Some 5,000 Kosovars took to the streets on Wednesday amid mounting tensions about an agreed UN-Serbia plan to deploy a European mission in the disputed Balkan territory.

`UN Proposes War,` read one of the large white banners brandished by the demonstrators in downtown Pristina, reflecting Kosovo Albanians` anger about intentions to implement the plan within weeks.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Nov 18, 2007 (AFP) - Former Kosovo guerilla leader Hashim Thaci, whose party favours speedy independence, claimed victory Sunday in crucial parliamentary elections.

'I thank all of those who helped our victory and the victory of Kosovo,' Thaci told a celebration of his Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), which an unofficial tally showed had won 35 percent of the vote.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - A party dominated by former Kosovo guerrillas who favour speedy independence was leading in parliamentary elections Saturday ahead of crucial talks on the status of the Serbian province.

The opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of Hashim Thaci had 35 percent of the vote, according to preliminary unofficial results based on a count of 50 percent of ballots.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Kosovo voters braved icy weather and fears of renewed violence on Saturday to elect a government the majority Albanians hope will lead the troubled Serbian province to independence.

The elections were held eight years after Kosovo's war and less than a month before the end of international talks on its future status.

Massively boycotted by Serbs fiercely opposed to independence, they were tipped to be dominated by parties representing Albanians who are impatient for statehood.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Polling ended Saturday in crucial Kosovo elections to elect a government majority that Albanians hope will lead the troubled Serbian province to independence.

After more than 12 hours of voting, booths were officially shut at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT), but some remained open to accommodate queuing voters, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) spokesman Sven Lindolm told AFP.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Kosovo voters braved icy weather and fears of renewed violence on Saturday to elect a government the majority Albanians hope will lead the troubled Serbian province to independence.

'These elections will be an additional verdict towards our destiny' of independence, Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu said after voting in central Pristina.

'Kosovo is entering into a new phase of its democracy and status,' said the leader of the ruling Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK).

PRISTINA, Serbia, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - A steady flow of Kosovo Albanian voters streamed into polling stations in a snow-coated Pristina on Saturday, from young families to smartly dressed elderly couples.

The icy conditions outside contrasted with the warm, festive atmosphere inside schools and universities turned into temporary polling stations.

'It's our duty as citizens to vote,' said 68-year-old Dilshat Bytygi, his breath visible in the cold air outside a school in central Pristina.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Kosovo began voting Saturday to elect a government that would lead the troubled province to independence as demanded by majority Albanians but fiercely resisted by Serbs.

The first voters began casting ballots in the provincial capital Pristina shortly after up to 2,350 polling booths opened around the province at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) for 12 hours of voting, Radio Kosova reported.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Polling stations opened in Kosovo Saturday in a vote to elect a government that would lead the Serbian province to independence as sought by majority Albanians but resisted by Serbs.

The first voters began casting ballots in the provincial capital Pristina shortly after up to 2,350 polling booths opened around the province at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) for 12 hours of voting, Radio Kosova reported.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - A tense Kosovo votes Saturday for a government that would lead the troubled Serbian province to independence as demanded by majority Albanians but bitterly opposed by Serbs.

NATO's 16,000-strong KFOR troops were bolstered by hundreds of reinforcements before the elections, in which 1.5 million voters are casting ballots for a new parliament, mayors and local councillors.

VIENNA, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - The troika of European, Russian and US negotiators began new talks with delegates from Pristina and Belgrade Monday in Vienna to determine the future status of the Serbian province of Kosovo.

European Union mediator Wolfgang Ischinger and his US and Russian counterparts, Frank Wisner and Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, met Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku at the Austrian foreign ministry.

They were then to hold talks with the Serbian delegation led by Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic at 11:00 am (0900 GMT).

TETOVO, Macedonia, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Some 6,000 ethnic Albanians demonstrated in the Macedonian town of Tetovo on Friday to demand the independence of the neighbouring Serbian province of Kosovo.

'We are gathered here today to express our discontent with postponing the independence of Kosovo,' said Menduh Thaci, a leader of Macedonia's Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA).

'We are against all attempts aimed at destabilising and dividing Kosovo,' Thaci told protestors who carried Albanian and US flags.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Kosovo's negotiating team in talks on the future status of the disputed Serbian territory said Friday that the dialogue will end after a December deadline.

'The negotiations will be over on December 10,' said Skender Hyseni, spokesman for the Kosovo Albanian 'Team of Unity' involved in the internationally mediated talks.

