Balkans

Two people have died, several are missing and 7,618 have been evacuated during the floods in Serbia in the past two days and the battle against the rising waters still rages.

BELGRADE - The Serbian government office for Kosovo stated on Friday that Serbs from Kosovo had joined the rescue operations in flooded areas in Serbia.

Fifty Serbs arrived from southern Kosovo and joined the rescue teams in Ub and Obrenovac, the worst hit areas, the statement says.

The Central Election Commission of Kosovo, CEC, is continuing preparations for the upcoming general elections, which will be held across the country on June 8.

Enis Halimi, executive chief of the CEC secretariat said they “have made all necessary activities and operations in order to ensure that everyone can use his civic and political right to vote”.

The female Kosovo politicians announced at their first meeting on Thursday that their planned petition will urge the UN to produce a thorough report on war rape cases in Kosovo during the 1998-99 conflict with Serbian forces.

A website has been launched to campaign for justice for the three Bytyqi brothers, who were killed by Serbian forces 15 years ago after going to fight for the Kosovo Liberation Army.

"Community of municipalities remains challenge"

NEW YORK -- Challenges remain in the implementation of certain provisions of the Brussels Agreement, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in his latest report on Kosovo.

NEW YORK - Challenges remain in the implementation of certain provisions of the Brussels Agreement - in particular with regards to the establishment of the community of Serb municipalities - which, however, should not overshadow the remarkable progress achieved in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in the latest report on Kosovo-Metohija.

Serbian government and Parliament officials have been instructed not to back international moves against Russia, a recent report suggests.

Marko Jaksic, a political analyst from the mainly Serbian northern part of Kosovo, says the turnout in the Kosovo elections will be lower if Serbia does not put pressure on Kosovo Serbs to vote, as it did in the last local elections held on November 17.

Serbs to participate in polls, "barring special conditions"

LEPOSAVIĆ -- Serbs in northern Kosovo will take part in early elections in the province "unless Priština sets last-minute special conditions that are impossible to meet."

This is what Leposavić Mayor Dragan Jablanović told Tanjug on Wednesday.