Balkans

The clock starts ticking on Monday toward a probable declaration of independence by Kosovo after extra-time negotiations failed to break a deadlock over the future of the breakaway Serbian province.

European Union nations are overcoming their internal divisions over the future of Kosovo as it heads towards independence and will help shape its future, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Monday.

Today marks the official end of the four-month Kosovo status negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will submit a report given to him by the mediating Troika to the UN Security Council. The report on the Kosovo talks states that Belgrade and Pristina promised to …

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU leaders are expected to agree this week that efforts to reach a negotiated solution to the Kosovo problem are exhausted, and offer to take responsibility for security and justice in the breakaway Serbian province.

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (Reuters) – Citizens of Bosnia’s Serb Republic voted on Sunday in an early election for the mainly ceremonial post of regional president after the sudden death of President Milan Jelic.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO ministers pledged on Friday to keep their KFOR peace force in Kosovo at current strength as the Serbian province heads towards independence and to make more troops available as necessary to deal with any violence.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Ratko Mladic, the fugitive Bosnian Serb general wanted for genocide by the U.N. tribunal, is most likely hiding in Serbia, Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic was quoted as saying on Thursday.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – An independent Kosovo would be a “puppet” of the United States and NATO, Serb Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on Thursday, vowing that Serbia would never give up its breakaway province.

Voters in Russia’s Far East have begun voting in parliamentary elections that are expected to hand a huge majority to the ruling party which has Vladimir Putin, the president, as a candidate.

RUSSIANS relish President Vladimir Putin’s earthy phrases. Reacting to sharp western criticism of Russia’s parliamentary elections today, Putin, playing `Vlad the Bad’, warned western powers not to ‘poke their snotty noses’ in his nation’s business.