“Kosovo talks only within 1244 framework”

Source: Tanjug
NEW YORK -- Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić told Tanjug on Tuesday that negotiations on Kosovo are possible only within the framework of the UNSC Resolution 1244.

Jeremić speaks at the UN (Beta/AP)

Another condition for such discussions would be that they are held in a transparent manner, said Serbia's chief of diplomacy.

Serbia has always advocated resolving the Kosovo problem through peaceful dialogue, that should result in a compromise based on international law, Jeremić said.

This is the only way to secure lasting and sustainable regional stability, he added.

“However, such negotiations can be held only within the framework of the UN Security Counicl Resolution 1244 and in a transparent manner, in keeping with the democratic mandate the Serbian government has received from its citizens,” Jeremić emphasized.

He was referring to reports that the international community is preparing for a resumption of negotiations between Belgrade and Priština.

“It is crucial for Serbia not to react to provocations and pressures, which are expected to grow,” he said.

“Serbia must remain committed to principles and keep calm, with a clear vision how to pursue the resolving of the Kosovo problem,” he said.

Jeremić is currently New York, attending the conference on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons at UN headquarters.

New ‘Fiat Uno’ to be manufactured in Serbia

The new version of ‘Fiat Uno’ car model shall be manufactured in Serbia and the first deliveries to Italy and Europe are expected at the end of 2011. This was written yesterday on several Italian sites specialized in news from car industry.

The press conference at which ‘Fiat’ shall officially announce production of the new ‘Uno’ shall be held at the beginning of May. On that occasion the giant from Torino shall also announce production of that model in Brazil as well.


The ‘Fiat’ management in Serbia confirmed to ‘Blic’ that the successor of ‘Punto’ would be manufactured at ‘Zastava’ but as the management said, the look of the new model shall be known several months before beginning of the production.
The factory in Kragujevac has gone far with preparations for the new B class model. Only three percent of that production shall be sold in Serbia while the rest shall be exported.



As ‘Fiat’ management announced during latest visit to Kragujevac, this spring the amount of EUR 150 millions shall be invested in the car factory.

Minister: Phone services restored in Kosovo

Source: Beta
BELGRADE -- Telecommunications Minister Jasna Matić stated that mobile and landline phone services of Serbian providers had been restored in most of Kosovo.

Matić pointed out that the Telecommunications and Information Society Ministry had asked UNMIK not to allow illegal actions of Kosovo Albanian authorities in Priština, which were incurring great damage to the citizens, and Telekom Srbija and Telenor operators.

“According to UN Security Council’s Resolution 1244 the telecommunications authority has been put under the jurisdiction of UNMIK. They have so far regulated this field and we wrote to them so they would keep doing it,” she said.

Matić noted that the situation in Kosovo was “relatively undefined” and that Priština was was using “every opportunity to strengthen its authority”.

“It’s indisputable that Kosovo is a part of Serbia's territory, that Resolution 1244 is the only document which has legal weight, and Serbia will insist on it like we have done until now,” the minister said.

Authorities in Priština last weekend disabled transmitters claiming that they did not have a license to operate in Kosovo, leaving some 100,000 Serbs in central and southern parts of the province without mobile phone service.

Landline phone service has been disabled in some areas south of the Ibar River.

Serbia, China have joint stance on Kosovo-Metohija issue

Belgrade, 29 April 2010 – Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said today after talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi that Beijing will continue to support Serbia in its struggle to defend its territorial integrity.Vuk Jeremic, left, and Yang Jiechi

Photo: Fonet

Jeremic, who is visiting China, stated to Fonet news agency that they discussed the issue of Kosovo-Metohija in order to harmonise a joint stand at an international level.

This relates above all to the UN but also other international organisations which Pristina authorities might attempt to join, a right that belongs only to sovereign countries, said Jeremic.

China is one of the most influential countries in the world today and support from Beijing is invaluable. It is a great encouragement for Serbia to continue its efforts to preserve its sovereignty, he said.

He said that he talked with Jiechi about intensifying economic cooperation, primarily in infrastructure investment in Serbia in the transport and energy sectors.

New joint projects can be expected in the future, he said.

