Kosovo

BELGRADE - Serbia wants to become a full EU member, but not at the price of recognising Kosovo-Metohija or giving up on the friendship with Russia, President Tomislav Nikolic said Wednesday at a meeting with the Czech Foreign Ministry's special Western Balkans and OSCE envoy Stefan Fuele.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said that Serbia has already ceded a lot to Albanians in Kosovo, and that it should not make concessions when it comes to handing over the assets of "Telekom Srbija" to the authorities in Kosovo and Metohija.

BELGRADE - Fans of the Kosovan football team marked its first competitive international by joining with Croatian fans to voice their mutual hate of Serbs.

The Football Associations of Croatia and Kosovo are set to face action from FIFA after their fans shouted fascist slogans and anti-Serb hate speech during their World Cup qualifying match on Thursday.

ZVECAN - A large group of Serb protesters gathered in Rudare near Zvecan, northern Kosovo-Metohija, on Friday to call for a withdrawal of Kosovo's draft bill on the Trepca mining complex, warning that usurpations of Serbia's property in the province could be a threat to the ethnic composition in Serb communities there.

The football match between Kosovo and Croatia played on Thursday evening at the Loro Borici stadium in Shkodra, Albania was marred by racial chants against Serbs.

In its second qualifying match for the 2018 World Cup since the country was accepted into UEFA and FIFA earlier this year, Kosovo's football team lost 0:6 to Croatia.

BELGRADE - Serbia is a strong partner of the Council of Europe (CoE) in tackling many problems, in particular as regards regional stability and the migrant crisis, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and the President of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly Pedro Agramunt said after a meeting on Tuesday.

BRUSSELS - The EU-facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is not about ultimatums but about implementation of agreements reached by both sides, EC spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said Thursday.

Kosovo's parliament on Friday is to start debating the draft law on transforming the Trepca mining and industrial processing complex into a shareholding company.

The debate starts almost two years after the government withdrew the draft law from parliament due to opposition protests.

BELGRADE - Supporters of national teams of so-called Kosovo and Croatia, instead of chanting to their players ahead of an evening match in Skadar, gave their attention to the Serbs.

That hatred is not unfamiliar to them shows the following footage in which can clearly be heard shouts "Kill the Serb!" and "Hang the Serbs!".

GENEVA/BELGRADE/PRISTINA - UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights Karima Bennoune will visit Serbia, including Kosovo, on October 3-14 to assess efforts in implementing the rights of all to access to cultural life and cultural heritage, with particular focus on destruction of heritage in the past and present, the UN has announced.