Balkans

BELGRADE – Smoke billowed from the American embassy in Belgrade after scores of protesters broke into the building on Thursday, cheered on by crowds outside, in a protest at U.S. support for Kosovo’s independence.

WASHINGTON – The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia earlier this month, had not applied for IMF membership.

BELGRADE – Scores of protesters smashed their way into the U.S. embassy in Belgrade on Thursday in anger at Kosovo’s independence, ransacking rooms and setting fires before riot police dispersed the crowd.

GATE 3 BORDER POST, Kosovo – Hundreds of Serb army veterans protesting against the independence of Kosovo burned tires and threw stones at Kosovo riot police on Thursday at a border crossing between Serbia and the new republic.

VATICAN CITY – Serbia took its campaign against Kosovo’s independence to the Vatican on Thursday when its ambassador told Pope Benedict that “moral principles” alone showed it was an injustice.

BELGRADE – When Serbs rally against Kosovo’s independence on Thursday, it may look like Serbia has gone back to the virulent nationalism that stoked war in the 1990s under the leadership of the late Slobodan Milosevic.

AMSTERDAM – The U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague will appoint four more judges to increase the number of trials it can hold and help it wrap up its work by 2010, the court said on Thursday.

LJUBLJANA – The government of current EU president Slovenia said on Thursday it wanted to recognize Kosovo’s independence from Serbia and asked parliament to approve its decision.

GATE 3 BORDER POST, Kosovo – Several hundred Serb army veterans protesting against the independence of Kosovo threw rocks at Kosovo riot police on Thursday at a border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia, a Reuters reporter said.

Europe’s major powers and the United States said on Monday they recognized Kosovo’s new independence, as Serbs reacted with anger and some states warned that its secession from Serbia set a dangerous precedent.