Two Croatian generals returned home to a hero's welcome on Friday after a U.N. court in The Hague cleared them of war crimes against Serbs during the bloody 1990s breakup of Yugoslavia.
The dramatic acquittal of Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was met with tears of joy in Croatia and outrage in bitter foe Serbia.
Full StoryU.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said that Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence, fiercely opposed by Serbia, was not debatable.
"(The United States) will oppose any discussion of territorial changes or reopening Kosovo’s independent status. These matters are not up for discussion," she said, reiterating Washington's strong support for Kosovo's ethnic Albanian authorities on a visit to Pristina.
Full StoryU.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton begins a five-nation Balkans tour on Tuesday, seeking to push regional leaders to stick to existing agreements and enact the reforms needed to join the EU and NATO.
Clinton, who will be joined by European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton during her first stop in Sarajevo, is expected to call on Bosnia to speed up reforms in a country still deeply divided along ethnic lines 17 years after the 1992-1995 war there.
Full StorySerbian President Tomislav Nikolic said the EU should change its formulation on Kosovo's territorial integrity since the current wording meant Brussels recognised Pristina's independence, a local daily said Saturday.
"The European Union is taking a positive stand towards Kosovo's independence through... formulations in the (bloc's) enlargement strategy" report, Nikolic told the Vecernje Novosti daily.
Full StoryEuropean police on Thursday arrested two people suspected of committing rape during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war, the European Union rule-of-law mission EULEX said in a press release.
"Two people have been arrested in a joint operation by EULEX Police and Kosovo police in a war crimes related case," the statement said.
Full StoryWestern powers which have overseen Kosovo since its 2008 declaration of independence have ended their supervision over the territory, a top official said Monday.
"The supervision of Kosovo is finished ... The International Steering Group has decided to end the period of (Kosovo's) supervised independence," Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith, the highest international representative in Kosovo, told a press conference, speaking in Albanian.
Full StoryBosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic demanded a new genocide trial Monday before the Yugoslav war crimes court, saying prosecutors were late in disclosing evidence favorable to his case.
"Dr. Radovan Karadzic hereby moves for an order granting him a new trial," said a document that Karadzic filed before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), where he is conducting his own defense.
Full StorySerbia's parliament on Friday voted in a new nationalist-led coalition government headed by Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, who vowed to focus on EU integration and Kosovo dialogue while boosting the economy.
A total of 142 lawmakers in the 250-seat parliament supported the coalition, made up of President Tomislav Nikolic's nationalist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) which won the May 6 election and Dacic's Socialists.
Full StoryA senior Serbian official on Monday said a decision by the international body overseeing Kosovo to give the territory full sovereignty in September was bad news for its Serb minority.
"When any international mission in Kosovo leaves, it can mean a greater danger for both Serbs and Serbia," Oliver Ivanovic, Serbia's state secretary for Kosovo, told B92 television.
Full StorySerbian archaeologists have discovered the remains of at least seven mammoths at a dig at an open pit mine, which could turn out to be a mammoth cemetery, lead archaeologist Miomir Korac told Agence France Presse Friday.
"We are at the start of the excavations. We first found the remains of one mammoth and then every 30 meters or so the bones of six more animals at the same depth," said Korac, who leads the team carrying out the dig.
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