We are pleased with the fact that of all the countries in the Balkans we have very special relations with China, based on a strategic partnership agreement, which was signed last year during a visit by Serbian President Boris Tadic to China, concluded Jeremic.

Cvetkovic, Papandreou support Agenda 2014

Belgrade/Athens, 29 April 2010 – Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic and Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou stated today that they support Agenda 2014, an initiative that envisages EU membership for Western Balkan countries by 2014.

Speaking at a joint press conference after their meeting, Cvetkovic and Papandreou said that the good relations between Serbia and Greece are based on historical ties.

Today’s meeting was a friendly talk, said Cvetkovic, adding that Serbs and Greeks have a long history of friendship.

Agenda 2014 is a Greek initiative, advocating EU membership for the Western Balkans by 2014, said the Serbian Prime Minister.

Serbia supports this initiative. Serbia’s place is in Europe, as is true for other Western Balkan countries, he said.

Regional cooperation is very important and greatly facilitates the region’s EU integration process, said Cvetkovic.

Cvetkovic expressed his gratitude to Greece for its principled support for Serbia’s struggle to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Papandreou reiterated that it is vital for Serbia to become an EU member as soon as possible, because that is its rightful place.

He underlined that Serbia is Greece’s strategic partner and that Belgrade can play a crucial role in the Western Balkans region.

Speaking about Kosovo-Metohija, Papandreou said that the most pressing issues are protection of human rights and cultural heritage, and added that one of Greece’s goals is protection of Serbia’s Orthodox monuments in its southern province.

Serbia gets green light for fish product export to EU

Belgrade, 29 April 2010 – The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management stated that during 2009 it managed to meet first the legislative, and then the practical conditions for exporting fish products to the EU.

The statement adds that early in 2010 a veterinary inspection unit from the EU Food and Veterinary Office visited Serbia and inspected the entire system.

It affirmed that Serbia possesses a quality system for producing and selling fish and fish products corresponding to that of the EU, that it introduced EU standards and will join the ranks of countries that are allowed to export these products to the EU market.

This licence signifies a new beginning for Serbia and an opportunity for it to achieve its potential in the fishery sector and sell its fish products to the EU market, the statement adds.

Kosovo: Arms smugglers arrested

Source: Tanjug
PRIŠTINA -- Seven people suspected of involvement in weapons smuggling were arrested in the southern Kosovo village of Begrac, near Mt. Kačanik.

This came after an incident near Blace on the Macedonian border, when police and a group of Kosovo Albanians exchanged fire.

Kosovo police, KPS, and KFOR discovered an unspecified amount of weapons and military uniforms placed in a plastic barrel, as well as pisotls, six boxes of fuses, an automatic rifle, six grenades and detonation wires during a search of two houses in Begrac.

The so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) uniforms, notepads, receipts, stamps and other items with logos of an organization dubbed the Persistence Fund were found, the media in Priština reported.

The suspects’ identities are unknown.

KPS, however, could not confirm whether the arrests were connected to the incident in Blace, where Macedonian police seized a large amount of weapons after a shootout yesterday with “men wearing uniforms”.

Incidents in northern Kosovo

Source: Tanjug
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- A mobile telephony transmitter was targeted in a neighborhood of the town of Zubin Potok in northern Kosovo by unknown perpetrators this morning.

This came after two incidents occurred in the north of the province late on Wednesday.

The first attack targeted a transmitter of cell phone operator IPKO and the second the Zubin Potok police station.

Regional spokesman for the KPS Besim Hoti told Tanjug that an explosion, which occurred around midnight Wednesday, damaged the transmitter in the municipality of Leposavić.

Police determined that an explosive device was planted in the structure which houses the cell phone repeater and caused a fire when it detonated, Hoti said.

This is the third attack on the property of this cell phone operator in the last week.

Unidentified attackers threw a hand grenade into the yard of the Zubin Potok police station early onThursday.

The explosion broke windows at the police station and damaged nearby dumpsters, Hoti said.

The Kosovo police, KPS, was treating both incidents as public endangerment and looking for the perpetrators, he said.

