The trial of Ratko Mladic continued with testimony by Defence witness Branko Radan, who admitted that crimes were committed against Bosniaks and Croats in the Grbavica neighbourhood of Sarajevo, but denied that Serbian authorities deported them.

After three former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas accused of war crimes during the 1990s conflict went on the run, the Justice Ministry has blamed EULEX for allowing their escape.

An estimated 2,000 children fought in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, sometimes in horrific conditions on the frontlines, but their efforts to win special state benefits have been rejected.

The High Representative to Bosnia has told the UN Security Council that the work of internationally overseeing the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords was far from complete.

A witness at the trial of five Bosniak military policemen, charged with crimes against prisoners of war in northern Bosnia in 1995, said detainees who were being set free were beaten first.

The state court ordered the release of former Bosnian Serb special policeman Zeljko Ivanovic, jailed for assisting the Srebrenica genocide, because the wrong criminal code was used at his trial.

Former Bosnian Serb Army chief Mladic has begun his defence at the Hague Tribunal against charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1992-95 conflict.

Former Bosnian Serb Army officer Predrag Trapara testified in the defence of his ex-commander Ratko Mladic in The Hague, saying that his unit did not intentionally fire on civilians.

Albania will only be able to move forward towards EU membership when it starts showing more progress on its reform agenda, the Council of Ministers underlined on Tuesday.

Opposition and government point fingers after the EU Council of Ministers on Tuesday said Albania had made little progress towards membership.