Eurasia

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union on Tuesday kept up pressure on Serbia to do more to resolve war crimes by again delaying a decision on unfreezing trade benefits despite the arrest of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Indian and Pakistani troops traded more fire in the disputed Kashmir region on Tuesday, following a 16-hour clash, military officials said, making it the worst violation of a 2003 ceasefire.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Hardline nationalists gathered to show their support for war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic on Tuesday, while Serbian authorities and his legal team played a cat-and-mouse game over his extradition.

NICOSIA (Reuters) – Peace talks on ethnically- divided Cyprus this September offer possibly the best chance in years for a deal that has been eluding the island for decades, a senior United Nations envoy said on Tuesday.

SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Bosnia’s war crimes court sentenced seven Bosnian Serbs to prison terms ranging from 38 to 42 years on Tuesday for taking part in the mass killing of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in July 1995.

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pro-Taliban militants attacked a security post and took up to 30 hostages on Tuesday in Pakistan’s Swat valley, a day after insurgents killed three army intelligence staffers, officials said.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – An al Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert named Abu Khabab al-Masri was killed in a suspected U.S. missile strike, Pakistani intelligence officials said a day after the attack.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani sought on Monday to reassure U.S. President George W. Bush of his government’s commitment to securing its border with Afghanistan, where Taliban and al Qaeda militants pose a growing threat.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Bombs killed 15 people and wounded around 140 in Istanbul late on Sunday, just hours ahead of a court case over banning the governing party that has plunged Turkey into political turmoil.

(Reuters) – At least 13 people died and up to 100 were wounded on Sunday when two bombs exploded in a shopping district in Istanbul, on the eve of Constitutional Court hearings that could end with the closure of Turkey’s governing AK Party.