our top story: white house communications director hope hicks is to step down. the former model is reported to have said she had achieved everything she could in the role. mr khan said he would miss having her by her side. white house officials deny the stepping down is... president trump has met with members of congress from both sides of the isle to discuss gun control. it comes as students in florida returned to school for the first time since the shooting. and this story is trending on bbc.com. the funeral of indian actress sri—devi, has taken place in mumbai. many bollywood a—listers joined mourners, and thousands of fans lined the streets. that's all from me now. now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk,

i am stephen sackur. it is ten years since kosovo became europe's newest nation. it has not been an easy decade. relations with neighbouring serbia remain hostile. international recognition has been patchy, and kosovo is still struggling to get on top of endemic poverty and corruption. my guest today is kosovo‘s prime minister ramush haradinaj. can kosovo escape its troubled history? ramush haradinaj, welcome to hardtalk.

thank you. you have had ten years of kosovan independence. to the outsider, it looks like a story of hopes dashed and ambitions thwarted. is that what it feels like to you? the foundation of a state, it is there. it is ten years, if not anything else, it has been learning to be ourselves. facing and making mistakes, learning from our mistakes. and kosovo exists in strong foundation. do you really think so? yes. when one looks at kosovo today, one sees that, despite claims to independence, a significant nation, starting with russia and china, but five nations within the eu

do not even recognise your sovereign independence. this is not the end of the project today, where we are. infrastructure, economy, it exists. institutions of the state exist. today, we are members of different international organisations, and have been recognised by a number of organisations. we are in the direction to be a member of un and the eu. we do not stop here. what you want to tell me is the direction of travel is positive, but if one looks at recent developments, for example, the european parliamentary reporter on kosovo says that because of actions your government has taken, kosovo is now "off the train of liberalisation

of its relationship with the european union". in other words, you are going in the wrong direction? we had some challenges, there were different topics of discussion, but finally we are structured again, going in the right direction. how do you feel, then, when jean—claude juncker, the president of the european commission, says quite openly that, when it comes to the balkans, serbia and montenegro are at the front of the queue for eu membership? they would like to see them inside the club by 2025, and he gives no indication at all that there is a target date for kosovo. many people believe it is impossible to imagine kosovo inside the eu. in russia, they do not even show our flag because they do not recognise us. but their problem is your problem, that is my point.

yes, and i had congratulations from them on our tenth anniversary of independence. we exist, we are a member of the family. we have to find a solution to be recognised and with serbia. that is something that has to happen. you have led me to my next question. the key to normalisation of your statehood and your future. that is, the relationship with serbia. how are you going to move from the current suspicion and mistrust, the hostility, to a normalised relationship with your neighbour? we have two strong arguments. one is our constitution is an advanced one. we had a very advanced constitution. the second is the position of kosovo serbs in the country. a community that is respected and granted the most rights possible that a constitution

could grant their community. based on that, we have cohesion. they have to dispute —— finished this dispute. it is one thing having constitutional rights for the serbian minority written in the constitution but another is safeguarding their security. we did see a few weeks ago a member of the kosovo community gunned down on the streets of mitchell beazer. that is very tragic news. the deputy prime minister is a serb, and i have many colleagues i work with from the north. but in this case, nobody is pointing fingers. but let me quote to you another significant kosovo politician who has said that the government wants to integrate the land

but not integrate us, the people, the serbs. this government is doing, i would say, honest work to respect kosovo serbs and integrate the people, we work with the people... in that case, why did you, the prime minister, blocks the planned association of serb municipalities. the plans for serbian communities, why did you like that? if you look at the other cases, it did not function that well. the cessation of municipalities, it was presented. in fact, our constitutional accord has ruled on that. we are able to implement

the cessation based on our constitution. essentially, you need a settlement of your hostile relationship with serbia and serbia needs it too, without it serbia cannotjoin the eu in 2025 and you cannot get recognition and a place at the european table. you both need it. are you prepared to cede territory, a little portion of territory in the north of your nation, seed it to serbia to settle this dispute? you are just throwing away everything in the past. the peace is because of people, not land or territories. what is the answer to my question? can you imagine giving away territory to make final peace with serbia? my answer is this, this has led

to war in the balkans. i'm not in favour of another one. we are a victim, as kosovo albanians. the whole world stood to stop what happened at the time. in changing borders and mixing territories, that is how tragedies happen. there is a window of opportunity here. we have a prime minister in serbia. yes, he was a nationalist in the past that he has become a man determined to take serbia towards a european future. to many people, that means he appears more ready for compromise than serbian leaders of the past. he has talked about wanting to respect the needs of serbia's children rather than serbia's ancestors. he, for you, is a window of opportunity. are you prepared to reach out to him? we are interested to sit at the table, and to finish what is left between kosovo and serbia.

