Air-raid sirens wailed on Tuesday as Serbia marked ten years since NATO’s bombing campaign against the regime of late president Slobodan Milosevic to halt its violent Kosovo crackdown. Solemn ceremonies were held at Belgrade monuments to children and journalists killed in the NATO sorties as the sirens were sounded across …

A proposal not to prosecute consenting adults for incest has sparked controversy in Romania, with the Orthodox Church leading public opposition to the move. The Romanian Justice Ministry is considering a change in the law, so that parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters can be exempt from prosecution for incest as …

Kosovo police on Monday prevented Belgrade mayor Dragan Djilas from entering Kosovo’s territory at the customs checkpoint at Konculj. Djilas, who is an official of the Democratic Party headed by Serbian President Boris Tadic, planned to visit the Serb population in eastern Kosovo together with his associates, but was denied …

Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni has won praise for his performance at the UN Security Council meeting on Monday with Kosovo Albanians saying his rally for the country has never been stronger. Hyseni addressed the council three times, and also argued against Serbia’s President Boris Tadic twice, dismissing his arguments.

Montenegro is efficiently fulfilling its Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU and is quickly moving towards accession, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn says. Speaking in Brussels on Sunday after a meeting with Montenegrin Foreign Minister Milan Rocen, Rehn said Montenegro has strengthened its administrative capacity, implemented legal reforms and …

The son of Franjo Tudjman, Croatia’s late wartime nationalist president, will run for the same post in 2010 elections, he said in a HINA news agency report Tuesday. Miroslav Tudjman, 62, would stand for president as an “independent candidate,” he was quoted as saying in a statement. “It’s a last …

The United States hailed Macedonia for holding violence-free elections but urged the country to keep up the effort for the run-off vote on April 5, local media report. Mary Ann Tyson, the Press Secretary at the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, told Voice of America’s Macedonian news …

Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev has told the Reuters news agency that his party must win forthcoming parliamentary elections to stop the opposition implementing what he describes as “dangerous” economic plans. Stanishev said that Bulgaria did not need experiments with fiscal policy to deal with the global downturn as offered by …

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued a first-instance verdict, sentencing Krsto Savic and Milko Mucibabic for crimes against humanity committed in eastern Herzegovina. By a first-instance verdict, handed down by the State Court, Krsto Savic has been sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for participation in a joint criminal …

Police representatives from around the region were invited to Pristina’s Grand Hotel on Monday, at a conference against organised crime and trafficking held by Kosovo’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. Officials from Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia attended, while invited representatives from Serbia and Bosnia and …