
-
US senator smashes record with 25-hour anti-Trump speech
-
Brazil binman finds newborn baby on garbage route
-
US senator smashes record with marathon anti-Trump speech
-
Trump advisor Waltz faces new pressure over Gmail usage
-
Niger junta frees ministers of overthrown government
-
Trump set to unleash 'Liberation Day' tariffs
-
Boeing chief to acknowledge 'serious missteps' at US Senate hearing
-
Real Madrid hold Real Sociedad in eight-goal thriller to reach Copa del Rey final
-
Nuno salutes 'special' Elanga after stunning strike fires Forest
-
PSG survive scare against Dunkerque to reach French Cup final
-
Sundowns edge Esperance as crowd violence mars quarter-final
-
Nottingham Forest beat Man Utd, Saka scores on Arsenal return
-
Elanga wonder-goal sinks Man Utd as Forest eye Champions League berth
-
Stock markets mostly advance ahead of Trump tariffs deadline
-
US movie theaters urge 45-day 'baseline' before films hit streaming
-
Saka scores on return as Arsenal beat Fulham
-
Third-division Bielefeld shock holders Leverkusen in German Cup
-
Ball-blasting 'Torpedo bats' making waves across MLB opening weekend
-
Newsmax shares surge more than 2,000% in days after IPO
-
Thousands of Hungarians protest against Pride ban law
-
GM leads first quarter US auto sales as tariffs loom
-
Tesla sales tumble in Europe in the first quarter
-
No 'eye for an eye' approach to US tariffs: Mexico
-
NFL club owners back dynamic kickoffs, delay tush push vote
-
Trump 'perfecting' new tariffs as nervous world braces
-
Trump nominee says to press UK on Israel arms
-
French court says Le Pen appeal ruling could come before presidential vote
-
The battle to control assets behind Bosnia crisis
-
Prabhsimran powers Punjab to IPL win over Lucknow
-
Mass layoffs targeting 10,000 jobs hit US health agencies
-
Tiger's April Foolishness: plan to play Masters just a joke
-
Myanmar quake toll passes 2,700, nation halts to honour victims
-
Turkish fans, artists urge Muse to cancel Istanbul gig
-
US seeks death penalty for accused killer of insurance CEO
-
UK govt moves to block sentencing guidelines for minority defendants
-
Trump puts world on edge as 'Liberation Day' tariffs loom
-
Swedish journalist jailed in Turkey kept 'isolated': employer
-
Stock markets advance ahead of Trump tariffs deadline
-
Gulf between Everton and Liverpool has never been bigger, says Moyes
-
Finland to withdraw from anti-personnel mine ban treaty
-
UK vows £20 million to boost drone and 'flying taxi' services
-
Ford's US auto sales dip in first quarter as tariffs loom
-
Digging for box office gold, 'A Minecraft Movie' hits cinemas
-
Southampton boss Juric desperate to avoid Premier League 'worst team' tag
-
Thailand rescue dogs double as emotional support
-
Five takeaways from Marine Le Pen verdict
-
Stock markets split ahead of Trump tariffs deadline
-
Turkish fans, artists urge Muse to cancel Istanbul gig over protest dispute
-
Former captain Edwards named new England women's cricket coach
-
Haaland ruled out for up to seven weeks: Man City boss Guardiola

Kosovo raids Serbia-linked offices as tense elections loom
Kosovo police on Wednesday raided 10 Belgrade-linked government offices in ethnic Serb areas, the interior ministry said, the latest move by Pristina to dismantle a Serbian system of social services and political offices in the country ahead of parliamentary elections.
Serbia denounced the raids as a "dangerous escalation" just weeks ahead of the vote in majority-Albanian Kosovo, whose independence Serbia has refused to recognise.
Animosity between Kosovo and Serbia has persisted since the war between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents in the late 1990s, and Belgrade refuses to acknowledge Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008.
Most of the offices targeted Wednesday provide no actual services on the ground, but have nevertheless long served as the symbolic presence of Serbia's political institutions inside Kosovo.
"The era of parallel and criminal municipalities and institutions of Serbia in the Republic of Kosovo ends," Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said in a Facebook post. He listed the locations of the offices closed, including one in the capital Pristina.
Serbian post offices and banks were also shuttered during the operation, Svecla said.
Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric called the closures a "dangerous escalation".
"These aggressive moves are not just an attack on institutions but a blatant attempt to undermine the collective rights and identity of Serbs in Kosovo," Djuric said in a social media post.
Employees at the offices said the Kosovo authorities had told them they did not have the proper paperwork to remain open, and signs posted on the buildings said activities on the premise had been suspended.
"They arrived at the office and told us that we could no longer work... they are demanding a certificate. I don't understand what they want," Novak Zivic, who oversees the Serbian local government office in Pristina, told the broadcaster RTS.
During an interview broadcast on Serbian television, President Aleksandar Vucic said employees affected by the closures would continue to be paid as usual.
They "will not lose their jobs, they will have an income and will support their families because Serbia takes care of them," Vucic said.
- Heightened tensions -
The raids come as ethnic tensions simmer in Kosovo ahead of February's parliamentary elections.
Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti has made his efforts to clamp down on Belgrade's remaining institutions based in Kosovo part of his campaign platform.
In the past year, Kosovo authorities have effectively outlawed the Serbian dinar, closed banks that relied on the currency and shuttered post offices where pension payments could be cashed.
Kosovo Serbs can no longer drive cars with Serbia plates and must have local driving licences.
And while past raids have largely focused on ethnic Serb communities living in the restive north near the border with Serbia, Wednesday's operations targeted other Serb enclaves scattered across central and southern Kosovo.
After this latest operation, Serb-administered schools and healthcare clinics are the last remaining institutions backed by Belgrade still operating inside Kosovo.
The spike in tensions comes after EU- and US-backed negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia all but collapsed in 2023.
In the wake of the raids, a meeting in Brussels between Kosovo and Serbian representatives was cancelled on Wednesday, where they were set to discuss a recent deal on the search for missing people from the 1990s conflict.
"The agreement is impossible in the current conditions created today by Kurti," said the Serbian delegation, broadcaster RTS reported.
Kosovo is overwhelmingly populated by ethnic Albanians, but in the northern stretches along the border with Serbia ethnic Serbs remain the majority in several municipalities.
Both Washington and the EU criticised Wednesday's closures, with a spokesman from the US embasssy in Pristina telling local media that the move could "undermine the aspiration of Kosovo to join the Euro-Atlantic community".
ih-rus-ljv-ds/js
O.Karlsson--AMWN