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Violence flared on Monday after Kosovo authorities, backed by special police units, installed ethnic Albanian mayors in offices in northern municipalities. Speaking after the meeting with Vucic, Osmani accused the Serbian leader of "whining and complaining and ... not telling the truth". But she said Kosovo could hold new elections in the north with Serb participation if they were triggered legally. Earlier in the day, neither leader had expressed any desire to meet with the other, before relenting under international pressure. Vucic said Kosovo authorities should withdraw "alleged mayors" from the north and declared the Kosovo special police units were there illegally.

Persons: Vjosa, Aleksandar Vucic, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, Vucic, Osmani, Macron, Scholz, Mimi, Vladislav Culiomza Macron, Albin Kurti, Jens Stoltenberg, Fatos Bytyci, Ivana Sekularac, Sabine Siebold, Tassilo Hummel, Daria Sito, Edmund Blair, Daniel Wallis Organizations: EU, Kosovo, NATO, Political, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: BULBOACA, Moldova, Kosovo, Serbia, France, Germany, United States, Serbian, Belgrade, Paris, Berlin, Bulboaca, Oslo

☆ NATO-led troops guard town hall in northern Kosovo
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Fatos Bytyci | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/6] U.S. Kosovo Force (KFOR) soldiers, under NATO, stand guard near a municipal office in Leposavic, Kosovo May 31, 2023. Following clashes on Monday in Zvecan, another northern town, during which 30 NATO troops and 52 ethnic Serbian protesters were hurt, NATO said it would send 700 more troops to Kosovo to boost its 4,000-strong mission. Those ethnic Albanian mayors were then installed last week, a decision that spurred rebuke of Pristina by the U.S. and its allies on Friday. The ethnic Albanian mayor of Leposavic, another northern Kosovo town, remained in the municipal building on Wednesday after entering it amid Serb demonstrations on Monday. Peacekeeping troops were deployed in Kosovo in 1999 after NATO bombing drove Serbia's police and army out of its former province.

Persons: couldn't, Dragan, –, Emmanuel Macron, Macron, Olaf Scholz, Albin Kurti, Novak Djokovic, Djokovic, Jeton Hadergjonaj, Aleksandar Vucic, Fatos Bytici, Ivana Sekularac, Bernadette Baum Organizations: Kosovo Force, KFOR, NATO, REUTERS, Serbian, U.S, Reuters, United, Wednesday, Belgrade, Kosovo Olympic, International Olympic Committee, Kosovo Albanian, Thomson Locations: U.S, Leposavic, Kosovo, LEPOSAVIC, Zvecan, Serbian, Pristina, KOSOVO, United States, Serbia, Bratislava, Northern, Belgrade, EU

☆ NATO soldiers on guard in Kosovo Serb town following clashes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Fatos Bytyci | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ZVECAN, Kosovo, May 30 (Reuters) - Dozens of NATO troops secured on Tuesday a municipal building in the Kosovo town of Zvecan, where the previous day 30 NATO soldiers and 52 Serb protesters were injured in clashes. On Monday, Serb protesters in Zvecan threw tear gas and stun grenades at NATO soldiers. The NATO force, known as KFOR, said 30 of its soldiers were hurt in the clashes. In another Serb-majority town, Leposavic, an ethnic Albanian mayor was unable to leave his office for more that 24 hours because of protesters outside, media reported. Tensions have risen since ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo's Serb-majority area after elections the Serbs boycotted.

☆ NATO peacekeepers secure Kosovo town halls in standoff with Serb protesters
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/6] U.S. KFOR soldiers stand guard in front of the municipality office, while ethnic Serbs gather to protest, in the town of Leposavic, Kosovo, May 29, 2023. KFOR troops also acted to protect the town halls in Zubin Potok and North Mitrovica from possible threats. Serbs refused to take part in local elections in April and ethnic Albanian candidates won the mayoralties in four Serb-majority municipalities with a 3.5% turnout. Serbs have called on the Kosovo government to remove ethnic Albanian mayors from town halls and allow local administrations financed by Belgrade return to their duties. NATO peacekeepers deployed in Kosovo after the alliance's 1999 bombing campaign that drove Serbian security forces out of Serbia's then-southern province, ending a brutal counter-insurgency campaign.

☆ Tens of thousands gather in Belgrade protest over mass shootings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] Serbia's main opposition parties protest against violence and in reaction to the two mass shootings in the same week, that have shaken the country, in Belgrade, Serbia, May 19, 2023. REUTERS/Marko... Read moreBELGRADE, May 19 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands marched through Belgrade on Friday in an anti-government protest following two mass shootings that killed 18 people, blaming the deaths on a culture of violence that critics say authorities have allowed to fester unchecked. Reuters estimated the protest, the third of its kind this month, drew a crowd in the tens of thousands. The government denies the opposition parties' allegations and accuses them of organising the protests for political gain. In a counter-rally in Pancevo, a town outside Belgrade, Vucic accused the opposition of trying to use the mass shootings for self promotion.

