Ethnic groups in Europe

VIENNA - A solemn event under the slogan “The pogrom in Kosovo - never again” has been held in Vienna to observe ten years since the Albanian pogrom against Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM).

The event, held at the Serbian Embassy in Vienna late on Thursday, was organized by the Serbian educational and cultural society Prosvjeta and the Association of Serb Clubs in Vienna.

BELGRADE - Serbia's delegation headed by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic will pay an official visit to Austria on March 27 and 28, the president's press service released in a statement.

The Serbian president will confer with Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Parliament Speaker Barbara Prammer.

Belgrade had a broad agenda aimed at expelling non-Serbs from Yugoslavia, Croatia argued at the genocide hearing before the UN court.

BELGRADE - Serbian Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic met on Wednesday with Michael Freund, Chairman of the Tel Aviv-based Israel-Serbia Friendship Association, and noted that the two nations share a uniquely strong bond.

A court in Larissa, central Greece, on Tuesday questioned the Bulgarian Embassy’s second secretary, Lubomir Georgiev, about what conditions a young girl known as Maria who was found at a Roma camp in Farsala last year would be brought up in if she were taken to Bulgaria.

Bulgaria will set up a police task force, responsible for cultural matter, said Culture Minister Petar Stoyanovich. 

It will be similar to Italy's cultural police and its main goal will be combating art theft, treasure hunters and the illegal export of artifacts. 

Patriarch says Kosovo is "Serbian Jerusalem"

BELGRADE -- Patriarch Irinej has said the anti-Serb violence in Kosovo in March 2004 was an attempt to destroy the root of the Serb people and erase their existence there.

Turkey will close the Bosphorus for Russian ships, if there is violence against the Crimean Tatars, said Turkish prime minister Recep Erdogan. 

BELGRADE - Ivica Dacic, prime minister of the caretaker government, said on Monday that the international community in Kosovo-Metohija has the duty to bring to justice the perpetrators of the pogrom against the Serbs which took place 10 years ago.

Serb leaders in Bosnia praised Serbia’s “fair and democratic” parliamentary polls while some analysts said that a Europe-oriented Belgrade government would be good for its neighbour state.