The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is the officially mandated mission of the United Nations in Kosovo. Currently, UNMIK describes its mandate as being to "help the Security Council achieve an overall objective, namely, to ensure conditions for a peaceful and normal life for all inhabitants of Kosovo and advance regional stability in the western Balkans."
Third Lake is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,182 at the 2010 census.
Serbian enclaves are settlements in Kosovo outside North Kosovo where Serbs form a majority. After the initial outflow after the Kosovo War the situation of the Kosovo Serb communities has improved and under the Ahtisaari plan minority rights have been promoted.
Vidovdan is a Serbian national and religious holiday, a slava celebrated on 28 June, or 15 June according to the Julian calendar, in use by the Serbian Orthodox Church to venerate St. Vitus. The Serbian Church designates it as the memorial day to Saint Prince Lazar and the Serbian holy martyrs who fell during the Battle of Kosovo against the Ottoman Empire on 15 June 1389. It is an important part of Serb ethnic and Serbian national identity.
The District of Pristina is the largest of the districts of Kosovo. Its seat is the capital city of Pristina. It consists of eight municipalities and 298 villages. According to the 2011 census, the total population of the district is 477,312.
The administrative divisions of Serbia are regulated by the Government of Serbia Enactment of 29 January 1992, and by the Law on Territorial Organization adopted by the National Assembly of Serbia on 29 December 2007.
The Podujevo bus bombing was an attack on a bus carrying Serb civilians near the town of Podujevo in Kosovo on 16 February 2001. The bombing killed twelve Serb civilians who were travelling to Gračanica and injured dozens more. Albanian extremists are suspected of being responsible for the attack. Gračanica is a predominantly Serb-populated town in central Kosovo, near the regional capital Pristina, in a predominantly Albanian-populated area. Following the Kosovo War in 1999 it became an enclave within Albanian-controlled territory. Relations between the two communities were tense and occasionally violent.
The worst ethnic violence in Kosovo since the end of the 1999 conflict erupted in the partitioned town of Mitrovica, leaving hundreds wounded and at least 14 people dead. UN peacekeepers and Nato troops scrambled to contain a raging gun battle between Serbs and ethnic Albanians. In Serbia the events were also called the March Pogrom.
The municipalities and cities are the second level administrative subdivisions of Serbia. The country is divided into 145 municipalities and 29 cities, forming the basic level of local government.
Gazimestan is the name of a memorial site and monument commemorating the Battle of Kosovo (1389), situated about 6-7 kilometres southeast of the actual battlefield, known as the Kosovo field. The name is a portmanteau derived from Arabic ghazi, meaning "hero" or "champion", and Serbian word mesto, meaning "place". Gazimestan is reached from the Pristina–Mitrovica highway, on a 50-metre hill above the plain, ca. 5 km north-west from Pristina. Every year, on Vidovdan, 28 June, a commemoration is held by the monument, which in later years is also covered by an image of Prince Lazar, who led the Serbian army at the battle.
The Medieval Monuments in Kosovo are a World Heritage Site consisting of four Serbian Orthodox Christian churches and monasteries which represent the fusion of the eastern Orthodox Byzantine and the western Romanesque ecclesiastical architecture to form the Palaiologian Renaissance style. The construction was founded by members of Nemanjić dynasty, the most important dynasty of Serbia in the Middle Ages. The sites are located in the Republic of Kosovo.
Since its declaration of independence from Serbia, enacted on 17 February 2008, international recognition of Kosovo has been mixed, and the international community continues to be divided on the issue.
Pristina or Prishtina is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city has a majority Albanian population, alongside other smaller communities. With a municipal population of 204,721 inhabitants (2016), Pristina is the second-largest city in the world with a predominantly Albanian-speaking population, after Albania's capital, Tirana. Within Serbia, it would be the 4th largest. Geographically, it is located in the north-eastern part of Kosovo close to the Goljak mountains.
Gračanica, or Graçanica, is a town and municipality located in Pristina District in central Kosovo. As of 2011, it has an estimated population of 10,675 inhabitants.
The Assembly of the Community of Municipalities of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, is the assembly of the association of local governments created by the municipal authorities in Kosovo elected in the May 11, 2008 municipal elections called by the Government of Serbia. It was created in Kosovska Mitrovica to represent the municipalities that defy the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence. The Assembly is composed of 45 representatives delegated by 26 municipalities. The majority of delegates are ethnic Serbs, while some represent Gorani, Bosniak and Romani communities.
The Albanian diaspora are the ethnic Albanians and their descendants living outside of Albania, Kosovo, southeastern Montenegro, western North Macedonia, southeastern Serbia and northwestern Greece.
The Battle of Belaćevac Mine was a week-long clash between the Yugoslav Army (VJ), Serbian police (MUP) and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in June 1998, during the Kosovo War. It was fought over the Belaćevac coal mine, which powered two generating stations that supplied electricity to most of Kosovo.
Christianity in Kosovo has a long-standing tradition dating to the Roman Empire. Before the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, the entire Balkan region had been Christianized by both the Roman and Byzantine Empires. From 1389 until 1912, Kosovo was part of the Muslim Ottoman Empire, and a high level of Islamization occurred. During the time period after World War II, Kosovo was ruled by secular socialist authorities in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). During that period, Kosovars became increasingly secularized. Today, 90% of Kosovo's population are from Muslim family backgrounds, most of whom are ethnic Albanians., but also including Slavic speakers and Turks.
Medaid4kids is an Irish Charity founded in 2003 by Bob Jones and Des Grant, that specialises in donating medical equipment and supplies to hospitals and orphanages internationally. The charity ships medical equipment that becomes surplus to requirements in hospitals from Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to hospitals worldwide. Medaid4kids established an international donation programme so that medical equipment is no longer destroyed when its use in Irish hospitals has elapsed.
Kosovo is situated in south-eastern Europe. With its central position in the Balkans, it serves as a link in the connection between central and south Europe, the Adriatic Sea, and Black Sea. Tourism in Kosovo is characterized by archaeological heritage from Illyrian, Dardanian, Roman, Byzantine, Serbian and Ottoman times, traditional Albanian and Serbian cuisine, architecture, religious heritage, traditions, and natural landscapes.