☆ Serbia's education minister resigns over school shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BELGRADE, May 7 (Reuters) - Serbia's Education Minister Branko Ruzic resigned on Sunday over last week's shooting at an elementary school in which eight children and a security guard were killed, amid public anger over that and another mass shooting just a day later. The country is in shock and mourning over the two shootings: the school massacre in the capital on Wednesday and a rampage outside the city on Thursday in which eight people died. The suspects in both cases - respectively a 13-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man - are in custody. Opposition parties, who blame Prime Minister Ana Brnabic's government for failing to prevent the two rampages, have called on supporters to join an anti-government march on Monday evening in Belgrade. Serbia has an entrenched gun culture, especially in rural areas, but its gun control laws were fairly strict even before the latest shootings.

☆ Serbian man confesses to killing eight in shooting rampage, prosecutors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In a statement seen by Reuters, the prosecutors said a man identified only as U.B. A girl shot in the head in a school shooting in Serbia in which eight pupils and a guard were killed is still in critical condition, RTS state TV reported on Saturday. Burials were being held on Saturday for four of the pupils and the guard killed in the school shooting and five young men killed in the second rampage. Following the shootings, the government introduced a set of measures aimed at preventing violence in schools and reducing the number of weapons held by civilians. The suspect in the school shooting is a 13-year-old boy who police said surrendered on Wednesday after taking two of his father's handguns to carry out the shooting.

☆ Serbia takes steps to prevent school violence after shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BELGRADE, May 4 (Reuters) - The Serbian government said it had introduced a set of measures on Thursday to prevent potential violence in schools a day after a 13-year-old boy shot and killed eight students and a guard in a Belgrade elementary school. Because of his age the boy cannot be criminally prosecuted under Serbian law but he will be placed in a psychiatric institution, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said. The government said in the statement that it had decided to halt issuing of licences to weapon holders. The justice ministry will prepare changes to the criminal law to prosecute those who enable access to weapons to children. The government will also change a legislation within one month to enable schools to test students for drugs and alcohol, the statement added.

☆ Two killed, several injured in Serbian village shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BELGRADE, May 4 (Reuters) - At least two people were killed and several injured in a shooting in the town of Mladenovac, 42 kilometres (26 miles)south of Belgrade, Tanjug news agency reported, quoting the ministry of interior. "Two people are not showing any signs of life, and several were injured," Tanjug reported. Nova S reported on its web site that two were killed and seven injured when an unknown gunman shot from a moving vehicle. On Wednesday a 13-year old boy shot dead nine and injured seven at a school before turning himself in. Reporting by Ivana Sekularac Editing by Bill BerkrotOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Veselin Milic, head of Belgrade police, said the attacker had two guns and two petrol bombs and had planned everything carefully. Wednesday's shooting happened at Vladislav Ribnikar, an elementary school in Vracar, a central Belgrade district. But then I saw the security guard falling to the ground," she said, adding that she then ran away. [1/5] People react after a 14-year-old boy opened fire on other students and security guards at a school in downtown Belgrade, Serbia, May 3, 2023. (The boy) ... first shot the teacher and then he started shooting randomly," Milosevic, who had rushed to the school, told broadcaster N1.

BELGRADE, May 3 (Reuters) - A 14-year-old boy shot his teacher in a Belgrade classroom on Wednesday morning before opening fire on other students and security guards, killing at least one person and wounding five, police and witnesses said. Milan Milosevic, the father of one of the pupils at the Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school, said his daughter was in the classroom when the shooting began. (The boy) ...first shot the teacher and then he started shooting randomly," Milosevic told broadcaster N1. Police said a security guard was killed and five students were wounded, and that a seventh-grade student had been arrested. Later I heard three shots," a girl who attends a high school adjacent to Vladislav Ribnikar told state TV RTS.

