Serbia said on Wednesday it would shun any offer of membership of the European Union or NATO if they recognized the breakaway province of Kosovo as an independent state.

Veteran liberal politician Boris Nemtsov withdrew from Russia’s presidential race on Wednesday, saying the opposition needed to put forward a single candidate in the March election to withstand the Kremlin’s “foul play”.

Hamas will not release a captured Israeli soldier unless Israel meets its demand to free nearly 1,400 Palestinian prisoners, including 350 with life sentences, a leader of the Islamist group in Gaza said on Wednesday.