that is the recognition. they are part of the forgiveness. not to forget, but forgiveness. i believe it is the time to do so. we are prepared for that, but this is not a trade of territories. this is not... you are categorical about that. some people talk about a land swap that you could give territory to the serbs and they can give territory to you which is majority kosovo albanians. the borders in the balkans, and today the territories are a result of some wars from the past. if we open that question it is a never—ending story. we still have rules, after the last tragedies. we don't want to forget that. you talk about wounds and tragedies. another element of kosovo moving forward is your nation truly accounting for the recent past.

this raises the issue ofjustice, for crimes committed during the period of war in the late 90s. you appeared to support a special legal chamber created in 2015 by the kosovan parliament, to investigate historical crimes. then, you appear to change your mind. you told the press injanuary that you were not for the court, in opposition, and against it now. be clear with me, are you for or against the court? kosovo was open and transparent, for the past and for the truth. and for the right of victims and the rights of people and all allegations. the united nations administrated kosovo for nine years and established courts, prosecutors and prosecuted many kosovo albanians.

but people watching and listening may not know that this special chamber, the kosovan parliament approved of it, would sit in the hague but follow kosovan law and would consider specific crimes committed in the past. are you for or against the court? people in the world deserve to know, to realise, that this is the fourth operation to bring justice to kosovo. the first was the united nations, the second was former yugoslavia... you have two trials. in the name ofjustice on behalf of my nation. that was run by the international criminal court at the hague. the third is the european rule of law... you are not answering my question... on the fourth one, it was judged only albanians, only for selected crimes, and it was out of the country. i would prefer that.

but it was ratified by the kosovan parliament? fair enough. now you are denying... no, not deniable. the court exists. but it is good to realise when this quarter rights, and the criticism of this court, there is criticism of this court. more to the point there is criticism of this court from your own brother. like you, he was a kla fighter and recently he has said that kla fighters will prevent action by anyone who intends to profit politically from making arrests in this special court. it sounds like you and your family are doing whatever it takes to block these activities. not true at all. we respect the rule of law. i did it in my time, my brother did it. we went to trial and court...

he is not prepared to go through this one. why profit politically, if you are talking aboutjustice or political profit? there is something in these answers. it has become a big issue, inside and outside of the country. i will quote you the head of the kosovo democratic institute. he says, the government shows immaturity and signs of panic and is risking isolation from the international community who helped us declare independence in the first place. that is exaggerated! this is not the case of the government of kosovo. it is a sustainable government. a very serious one. but it reflects the feelings and beliefs of the nation. it is not always the international community. everything they did, they did it right. the americans and europeans are people who helped deliver kosovan independence and...

sorry, to continue, they say they condemn what they see as backtracking on the special chamber court and they say there will be "severe consequences for kosovo‘s international and euroatlantic integration if the government continues on this course. can i put it more clearly? mps of our parliament have criticised and have different views to this court. as a government, we respect obligations that have been taken but we have a respect for that criticism as well. it is a well founded criticism. in the 2ist—century, it is a mono ethnic court. i'm not entirely clear what you are saying. you prepared to accept the authority of this court and accept its judgments? we always have been. the kosovo government and institution always has been. after any result, we stay under

obligations that we have taken but we take obligation of the court. we have one system operating out of the country, it is the fourth operation to bring justice. the second is mono ethnic. and what about the specific allegations but towards the council of europe, which may well end up before the special chamber? the kla, you were a senior commander of it in kosovo during the war, the kla were involved notjust in murders, torture, rape of victims, but also in organised in people smuggling and drugrunning. should those allegations be aired in this special court? many people would find the verdict in my case.

you would see what an honourable judge says in the end of a second trial, they proved that the kla were not doing that. they did not find that we have been doing that. i believe the allegations are false. let's talk about the different ways on how the international community are concerned about backtracking from your government. it concerns the separate border dispute that you have with montenegrin. —— montenegro. it looked as though you, the kosovan government in 2015, were prepared to reach a deal with montenegro. i believe that involved sending back several thousand hectares back to the montenegro government. you said that the border agreement was not transparent to our parliament. does that mean you no longer accept the agreement? we have reached consensus

with the montenegro government, they have agreed to review and correct in two directions where the dispute was. it gives enough arguments to vote it in our parliament. in the next few days, hopefully we will be coming together to rectify it. until you ratify, the european union has said it will not consider these liberalisation is for kosovans who want to travel inside of the eu. there is linkage, once again the europeans are judging the kosovan government of failing to live up to international standards and unless you do so, your relationship with the eu will clearly suffer. it is very strange, the fact that that would happen, visa liberalisation. we are members of nato and still have disputes

on their own borders. it is very unfair. but if you look at brussels' attitude to kosovo today, you are the poorest country in europe. according to the cia fact book, they release one every year looking at the basics of every economy, they reckon that your youth unemployment is close to 60%. your average income is a tiny fraction of the eu average. your economy is so far behind, it is, again, very hard to see how you could ever get close to acceptable convergence. 0k... in europe, you are becoming older and older. you are the youngest nation in europe, as population. and many people had to leave the country because there are no jobs? in the case of producing an offer in your countries, in kosovo,

they have potential. in energy, in the mining sector, in food production and in innovation. young and talented people. they are like that because we inherited no economy at all. the war devastated kosovo. no infrastructure at all. today, we are nearly finishing the highways of our country, railways need to be constructive. water and electricity supply to families, not just for houses and businesses but for the whole country. we have an investment in energy of 1.3 billion. kosovo is struggling, but here we are. yes, and with an economy that is far behind the european standard, we can agree.

