World
New government in Kosovo faces multiple challenges
Following Sunday’s parliamentary election, a coalition government will now have to be formed as Kosovo looks to normalise ties with Serbia while foreign funding remains in question.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s left-wing Self-Determination Movement party won the most seats in the country’s parliamentary election. Short of a majority in the house, the party, known as Vetevendosje, will have to enter a coalition to form the next government.
Self-Determination Movement won roughly 41% of the vote, according to the Central Election Commission, the election governing body.
The Democratic Party of Kosovo, or PDK, whose main leaders stand accused of war crimes and are detained at the Netherlands-based international criminal tribunal in The Hague, won around 22% of the vote.
Next, with just under 18% of the vote is the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, the oldest party in the country. The LDK lost much of its support after the death in 2006 of its leader, Ibrahim Rugova. The Alliance for Kosovo’s Future party, led by former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, garnered 7.44% of the vote.
The turnout, meanwhile, was around 40% according to election officials.
Despite falling short of an election majority, Kurti was upbeat after the results came through. His remarks gave little away in terms of who he might seek to form a coalition government with.
“The people won. Vetevendosje won. We are the winners who will form the next cabinet,” Kurti told journalists as his supporters took to the streets to celebrate.
Challenges ahead
Kurti’s new term will face multiple challenges after Washington froze foreign aid and the European Union suspended funding for certain projects in the country almost two years ago. The prime minister is also under pressure to increase public salaries and pensions, improve education and health services, as well as fight poverty.
Kosovo, with a population of 1.6 million, is one of the poorest countries in Europe with an annual gross domestic product of less than €6,000 euro per capita.
Kurti is also likely to try and repair ties with Western powers, at odds since his cabinet took several steps that raised tensions with Serbia and Kosovo’s ethnic Serbs, including a ban on the use of the Serbian currency, the dinar, and dinar transfers to Kosovo’s ethnic Serb population.
Currently, Kosovo’s ethnic Serb minority in effect depends on Belgrade’s social services and payments.
The US, the EU and the NATO-led stabilisation force in Kosovo, or KFOR, have urged the government in Pristina, Kosovo’s capital, to refrain from unilateral actions, fearing the revival of inter-ethnic conflict.
Talks between Kosovo and Serbia that were backed by the US collapsed in 2023, and were followed by violence which has kept tensions high between the two sides.
The EU’s ambassador to Kosovo, Aivo Orav, expressed hope that the formation of a new cabinet would be “smooth”. He said that the new government should meet the expectations of the population, most of whom support Kosovo’s desire to join the 27-nation bloc.
“Normalisation of relations is a must for Kosovo and for Serbia,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENTThe election marked the first time since independence in 2008 that Kosovo’s parliament completed a full four-year mandate. It was the ninth parliamentary vote in Kosovo since the end of the 1998-1999 war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists that pushed Serbian forces out following a 78-day NATO air campaign.
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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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