Kosovo

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said he was convinced that the progress made in Tuesday's latest Serbia-Kosovo talks in Brussels would enable Serbia to open the first chapters in the EU accession process by the end of the year.

"Nations in Transition," a new report by Freedom House, which studies reform in the former communist states of Europe and Eurasia, has given Kosovo the lowest democracy score in the region, 5.14, putting into the category of "semi-consolidated authoritarian regimes".

Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said ahead of the resumption of Belgrade-Pristina talks in Brussels there were "no changes to Serbia's position."

Speaking in Milan, Italy, on Monday, he added the Serbian side will be constructive but will not recognize Kosovo "by any action."

The prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo, Aleksandar Vucic and Isa Mustafa, will on Tuesday continue dialogue in Brussels.

The new round of dialogue will discuss energy, telecommunications, the Community of Serb Municipalities and the bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica.

The office of the EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini on June 19 said the new round of Kosovo-Serbia talks on Tuesday would focus on implementing agreements on energy, telecommunications and the establishment of the Association of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo.

The two leaders will also discuss the barricade on the bridge in the divided northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica.

After the brief detention of former PM Ramush Haradinaj, media reports suggest that old Serbian war crimes warrants still exist for some 40 more Kosovo Liberation Army ex-fighters.

A Turkish company, Bahçeci Test-Tube Baby Center, has agreed with Turkish lender Ziraat Bank to enable Bosnian families that want to have a baby through in vitro fertilization to acquire cheaper loans. 

The bank will now offer interest-free loans worth around 15,000 Turkish Liras ($5,600) for a 36-month time frame. 

Turkey's Limak Construction has won a tender to build an airport with a capacity of 8 million passengers in the Russian city of Rostov, one of the host cities of the 2018 World Cup, according to the company.

Limak said it would build the facility with a Russian partner, Marashstroy, adding that the final signatures would be inked by the end of June.

Kosovo's inability to obtain its own international telephone prefix has cost it around 65 million euro so far, as it remains obliged to pay companies in Monaco and Slovenia to borrow use of their country codes.

Wartime guerrilla commander turned political leader Ramush Haradinaj, who was detained in Slovenia on a Serbian war crimes arrest warrant, is expected to return to Kosovo after being freed.