Matic urges reconstruction of dismantled mobile phone towers in province

Belgrade, 27 April 2010 – Minister for Telecommunications and Information Society Jasna Matic asked the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to help protect fundamental human rights of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija and enable urgent reconstruction of dismantled towers of Belgrade-based mobile phone operators.

Addressing ITU Secretary General Hamadoun Touré regarding the illegal dismantling and removal of mobile phone relay towers in the province, owned by Telekom Srbija and Telenor, Matic asked that the ITU, in line with Resolution 1244, reacts and endorses the Serbian government and the mobile phone operators.

The Ministry says in a statement that it is unacceptable that Serbian citizens and institutions in Kosovo-Metohija should be deprived of telephone communication and left without any possibility for children, the sick and the elderly to contact emergency services in order to ask for and receive medical treatment.

Serbia, Republika Srpska, Italy to jointly use energy potential of Drina River

Belgrade, 26 April 2010 – Minister of Energy and Mining Petar Skundric, Italian Economic Development Minister Claudio Scajola and Republika Srpska Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining Slobodan Puhalac signed a joint statement on the use of hydropower potential in the middle course of the river Drina.

From left: Claudio Scajola, Petar Skundric and Slobodan Puhalac

Skundric and Puhalac signed an agreement regulating mutual rights and obligations of Serbia and Republika Srpska in relation to the construction of new power facilities in the middle course of the Drina.

EPS General Manager Dragomir Markovic and president of Italian Seci Gaetano Maccaferri signed a preliminary agreement for the construction of hydropower plants on the rivers Ibar and Sava.

Skundric told a news conference that the total value of these projects is nearly €1 billion.

The Minister said that the plant on the Drina will have a capacity of between 380 and 400 megawatts, which could annually produce approximately 1,500 gigawatt-hours of electricity.

He stressed that the signing of the agreement between EPS and Seci creates conditions for a joint venture where the Italian company will have 51% ownership and EPS 49%.

Scajola said that the signing of these documents allows the start of the project implementation, which will make the Drina River plant an important resource for Serbia, Republika Srpska and Italy.

He said that another joint project between Serbia and Italy in the energy sector is planned, adding that it will be signed in an energy summit to be held later this year in Belgrade.

Thousands of K. Serbs stage protest

Source: FoNet, Tanjug
GRAČANICA -- The Kosovo Serb protest in Gračanica against the violent disabling of Serbian mobile phone networks in parts of the province has ended.

The protest in Gračanica today (Beta)

Local officials called on the international community to react and to stop the Kosovo Albanian government in Priština from prohibiting Serbs from using the phone services of Serbian operators.

The protests ended without incidents, and more were announced, with similar gatherings expected to be held every day until the Belgrade-based mobile phone networks have been reactivated.

Some 3,000 Serbs from central and other parts of Kosovo participated in the protest march in Gračanica.

There were ambulances ahead of the crowd of people, symbolizing the fact that communication with such emergency services is not possible without working phones.

KFOR and Kosovo police, KPS, secured Gračanica during the rally, which stopped the traffic through the enclave.

The Kosovo Albanian authorities in Priština targeted Belgrade-based operators over the weekend.

Kosovo District Chief Goran Arsić said ahead of the gathering today that a clear message would be sent to the government in Priština with the protest, that Serbs would not accept blackmail.

Priština is trying to isolate the Kosovo Serbs even more and integrate them violently into the system of the self-proclaimed state of Kosovo, he said.

Arsić added that events in Kosovo over the last several days “are an introduction for pressures later”, as Priština is trying to integrate the school and health system, as well as other institutions of our country in the province, into their own system”.

Officials of a body dubbed the Kosovo Regulatory Agency for Telecommunications, with the help of Kosovo police, KPS, have been forcefully turning off Serbian mobile networks in the province.

More than 20 base stations of the Telekom Srbija and Telenor companies have been damaged, while mobile operators are functioning only in northern Kosovo, which has a majority Serb population.

There are currently about 100,000 Serbs in central Kosovo and enclaves south of the Ibar River that have no phone service.

“Everything but force”

The disabling of phone networks in Serb areas in Kosovo is a very serious problem, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković said today in Belgrade.

The government will do “literally everything, short of turning to force,to help Serbs in the enclaves”, he was quoted as saying.

