June 15, 2023

*) Kosovo accuses Serbia of kidnapping its border police officers Tensions are rising again between Kosovo and Serbia, after Belgrade arrested three Kosovo police officers, a move Pristina described as kidnapping. In retaliation, Kosovo has banned Serbian vehicles from crossing the border. Wednesday's flare-up between the two Balkan countries follows weeks of tensions, after rioting in northern Kosovo saw 30 NATO peacekeepers wounded in late May. Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti blamed Serbia for the latest incident, saying the move was likely in "revenge" for the arrest of an alleged Serb paramilitary leader in Kosovo on Tuesday. *) Biden urged to press Modi over freedom of Kashmiri, other journalists The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has called on the US government to put pressure on India to end a media crackdown and release six detained journalists, including four from India-administered Kashmir. CPJ president Jodie Ginsberg issued the statement ahead of a state visit to Washington next week by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She said there had been an increasing crackdown on India's media since Modi came to power in 2014, highlighting the detention of six Indian journalists, who were covering the impact of the country’s security laws. As the world’s largest democracy, India needs to live up to that by ensuring a free and independent media, Ginsberg said. *) Paramilitary group RSF accused of killing Sudan's West Darfur governor Sudan's military has accused the paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (RSF), of carrying out the killing of West Darfur Governor Khamis Abbakar in the city of El Geneina. The army said Abakar’s killing on Wednesday meant the RSF has added what it describes as "a new chapter to its record of barbaric crimes” committed against Sudanese people. An adviser in the RSF did not deny or confirm Abbakar's killing. In a television interview shortly before his death, Abbakar had called for international intervention in what he described as a "genocide" in