World
EU assembles 100-strong observer mission for Kosovo elections
NATO-led international peacekeepers known as KFOR said their 4,300-strong force will be assisted by more than 200 Italian troops during the election period.
An election observation mission has been set up by the European Union to oversee parliamentary elections in Kosovo scheduled for 9 February.
A team of 100 observers will monitor the elections, underlining “continuous EU support for Kosovo to further strengthen its democratic governance,” Nathalie Loiseau, the French member of the European Parliament who has been appointed as chief of the mission said.
She said the election will “showcase the plurality of Kosovo’s political landscape.”
In all, 27 political groupings will run for 120 seats in the parliament.
About 100,000 voters registered abroad have already started casting postal ballots.
The Serb minority has 10 secured seats in the parliament.
Ethnic Serbs make up about 2.3% of Kosovo’s 1.6 million population, according to a 2024 census. Serbs largely boycotted that census and have not accepted the figures, calling them too low.
Loiseau said the elections are being held “at a moment when democracies are questioned, sometimes under threat globally…so the importance of having a vibrant democracy in Kosovo has never been bigger.”
NATO-led international peacekeepers known as KFOR, who have increased their presence in Kosovo after last year’s tensions, said their 4,300-strong force will be buttressed by more than 200 Italian troops during the election period.
In September 2023, Serb gunmen killed a police officer and occupied an Orthodox monastery in an incident Kosovo blamed on Serbia, accusing it of organising a plot to grab its northern territory.
Kosovo again put the blame on Serbia for an explosion that damaged water and power supply systems in November last year.
Belgrade denied both accusations but tensions remain between the two neighbours.
Kosovo was a former Serbian province and declared independence in 2008, a move Belgrade doesn’t recognise.
Both the EU and the United States have urged both sides to implement agreements reached two years ago that include a commitment by Kosovo to establish an Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities.
Serbia was also expected to deliver on de facto recognition of Kosovo.
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By James McManagan, Paul Sonne, Malachy Browne and Jackeline Luna
June 19, 2026
World
Man charged with attempted murder, released after allegedly forcing toddler into crocodile enclosure at zoo
Man FORCES child into crocodile enclosure
A British man has been arrested after allegedly forcing a 3-year-old boy into a crocodile enclosure at a zoo. The child suffered critical injuries, and authorities say the suspect did not know the boy as the investigation continues.
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A man was released from custody on Friday after he was charged with attempted murder for allegedly forcing a 3-year-old boy into a crocodile enclosure at a zoo.
Cambridgeshire police said that the man, who remains unidentified, wasn’t fit to be interviewed.
The boy suffered critical injuries in the incident at Johnsons of Old Hurst, a farm and zoo in Huntingdon, England, north of London.
The 30-year-old man will remain on bail until Sept. 30, pending further inquiries.
GEORGIA MOM’S WALMART TRIP DEVOLVES INTO ‘TUG-OF-WARRING’ IN DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO SAVE HER SON
A crocodile rests inside an enclosure at Johnsons of Old Hurst, a farm and zoo in Old Hurst, Cambridgeshire, Britain, on April 14, 2026. (Dorota Dee Trajdos/Reuters)
“The man, who is not known to the victim, was assessed as not being fit for interview,” police said in a statement.
The boy is in stable condition, after reportedly suffering a broken arm and pelvis.
He was saved from the crocodile by Tracey Johnson, the wife of the zoo’s owner.
MOTHER JUMPS INTO WATER TO SAVE 4-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER WHO FELL BETWEEN CRUISE SHIP AND DOCK
“I know Tracey very well and she’s a lovely lady and it’s nothing more than I’d expect from her,” a local told BBC News. “She’d always put her own life at risk to save someone else. She’s an extraordinary lady and very brave.
The villager added that Johnson put herself in “immense danger” during the rescue.
The owners said their tropical house would remain closed until further notice.
Crocodiles rest inside an enclosure at Johnsons of Old Hurst farm and zoo in Old Hurst, Cambridgeshire, Britain, on April 14, 2026. (Dorota Dee Trajdos/Reuters)
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the boy and his family following the incident that occurred today,” the owners wrote on social media.
Johnsons of Old Hurst is a farm and zoo north of London in Huntingdon, England. (Google Maps)
Huntingdonshire district councillor Charlotte Lowe said she couldn’t “fathom how it’s happened because they’ve got all the right protection and safety equipment, for want of a better word, in there,” The Guardian reported.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Cambridgeshire Constabulary for comment.
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US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his comments on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, saying she asked him “over and over” for a photo when the pair met at the G7 summit in France earlier this week.
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Following the summit, Trump told an Italian journalist that he “felt sorry for Meloni” after she “begged me to take a picture with her”.
Meloni hit back in a video posted to social media, branding Trump’s claims as “completely made up” and insisting that neither she nor Italy begs anyone for anything.
The once close pair’s relationship has grown increasingly fractious in recent months, particularly since Rome refused to provide the US support for its operations in Iran and after Meloni defended Pope Leo XIV, who was criticised by the Trump administration over his remarks on the war and the US’s immigration policies.
“Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Saturday. “She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon”.
“Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her “numbers up.” No thanks!!!” Trump added.
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