PRISTINA: Kosovo said on Friday that the first of several dozen third-country migrants has arrived from the United States under an agreement reached earlier this year with US President Donald Trump’s administration.
Kosovo agreed in June to temporarily host up to 50 migrants who are slated for deportation from the US under new, harsher US immigration rules, and with an aim of facilitating their safe return to their home country,
“One individual has arrived in the Republic of Kosovo and has been granted temporary protection, in accordance with the applicable legislation,” Kosovo’s Interior Ministry told The Associated Press in an email.
The ministry added that “responsible institutions ... have undertaken all necessary measures to ensure that the individual in question fully enjoys the rights and obligations” they are entitled to.
The statement did not specify the migrant’s nationality nor the arrival date. Authorities, the ministry said, are “continuously monitoring” the integration process and access to all available services during the stay in Kosovo.
It was not immediately clear when other migrants could arrive or where they would be staying in Kosovo.
Kosovo’s government in June praised the United States as a “steadfast ally” and hailed the two countries’ decades-long partnership and “shared values.”
A US-led 78-day NATO air campaign ended the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo and ended Serbia’s rule in its former province. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, which Belgrade still does not recognize and has been a source of tension in the Balkans since the 1990s.
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Kosovo receives first deported migrant from US under agreement with Trump administration
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Kosovo receives first deported migrant from US under agreement with Trump administration
- Kosovo agreed in June to temporarily host up to 50 migrants who are slated for deportation from the US
- “One individual has arrived in the Republic of Kosovo and has been granted temporary protection,” Kosovo’s Interior Ministry told AP
Spain fines Airbnb 64 mn euros for posting banned properties
- The fine is final, the consumer affairs ministry said in a statement, adding the US holiday-rental giant must “correct the violations by deleting illegal content“
MADRID: Spain’s leftist government said Monday it had fined Airbnb more than 64 million euros ($75 million), notably for posting listings for banned rental properties, at a time the country faces a housing crisis.
The fine is final, the consumer affairs ministry said in a statement, adding the US holiday-rental giant must “correct the violations by deleting illegal content.”
The ministry said 65,122 adverts on Airbnb breached consumer rules, including the promotion of properties without a license or those whose license number did not match with data in registers.
The fine is equivalent to six times the illegal profit made by Airbnb between the time the company was warned about the offending adverts and before they were taken down, the ministry added.
A tourism boom has driven the buoyant Spanish economy but fueled local concern about increasingly scarce and unaffordable housing, a top priority for the minority coalition government.
The world’s second most-visited country hosted a record 94 million foreign tourists in 2024 and is on course to surpass that figure this year.
But residents of hotspots such as Barcelona blame short-term rentals for the housing crisis and changing their neighborhoods.
In June, the consumer rights ministry also ordered online accommodation giant Booking.com to take down more than 4,000 illegal adverts.
“There are thousands of families who are living on the edge due to housing, while a few get rich with business models that expel people from their homes,” far-left consumer rights minister Pablo Bustinduy said in the ministry statement.
“We’ll prove it as many times as necessary: no company, no matter how big or powerful, is above the law. Even less so when it comes to housing,” he added on social network Bluesky.
The fine is final, the consumer affairs ministry said in a statement, adding the US holiday-rental giant must “correct the violations by deleting illegal content.”
The ministry said 65,122 adverts on Airbnb breached consumer rules, including the promotion of properties without a license or those whose license number did not match with data in registers.
The fine is equivalent to six times the illegal profit made by Airbnb between the time the company was warned about the offending adverts and before they were taken down, the ministry added.
A tourism boom has driven the buoyant Spanish economy but fueled local concern about increasingly scarce and unaffordable housing, a top priority for the minority coalition government.
The world’s second most-visited country hosted a record 94 million foreign tourists in 2024 and is on course to surpass that figure this year.
But residents of hotspots such as Barcelona blame short-term rentals for the housing crisis and changing their neighborhoods.
In June, the consumer rights ministry also ordered online accommodation giant Booking.com to take down more than 4,000 illegal adverts.
“There are thousands of families who are living on the edge due to housing, while a few get rich with business models that expel people from their homes,” far-left consumer rights minister Pablo Bustinduy said in the ministry statement.
“We’ll prove it as many times as necessary: no company, no matter how big or powerful, is above the law. Even less so when it comes to housing,” he added on social network Bluesky.
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