'The Team of Unity is resolute that there will be no talks after December 10,' said Hyseni.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - The opposition party of former Kosovo guerilla leader Hashim Thaci has a slight edge over ruling moderates less than a month before elections, an opinion poll showed Friday.

Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) has support of 32 percent compared with 29 percent for the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) party, according to the survey by the independent group Compass.

BELGRADE, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Four former members of an elite Serbian police unit were arrested over the 1999 massacre of 14 Kosovo Albanians, including women and children, authorities said Friday.

'The four were arrested over the massacre in Podujevo,' police spokeswoman Dragana Kajganic told AFP. Podujeov is the northern Kosovo town in which the atrocity occurred on March 28, 1999.

The four suspects were all members of the notorious 'Scorpions' special police unit.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - A Kosovo Albanian went on trial here Thursday over a 2001 bus bombing that killed 10 Serbs in one of the deadliest attacks since the province's 1998-1999 war, a rights group said.

Florim Ejupi pleaded not guilty before the UN court to charges including terrorism and murder, said the Humanitarian Law Centre.

The 29-year-old is the main suspect in the attack and is accused of helping to plant the bomb which blew up a NATO-escorted bus full of ethnic Serbs.

BELGRADE, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - An ethnic Albanian accused of taking part in the murder nine years ago of eight Serbs whose bodies were found in a Kosovo cave went on trial here Wednesday, Beta news agency reported.

Sinan Morina pleaded not guilty before Serbia's special war crimes court to the charges related to the killings, which took place in the northwestern Kosovo village of Opterusa in July 1998.

He is also accused of detaining, torturing and raping Serb civilians, as well as destroying property and religious sites, according to the indictment.

MADRID, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Two Spanish members of the NATO-led mission in Kosovo were killed when their vehicle overturned and crashed into a petrol station, Spain's defence ministry said Wednesday.

The cause of the incident late Tuesday had 'yet to be determined,' the ministry said in a statement.

The vehicle reached a crossroads near the soldiers' base when it flipped over and skidded into the petrol station.

MOSCOW, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Russia's ambassador to the European Union on Wednesday said a December 10 deadline did not signal the end for talks over the future status of Kosovo and pointed to progress in negotiations.

'December 10 is not the end of the negotiating process.... We don't think December 10 is a watershed, it's just a stage,' Vladimir Chizhov said through a video link-up at a Moscow press conference.

'We understand there has been some progress. There were directs talks between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians' in Brussels on Sunday, Chizhov said.

BRUSSELS, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - Serbian and Kosovo officials refused to budge from their positions Sunday at a last ditch series of talks on the province's future status, agreeing only to meet again in a week.

Despite a fast-approacing December 10 deadline for the talks to end, Serbia laid out its plan for autonomy for the ethnic Albanian majority region, while Kosovo officials explained their vision of two independent states.

BRUSSELS, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - Serbia and Kosovo remained in a stalemate Sunday over the future status of the province at the end of the second round of face-to-face talks in Brussels, according to a statement released after the meeting.

The only point of agreement between the two sides was to reconvene talks in Vienna on October 22.

BELGRADE, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - Kosovo will never be an independent state, no matter of what kind of pressure Serbia is exposed to, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Sunday ahead of talks on the UN-administered province.

'Kosovo will never be independent state, no matter pressures, conditionings and threats Serbia is exposed to,' said Kostunica, Beta news agency reported.

BRUSSELS, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - The European Union's Kovovo envoy urged Belgrade and Pristina Sunday to accelerate their talks on the future status of the Serbian province, with a December 10 deadline closing in.

'There is quite a distance to be covered if really we want to reach an agreement,' warned EU envoy Wolfgang Ischinger, ahead of a round of talks in Brussels on how much autonomy Kosovo should be granted.

SPLIT, Croatia, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) - If Belgrade and Pristina reach no deal over Kosovo's status a plan proposed by a UN envoy remains the best solution for the breakaway Serbian province, a US official said here Saturday.

'If we cannot reach an agreement we continue to believe that the Ahtisaari plan is the best,' solution for Kosovo, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Rosemary DiCarlo, told journalists.

UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari has called for independence of the Albanian-majority province under international supervision.

PARIS, 12 oct 2007 (AFP) - Albanian Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha on Friday called on the EU to brace for the breakdown of talks over the future of Kosovo and be ready to recognise the Serbian province's independence.

'Albania fully supports the attempts to find a negotiated solution between Pristina and Belgrade ... but it is looking increasingly difficult for this to be the case,' Basha said in an interview in Paris, where he is on an official visit.

