Middle East
Jakarta: Indonesia and Egypt elevated their ties to a strategic partnership during President Prabowo Subianto’s visit to Cairo, his office said on Sunday.
Prabowo and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi signed the joint declaration following their meeting in the Egyptian capital on Saturday, the Cabinet Secretariat said in a statement.
“The signing of the joint declaration is an important milestone in diplomatic ties between the two countries, signifying Indonesia and Egypt’s strong commitment to elevate bilateral ties to a strategic level,” the statement reads.
“Through this strategic partnership, Indonesia and Egypt are committed to (strengthening) cooperation in various priority fields. From politics, economy, security, defense, culture and education ties, as well as people-to-people relations.”
Subianto was in Cairo as part of his multi-day tour to the Middle East and has visited the UAE and Turkiye. This was his second time in Egypt since taking office in October.
Egypt was one of the first countries to recognize Indonesia’s independence, with the two nations establishing diplomatic ties in 1947.
Both Jakarta and Cairo believe that their “strong and historic partnership” will provide “real benefits” for the country and their peoples, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Egypt ranks third among Indonesia’s top export destinations in the Middle East and North Africa, just after the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
With bilateral trade volume worth around $1.7 billion in 2024, Egypt is Indonesia’s top trade partner in North Africa alone. Palm oil, coffee beans, and coconut oil are some of Indonesia’s main exports to Egypt.
“President Prabowo’s visit to Egypt is very important. The strategic partnership that resulted from it is quite broad and will be beneficial for the future of both countries,” Teuku Rezasyah, an international relations expert from Padjadjaran University in West Java, told Arab News.
While trade has been a big aspect of bilateral ties, defense cooperation will likely be a focus of the strategic partnership, he said.
“The most likely area of focus will be defense cooperation … since Egypt has experience in facing different kinds of challenges at the border,” Rezasyah said, referring to Egypt’s shared land borders with a number of states, including Libya, Sudan, and the occupied Palestinian territory of Gaza.
Through the partnership, Jakarta may be seeking to learn more closely from Cairo’s experience in dealing with various issues in the Middle East, alluding to Prabowo’s ongoing trip to the region that was aimed at boosting Indonesia’s role in ending Israel’s war on Gaza.
A staunch supporter of Palestine, the Indonesian government and people see Palestinian statehood as being mandated by their own constitution, which calls for the abolition of colonialism.
“(Learning from) Egypt’s experience might allow Indonesia to have an active role when crises occur in the Middle East, and there’s a big chance that Indonesia might get a mandate from the UN to do so,” Rezasyah said.
Russian strike on city center of Ukraine’s Sumy kills 32
SUMY: A Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy killed at least 32 people, including two children, and wounded dozens on Sunday, Kyiv said, in the deadliest attack in months.
European leaders expressed indignation at Moscow’s attack on Sumy’s city center, while Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, pointed out it happened on Palm Sunday.
French President Emmanuel Macron said it showed Russia’s “blatant disregard for human lives, international law and the diplomatic efforts of President (Donald) Trump.”
The strike came two days after US envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin and push Trump’s efforts to end the war.
Sumy lies close to the Russian border and has come under increasing attack for weeks.
The local emergency service said on social media that the latest toll was that “32 people died, including two children” and that “84 people were injured, including 10 children.”
An AFP reporter saw bodies covered in silver sheets strewn in the center of the city, with a destroyed trolleybus. Rescuers were seen working on the rubble of a building.
One woman told AFP she heard two explosions.
“This second blow... A lot of people were very badly injured. A lot of corpses,” she said, struggling to speak.
It was the second Russian attack with a large civilian death toll this month. Trump has voiced anger at Moscow for “bombing like crazy” in Ukraine.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow launched a ballistic missile on Sumy and called on the world to put pressure on Russia to end the three-year war.
He called for a “strong response” from Europe and the United States, saying: “Talking has never stopped ballistic missiles and bombs.”
He added that the deadly attack occurred “on a day when people go to church: Palm Sunday, the feast of the Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem.”
Macron said the Russian attack showed what “everyone knows: this war was initiated by Russia alone. And today, it is clear that Russia alone chooses to continue it.”
In a statement on social media, he added: “Strong measures are needed to impose a ceasefire on Russia. France is working tirelessly toward this goal, alongside its partners.”
European Council chief Antonio Costa condemned the “criminal attack,” saying that “this war exists and endures only because Russia chooses so.”
Local authorities in Sumy published footage of bodies strewn on the street and people running for safety, with cars on fire and wounded civilians on the ground.
Russia has relentlessly attacked Ukraine in recent weeks, extending the violence wrought by its all-out invasion that has gone on for more than three years.
In early April, a Russian attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rig killed 18 people, including nine children.
Russia has refused a US-proposed unconditional ceasefire and been accused by Ukraine and its European allies of dragging out the war and seeking to stall efforts for peace negotiations.
Sumy has been under increasing pressure since Moscow pushed back many of Ukraine’s troops from its Kursk region inside Russia, across the border.
The eastern Ukrainian city so far has been spared the kind of fighting seen farther south, in the Donetsk region. But Kyiv for weeks has warned that Moscow could mount an offensive on Sumy.
Russia in recent weeks has claimed the capture of a village in the Sumy region, for the first time since the early days of its 2022 invasion.
Russia launched its invasion partially through the Sumy region and briefly occupied parts of it before being pushed back by Ukrainian forces.
Moscow has not yet commented on the strike.
On Sunday, it said it captured another village in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
