Albania and Kosovo have called for an independent investigation into former Hague Tribunal prosecutor Carla del Ponte for her “tendentious and illegal role” in the case against former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is planning to sue a European investigator whose report suggested he had civilian detainees killed for their kidneys when he was head of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

A human rights watchdog said today that new evidence has emerged to warrant an investigation into claims that ethnic Albanian guerrillas in Kosovo killed Serbs and sold their organs at the end of the war in Kosovo.

European Union foreign ministers were to press Serbia today to live up to international demands it hunt down and hand over top war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic to the UN war crimes tribunal.

Judges at the UN Yugoslav tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, today began the latest – and largest – trial of military officers blamed for the summary execution of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica 11 years ago.

The European Union today suspended talks with Serbia on establishing closer ties, because Belgrade has failed to deliver fugitive General Ratko Mladic to the UN war crimes tribunal.

A European Union deadline for Serbia to surrender war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic has expired with no sign of the former army commander, threatening the nation’s efforts to join the bloc.

Slobodan Milosevic’s body was being released to his family today after an eight-hour autopsy revealed that the former Yugoslav president died of a heart attack in his prison cell.

Slobodan Milosevic died of a heart attack in his jail cell, according to preliminary post mortem findings tonight.

Dutch pathologists conducted a post mortem examination and toxicological tests today to determine what killed Slobodan Milosevic amid claims that the ex-Yugoslav leader feared he was being poisoned.

Dutch pathologists were conducting a post mortem examination today on Slobodan Milosevic’s remains to find out what killed the former Yugoslav leader, found dead in his jail cell a day earlier.

Slobodan Milosevic’s death just before the end of his trial deprived victims of justice – and made the capture of war crimes fugitives Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic even more urgent, the chief UN prosecutor said today.

SERB security officials insisted yesterday that top war-crimes fugitive General Ratko Mladic had been located and that authorities were trying to persuade him to give himself up.

Top Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect General Ratko Mladic is in Serbia, but he “remains at large,” chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said today.

Serbia is not negotiating for the surrender of Ratko Mladic, the top war crimes suspect from the Yugoslav wars, and he “remains at large,” chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said today.

BOSNIAN Serb war crimes fugitive General Ratko Mladic has been located and was last night negotiating his surrender, according to Serbian security officials.

BOSNIAN Serb war crimes fugitive General Ratko Mladic has been located and was last night negotiating his surrender, according to Serbian security officials.

A top Serbia-Montenegro official expressed confidence today that searches for fugitive war crimes suspects will lead to their capture and extradition to the UN war crimes court.

Chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said today that top war crimes suspect Gen Ratko Mladic is hiding in Serbia under the protection of the Serbian army.

A Belgrade newspaper today claimed that Bosnian Serb wartime commander and top war crimes suspect Gen. Ratko Mladic is in Russia.

Croatia’s top war crimes fugitive has been jailed in Madrid following his capture at a luxury resort on the Canary Islands after four years on the run, officials said.

The chief UN war crimes prosecutor today said that the top Croatian war crimes fugitive, Gen. Ante Gotovina, had been arrested in Spain’s Canary Islands after four years on the run.

British deputy prime minister John Prescott is to meet top officials in Croatia today, just weeks after the European Union opened membership talks with the ex-Yugoslav country.

The European Union opened membership talks with Croatia after the United Nations war crimes tribunal’s chief prosecutor said the government in Zagreb was now co-operating fully with efforts to bring a suspect to trial.

TURKEY and Croatia officially became the latest European Union candidate countries late last night after a day of knife-edge diplomacy.

PRESSURE was being piled on Austria last night to allow negotiations to open today as planned on Turkey's EU membership bid.

Serbia’s police chief today denied reports top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic has been located, but said authorities were working to find him and extradite him to the UN war crimes tribunal.

Top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic has been located in Serbia and his arrest and extradition to the UN war crimes tribunal is imminent, a prominent Belgrade newspaper reported today.

Serbian police have arrested at least eight men they say are shown in a video killing a group of Bosnian Muslim prisoners from Srebrenica, a top Belgrade official said today.

Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent

KOSOVO’S ethnic Albanian prime minister resigned yesterday after being charged with war crimes by the United Nations tribunal.

The European Union will delay the opening of membership talks with Croatia at least until March, giving Zagreb three months to bring an indicted war criminal to justice, sources said today.

THE UN war crimes prosecutor for former Yugoslavia has accused the government of Serbia and Montenegro of blocking the handover of top fugitives, and dismissed Belgrade’s promise of cooperation.

European Union foreign ministers are today expected to drop 11-year old sanctions against Libya and ease a separate arms embargo to reward the North African country for abandoning plans to develop weapons of mass destruction.

An elite Serbian police unit has stepped up the search for top war crimes fugitive General Ratko Mladic after government officials, faced with Western pressure, dropped their reluctance and ordered his arrest.

The head of the Bosnian Serb Parliament said today he was fired by the country’s international administrator for not co-operating enough in the hunt for top war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic.

The chief UN war crimes prosecutor for former Yugoslavia said she expected one of the most wanted figures from the Balkan wars, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, to be arrested today.

Widows of victims of Europe’s worst massacre since the Second World War today asked the UN war crimes tribunal’s top prosecutor to create a unit of volunteers to hunt down the two top suspects.

More than 10,000 terrified civilians were sheltering at a United Nations compound in north-east Congo today as a fierce battle raged around them.

Abigail Levene and Paul Gallagher, The Hague

Slobodan Milosevic’s war crimes trial resumed today with the former Yugoslav president still leading his own defence, despite calls from UN prosecutors that a lawyer be imposed for the sake of his frail health.

A former Croatian Serb rebel leader today boarded a plane bound for the Netherlands to turn himself in to the UN war crimes tribunal.

Washington will protect anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest of the world’s two most-wanted war crimes suspects, a US diplomat said today.

The UN War Crimes Tribunal in Tanzania has adjourned the trial of a Rwandan army officer accused of masterminding genocide to allow the defence teams to receive key documents and witness statements.