but also an economy that has laid low by corruption. corruption is killing economic growth in your country. i mean, the uk ambassador recently gave a presentation in pristina, in which he said "there was no need for me to explain just how bad corruption is in kosovo. you all know this phenomenon erodes democracy, prevents any economic development and undermines where so many of your people gave sacrifice". in the latest ranking of countries, we have improved by ten positions. kosovo has improved in the fight against corruption. that is from appalling to not quite so appalling. i am six months in thejob. my commitment is only to make a difference and difference is happening now.

kosovo has a rule of law that fights corruption and fights crime, and fights against other threats that the world is today facing. another way in which europe looks at kosovo and has concerns is on security issues. kosovo is a very interesting european nation because you are 90% or more muslim. you've said very explicitly said in the past that there has been a problem with radicalisation of some people in kosovo, some of them, hundreds of them, went to fight with so—called islamic state in iraq and syria. your security agencies have said that you are concerned that some have returned to your territory. how can you reassure europe that your government is on top of this potentially very grave security problem? not just for yourselves, but for europe? kosovo is multiethnic, a majority albanians.

we have had christians since 0ttoman times. we adopted the muslim religion. we are very much linked to our own national identity as being albanian. it is an identity that we represent ourselves with that. let me ask you bluntly, you see the nature of the rise of populism and nationalism in many different parts of the european union. do you believe there is a prejudice or a bias against kosovo, because it is predominantly muslim? no, no. i think in europe, they realise who we are. we are albanians, we are the nation of mother teresa, of dua lipa, no. this was said by the eu special representative in pristina.

she said there is just the other day of kosovo. she said there is a window of opportunity here, if the political establishment really takes to heart the european reform agenda. but it is not a very big window. do you think your country is capable of seizing this moment, this opportunity? i think we are to be applauded as a nation. to see the war 20 years ago and where we are today, it proved that we do find a way, even though it is very difficult. 0ur challenges are specific, but we find a way to become a member of the eu family, nato and the united nations. you don't ever doubt that, even after ten difficult years, no doubts? no.

kosovo will be a member of the eu and nato, and the united nations. we have to end there, but ramush haradinaj, thank you very much for being on hardtalk. thank you. hello there. as far as meteorologists are concerned, the first of march is the first day of spring. but what we have to contend with through the day ahead is a continuation of this spell of severe disruptive wintry weather. still that met office red warning, still in force through central portions of scotland and western glasgow. a larger area of northern eastern scotland, covered by an amberwarning. in all these areas, snow showers

will continue to feed in relentlessly as we head to the early hours. some showers further west and south as well, and here the winds will be picking up, so we will feel this feel bitingly cold up there. but of most concern is the weather across northeastern scotland into northeast england, 10—20 cm of snow there here, perhaps even a little more than that. that will continue to cause some significant issues. as we look further afield and run the weather through the day, you can see some of the showers will fade, parts of east anglia and lincolnshire will have a slightly drier day. down south, an area of low pressure is spinning its way up, that will bring some snow into the channel islands and likely settle in parts across southwestern wales. 0n the thermometer, your temperature will struggle to get above freezing. it will feel like —11 degrees in birmingham and in cardiff through the middle parts of the afternoon. now this area of low pressure

continues to push northwards as we head into thursday evening, and that brings the likelihood of a spell of really significant snow across southwest england and wales. the met office has an amber warning in force here, because the snow will pile up, 10—20 cm, maybe more in southwest england. there'll be blizzard conditions out there, as we head through thursday night into friday, some of that show perhaps fringing into northern ireland, and as we go through the day on friday, snow will come across some other southern areas today. temperatures for most of us are still disappointing, a bit milder towards the southwest. however, if any snow turns back to rain, it could hit very cold surfaces adn turn immediately into ice, which would give some really slippery conditions. into the weekend, we continue to see systems of from the south, and slowly but surely,

something a little bit less cold, so temperatures will slowly lift throughout the weekend. there will still be showers, and of those will still be wintry. you're watching newsday from london and singapore. i'm sharinjit leyl. the headlines. another resignation. president trump's communications director hope hicks is to step down. it comes a day after she testified to congress. the children of parkland, florida return to school to the day after a gunman walked in and killed their friends. i think eventually, it will be normal again, but not the same normal it was before. it will probably be a new type of normal because those in 17 people aren't going to be there. i am mariko 0i in singapore. also in the programme. is the uk being backed into a corner over the irish border? we have the details of the european union's controversial brexit proposal. a huge turnout for sridevi's funeral.