☆ Bulgarian extreme athlete shuts himself in glass box to help young addicts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Stoyan NenovSOPHIA, April 30 (Reuters) - Bulgarian ultra-marathon runner, Krasse Gueorguiev, will live in a glass box for 15 days in a park in Sofia, to raise money to help young people fight addictions. "I want to show when you put someone in the box how psychologically they change." A box with three glass walls has been put on a pedestal in front of the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. "This is not a physical experiment it is psychological experiment," he said. Reporting by Stoyan Nenov; Writing by Ivana Sekularac;Editing by Elaine HardcastleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Former Kosovo president Thaci pleads not guilty to war crimes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Ivana Sekularac | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

THE HAGUE, April 3 (Reuters) - Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci on Monday pleaded not guilty to 10 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity as his trial opened at a special court in The Hague. Thaci and three co-defendants, all former close associates in the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and later in peacetime politics, all pleaded not guilty shortly after hearings got underway. "I understand the indictment and I am fully not guilty," Thaci said in court. The trial, conducted by international judges and prosecutors, began with opening statements by the prosecution followed by defence lawyers and a representative of Kosovo's war Victims Council over the ensuing three days. Thaci, 54, resigned as president shortly after his indictment and was transferred to detention in The Hague.

☆ Kosovo war crimes court begins trial of ex-guerrilla chief and president Thaci
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

THE HAGUE, April 3 (Reuters) - Former Kosovo president Hashim Thaci stands trial at a special court in The Hague on Monday for alleged war crimes during the 1998-99 insurgency that eventually brought independence from Serbia and made him a hero among compatriots. Thaci was indicted in 2020 by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers on 10 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including persecution, murder, torture and forced disappearance of people, including after fighting ended. Thaci and three co-defendants, all former close associates in the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and later in peacetime politics, have pleaded not guilty to all 10 counts. The trial, conducted by international judges and prosecutors, will begin with opening statements by the prosecution followed by defence lawyers and a representative of Kosovo's war Victims Council over the ensuing three days. Thaci, 54, resigned as president shortly after his indictment and was transferred to detention in The Hague.

A special Kosovo court set up in The Hague indicted Thaci in November 2020 on 10 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including persecution, murder, torture and enforced disappearance of people among other things during the uprising. Thaci, 54, resigned as president shortly afterward and was transferred to detention in The Hague. As the fighting abated and Serbian forces withdrew under NATO bombardment from Kosovo, Thaci traded in his green uniform for a blue suit and tie. Milosevic went on trial before a separate U.N. tribunal in The Hague for war crimes against Kosovo Albanians in the conflict, but he died in 2006 before a verdict was reached. Some senior Serbian officials including then-army chief Nebojsa Pavkovic and deputy prime minister Nikola Sainovic were sentenced to long prison terms over war crimes in Kosovo.

☆ Serbia wants to normalise ties with Kosovo but will not sign any agreement
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BELGRADE, March 19 (Reuters) - Serbia wants normal relations with Kosovo but still won't sign any agreement with it, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday, a day after he verbally agreed to implement a Western-backed plan for the normalisation of ties. "Serbia wants to have normal relations with Kosovo. "I didn't want to sign the agreement on the implementing annex last night nor the EU-backed agreement (in Brussels last month)," Vucic told reporters. "I don't want to sign any international legally binding documents with Kosovo because Serbia does not recognise its independence." Under their verbal agreement, Kosovo committed to giving greater autonomy to Serb majority areas, while Serbia agreed not to block Kosovo's membership in international organisations.

☆ Kosovo, Serbia leaders arrive for EU-backed talks on deal to normalise ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Fatos Bytyci | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"I am optimistic," Kurti said ahead of the meetings, taking place in the lakeside town of Ohrid in North Macedonia. Kosovo and Serbia agreed in Brussels last month to a Western-backed deal to normalise relations, following nearly 10 years of EU-mediated dialogue during which little progress was made. "The eyes of the EU & the Western Balkans are on Ohrid today," Borrell tweeted. Belgrade and Pristina need to mend bilateral ties for both to achieve their strategic goal of joining the EU. "I want to caution that we may not have a final agreement," Gabriel Escobar, the senior U.S. diplomat for the Western Balkans who is also attending the Ohrid talks, told Pristina-based RTV21 station.

☆ Kosovo, Serbia agree on "some kind of deal" to normalize ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/3] Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic speaks to the media, in Ohrid, North Macedonia March 18, 2023.REUTERS/Ognen TeofilovskiOHRID, North Macedonia, March 18 (Reuters) - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that Kosovo and Serbia have reached "some kind of a deal" on implementing a Western-backed deal to normalize ties on Saturday. This is not the final deal," Vucic told reporters in Ohrid. He said that despite disagreements on some issues, talks with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti were "decent". He said Serbia's path towards EU membership will be conditioned on implementing the deal. Reporting by Fatos Bytyci and Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Thousands in Belgrade protest against Western-backed Serbia-Kosovo deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Ivana Sekularac | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] Protesters shout slogans and hold signs during a demonstration against a Western-backed deal on normalizing ties between Kosovo and Serbia in Belgrade March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Djordje KojadinovicBELGRADE, March 17 (Reuters) - Several thousand people gathered in Belgrade to protest against a Western-backed deal to normalise ties between Kosovo and Serbia, which they view as recognition of Kosovo independence. Bilateral ties need to be mended for Serbia and Kosovo to achieve their strategic goal of joining the EU. Protesters held Serbian flags and banners reading "Kosovo is not for sale," "Serbia, not European Union," and "No to capitulation." "This is just the start of the protest," said Milos Jovanovic, leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia, which was one of the protest organisers.