'So the European Union has to start preparing now for the worst case scenario,' he said.

BELGRADE, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Serbia ordered its officials to protest and even leave international gatherings if ethnic Albanian delegations from its breakaway Kosovo province were given status as representing an independent state, the government said Thursday.

The government instructed its officials to 'protest and react' whenever ethnic Albanian politicians taking part in international gatherings alone or within the delegation of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) were given a 'state status,' a statement said.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Fears are growing ahead of weekend talks on Kosovo's future status that the tortuous negotiations are going nowhere, threatening to radicalise the tiny Balkan territory's separatist ethnic Albanian majority.

Since the last round of internationally mediated talks on the issue two weeks ago, a series of incidents in Kosovo have stoked concerns of a return to violence in the United Nations-run Serbian province, which has proved a powderkeg in the past.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - Some 300 Kosovo Albanian youths staged a peaceful rally Wednesday to demand independence for the disputed Serbian territory.

The group of students marched through the centre of the provincial capital Pristina chanting 'Independence' as they waved flags of neighbouring Albania and banners that warned about Kosovo becoming another 'Palestine.'

LONDON, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Kosovo will declare its independence from Serbia within days following a December deadline on the province's future status if no accord is struck, its Prime Minister Agim Ceku said Tuesday.

'An independent Kosovo has to happen very soon after December 10,' he told a news conference at the Foreign Office in London after meeting British diplomats, including Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

'We are talking a couple of days, not weeks, not months.'

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Russia warned anew Tuesday that a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo was 'unacceptable' and said direct talks between Serbia and Albanian separatists could be extended beyond the December 10 deadline.

Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin made the comments to reporters after UN special representative Joachim Rucker briefed the Security Council on the latest developments in the breakaway Serbian province.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Nine people were arrested for cigarette smuggling through a network of tax-free shops for the NATO-led peacekeeping mission (KFOR) in UN-run Kosovo province, the Custom service said Tuesday.

The suspects, all residents of Kosovo, were allegedly involved in the illegal trade of cigarettes worth around 1.8 million euros (2.53 million dollars), the statement said.

The cigarettes were obtained with false papers in special tax-free shops providing supplies for KFOR soldiers, officials said.

LONDON, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Kosovo will declare its independence from Serbia within days if no accord is struck by a December deadline on the province's future status, its Prime Minister Agim Ceku said Tuesday.

'An independent Kosovo has to happen very soon after December 10,' he told a news conference at the Foreign Office in London after meeting British diplomats, including Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

'We are talking a couple of days, not weeks, not months.'

SKOPJE, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Macedonian police have prevented five Kosovo Albanians, travelling with several Swedish soldiers serving with NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo (KFOR), from flying from Macedonia to Sweden, the Interior Ministry said Monday.

A five-member family, residents of neighbouring Kosovo, carried Swedish passports issued by Stockholm's embassy in Macedonia but had no stamps showing they had entered this former Yugoslav republic, the ministry said in a statement.

BRUSSELS, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - A conference aimed at adding impetus to talks on the future status of Kosovo could be held after elections in the Serbian province next month, European Union diplomats said Monday.

Talks between Serbia and Kosovo -- supervised by an international troika of the EU, Russia and the United States -- on whether the province should be granted 'supervised independence' are scheduled to end on December 10.

But the discussions have produced few results and senior EU officials have expressed doubts about whether they can succeed.

PRISTINA, Serbia, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - Kosovo police launched an investigation Thursday into armed ethnic Albanian extremists who have threatened to go to war with Serbian forces.

Footage of the masked militants, members of an armed group calling itself the Albanian National Army (ANA), appeared on Kosovo's RTK television on Wednesday night.

'An investigation concerning the report that arose of the masked people as members of this organisation (the ANA) is at hand,' said Veton Elshani, spokesman of the Kosovo Police Service (KPS).

BRUSSELS, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn accused Russia Thursday of 'selfish unilateralism' by threatening to veto a UN Security Council move to grant independence to Kosovo.

'There is no place for selfish unilateralism like the threat of a unilateral veto at the UN Security Council,' he told students in Paris, according to a copy of his speech distributed in Brussels by his staff.

'We call on other partners in the international community to adopt a responsible attitude that can facilitate a negotiated solution,' he said.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - A failure to resolve Kosovo's future status by the December 10 deadline could jeopardize gains made by the world body in the breakaway Serbian province, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in his latest report released Wednesday.

He said that the UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) had largely achieved what it could in the UN-administered province.