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Kosovo Serbs to Boycott Local Polls

Kosovo's Serb minority leaders on Friday said they would boycott local polls in November, despite appeals by Belgrade to participate as part of a landmark EU-brokered deal with Pristina.

"As the elections... will be organised in accordance with Kosovo constitution and laws, they are unacceptable" for the Serbs living in the north of the breakaway territory, local representatives told reporters in the northern town of Zvecan.

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Two Policemen Injured as EU Vehicle Stoned in Kosovo

Two policemen were injured Monday as protesters stoned a EU vehicle in Serb-populated northern Kosovo in the first such incident since Belgrade and Pristina reached a deal on normalizing ties.

A European Union rule of law mission (EULEX) police patrol was stopped by protesters in the northern town Zvecan who soon began stoning the car.

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U.N. Court Clears Bosnian Serb General of Contempt

A former Bosnian Serb general who directed the attack on Srebrenica during Bosnia's 1992-95 war was on Thursday cleared of contempt of court for refusing to testify in the trial of the man accused of masterminding the incident.

Radislav Krstic, 65, currently serving a 35-year sentence for aiding and abetting genocide at Srebrenica, again faced U.N. Yugoslav war crimes court judges in The Hague after he declined to give evidence in defense of former top Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.

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Kosovo Grants Amnesty to Rebel Serbs

Kosovo took Thursday a key step towards normalization of its ties with Belgrade, granting amnesty to Serbs in the breakaway territory who have opposed through violence its 2008 independence from Serbia.

The amnesty bill, aimed at facilitating implementation of an EU-brokered agreement on improving relations with Serbia, was passed by huge majority of 90 Kosovo lawmakers in the 120-seat parliament, speaker Jakup Krasniqi said.

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Hundreds of Srebrenica Victims Buried

Bosnia buried 409 victims of the Srebrenica massacre on Thursday, including a newborn baby, on the 18th anniversary of the worst slaughter in post-war Europe.

More than 15,000 people traveled to Potocari, near Srebrenica, to attend the mass funeral of victims whose remains were found in mass graves since last year and identified almost two decades after the 1995 killing.

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Six Wounded in Shoot-Out on Kosovo-Serbia Border

Six Kosovo Albanians were wounded, one of them seriously, in a shoot-out with Serbian police on the Kosovo-Serbia border, authorities said on Monday.

"It is suspected that the exchange of fire was between several people (from the Kosovo side) who went to cut firewood and some people from the Serb side," Kosovo police said in a statement.

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EU Leaders Examine Serbia's Membership Bid

Serbia's ambitions to join the European Union were the focus of the second and final day of an EU summit here Friday, with talks with the prospective member set to begin no later than January.

Leaders of the 27-nation bloc had worked into the early hours to stop Britain from throwing a spanner in the works to a tentative deal reached earlier on the EU's next trillion-euro budget.

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European Court Confirms U.N. Immunity over Srebrenica

The European rights court on Thursday rejected a request by survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia to overturn a Dutch court ruling that confirmed the United Nations' immunity from prosecution over the killings.

The "Mothers of Srebrenica", made up of some 6,000 survivors and relatives of the 8,000 men and boys killed in the massacre of Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces, has for years been seeking a trial of the U.N. and the Dutch state over the alleged failure of peacekeeping troops to protect the enclave.

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Kosovo Nationalists Protest Serbia Deal Ratification

Clashes broke out on Thursday in front of the parliament building in Pristina between police and some 300 Kosovo nationalists protesting against an EU-brokered deal to normalize ties with Serbia.

Seventeen police officers sustained slight injuries while 68 demonstrators were detained. Authorities deployed pepper spray to break up the protesters, who sought in vain to block parliamentary ratification of the accord.

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Serbia Wants to Join EU within 5 Years, Says PM

Serbian premier Ivica Dacic held out hopes of bringing the country into the EU fold within a quick four to five-year span Wednesday, a day after European Union ministers recommended that the bloc kick off membership talks by January.

"We are not keen on having these talks last 10 years, we hope in four or five years," Dacic said as he urged EU leaders to confirm the ministers' recommendation at a summit Friday.

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