☆ Slovenia's ex-president raises 60,000 euros from sale of his old Renault 4
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] 30 year old Renault 4 put on auction by former Slovenian President Borut Pahor reaches a price at the auction of 60,000 euro in Vransko, Slovenia, January 18, 2023. REUTERS/Borut ZivulovicLJUBLJANA, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Slovenia's former president, Borut Pahor, raised 60,000 euros ($64,164) for charities helping children diagnosed with cancer from the sale of his 1991 Renault 4 and handed over the keys to the winning bidder on Sunday. "Our intension was to help these fighters (children)," Fratar said. Pahor, a former fashion model, served two terms as Slovenian president, a mostly ceremonial position. ($1 = 0.9351 euros)Reporting by Borut Zivulovic; Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by David HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/4] A person rides on a motorcycle with Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) flag attached to it on the day of celebrations of the 15th anniversary of Kosovo independence in Pristina, Kosovo, February 17, 2023. "Our independence was achieved through struggle and sacrifice, but our independence will only grow through work," Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said ahead of the parade. Tensions with Serbia linger as Belgrade continues to support the refusal of 50,000 minority Serbs in north Kosovo to accept the country's independence, declared almost a decade after an uprising against repressive Serbian rule. Resolving their volatile stand-off is a major condition for Serbia and Kosovo to progress towards EU membership. The anniversary was ignored in the Serb-majority town of North Mitrovica in north Kosovo.

"International companies that were supposed to arrive for the first time in Kosovo told us that they were delaying opening shops due to the unstable situation," Fatmir Zymberi told Reuters. The main, longstanding fount of tensions is the refusal of 50,000 ethnic Serbs in north Kosovo to recognise the government in Pristina or Kosovo as a separate country. The area of north Kosovo where ethnic Serbs form a majority looks in some respects like an extension of Serbia. The Kremlin denied influencing Serbia to stir up conflict, saying Belgrade was just defending the rights of Kosovo Serbs. "I am more worried than I have been in many years about the risk of conflict in north Kosovo that could then spill into reprisal attacks on Serbs in south Kosovo.

☆ Explainer: Why Kosovo's stand-off with Serbs goes on 15 years after statehood
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Serbs in north Kosovo vent their rejectionism by refusing to pay the state utility for energy they use and often attacking police who try to make arrests. North Kosovo Serbs on Dec. 10 erected multiple roadblocks and exchanged fire with police after a former Serb policeman was arrested for allegedly assaulting serving police officers during a previous protest. But with nationalist hardliners powerful on both sides, not least among north Kosovo Serbs, no breakthrough is on the horizon. The area of north Kosovo where Serbs form a majority is in important ways a virtual extension of Serbia. Local Serbs fear that once fully integrated within Kosovo they could lose benefits such as Serbia's free public healthcare and be forced onto Kosovo's private healthcare system.

☆ U.S., EU, NATO urge restraint as Serbia-Kosovo border crossings close, dispute escalates
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Fatos Bytyci | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Locals walk near a roadblock in the northern part of the ethnically-divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, December 28, 2022. Dejan Pantic was arrested on Dec. 10 for assaulting a serving police officer, since when Serbs in northern Kosovo have exchanged fire with police and erected more than 10 roadblocks, demanding his release. Serbs in northern Kosovo, which they believe to be still part of Serbia, resist any moves they see as anti-Serb. Around 50,000 Serbs living in northern Kosovo refuse to recognise the government in Pristina or the status of Kosovo as a separate country. Albanian-majority Kosovo declared independence with the backing of the West, following a 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened to protect ethnic Albanian citizens.

☆ Serbia's Vucic urges Serbs in Kosovo to remove barricades - official
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia and Serbs in north Kosovo have refused to recognise that and their licence plates are still being issued by Serbia. Serbs in north Kosovo have erected barricades and blocked roads for about three weeks following the arrest of former police officer Dejan Pantic by Kosovo police. Vucic has called on Serbs in the north to remove barricades, Petkovic added. Vucic and Kosovo Serb representatives will meet Wednesday evening near the Kosovo border and announce if the barricades will be removed, Petkovic said. Earlier on Wednesday, the United States, NATO and European Union urged maximum restraint by both sides in the standoff.

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