The premier, who spoke during a joint news conference with his visiting Bulgarian counterpart, said that Belgrade was preparing a broad diplomatic campaign, and expected that it would yield a solution acceptable to Serbs in the enclaves.

The disabling of mobile telephony networks is a very serious problem, said Cvetković, and the government will “do everything to help those people”.

UNS calls for help from international organizations

The Serbian Journalists’ Association (UNS) ,meanwhile, has called on the Serbian institutions and international organizations to help remedy the situation caused by the destruction of Serb-language broadcasting transmitters in Kosovo.

UNS states that it has called on Serbian senior officials, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), SEEMO and EULEX to help.

Association President Ljiljana Smajlović sent a letter to the IFJ, SEEMO and EULEX, calling for them to condemn the destruction of the property of legal broadcasts and to help restore the damaged equipm

Dusan Kecman brings Partizan fourth straight title with a backcourt triple!

(by Eurobasket News)

Cibona - Partizan 74-75 OT

Partizan grabbed fourth consecutive title in Adriatic League! It was the most exciting Final ever in this competition and the winner is decided in the last second. Actually, it was 0.6 second left and Cibona was up by two, 74-72. Partizan had the last possession and something extraordinary happened - Dusan Kecman (197-F-77, agency: Beo Basket) hit a bomb from the backcourt for 74-75 victory by Partizan Belgrade! Before that, the Serbian powerhouse had 68-72 but Marko Tomas (201-G-85) and Bojan Bogdanovic (202-G/F-89) drained two quick triples and it seemed that the game was over, but Dusan Kecman had the other thoughts. He did something what happens maybe once in a life time and shocked all Cibona's fans in Zagreb's arena brining his Partizan fourth straight title in the regional championship.

It was a close game during the entire time. Partizan made plus 8 in the second period, but Cibona replied with 11-2 run. For rest of the first quarter teams exchanged baskets and the first half finished with 31-31 tie. Nothing has changed after the breather as neither of teams was able to make a serious run so with one quarter left it was 44-44. In the last period, Partizan made plus five but Cibona tied the score soon after that and it was 60-60. Both teams missed in their last possessions in regular time and the game went to extra five minutes. As it is mentioned above, Partizan made 68-72 after free throws by Lawrence Roberts (205-F/C-82, college: Mississippi St.), but Tomas and Bogdanovic made it twice from behind the arc, and the hosts already started to celebrate. Dusan Kecman received the ball from the baseline and he made a bomb to continue Partizan's domination in the regional championship. 

Dusan Kecman finished the game with 7 points and it was his only triple in six attempts. Aleks Maric (211-C-84) led Partizan with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Lawrence Roberts also was great as he added 13 points and 14 boards. Petar Bozic (197-G-78) and Aleksandar Rasic (195-G-84, agency: Beo Basket) helped with 11 pts each. In Cibona, Marko Tomas and Jamont Gordon (193-G/F-87, college: Mississippi St.) drained 31 points each.

Kosovo Serbs prepare for protest

Source: Tanjug
GRAČANICA -- Kosovo Serbs will today stage a protest gathering in the enclave of Gračanica against the violent disabling of mobile phone networks in most of the province.

The Kosovo Albanian authorities in Priština targeted Belgrade-based operators over the weekend.

Kosovo District Chief Goran Arsić said that a clear message would be sent to the government in Priština with the protest, that Serbs would not accept blackmail.

Priština is trying to isolate the Kosovo Serbs even more and integrate them violently into the system of the self-proclaimed state of Kosovo, he said.

Arsić added that events in Kosovo over the last several days “are an introduction for pressures later”, as Priština is trying to integrate the school and health system, as well as other institutions of our country in the province, into their own system”.

Officials of a body dubbed the Kosovo Regulatory Agency for Telecommunications, with the help of Kosovo police, KPS, have been forcefully turning off Serbian mobile networks in the province.

More than 20 base stations of the Telekom Srbija and Telenor companies have been damaged, while mobile operators are functioning only in northern Kosovo, which has a majority Serb population.

There are currently about 100,000 Serbs in central Kosovo and enclaves south of the Ibar River that have no phone service.