The EU mission in Kosovo has launched a preliminary investigation into allegations that Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci once led a ring trafficking in human organs, an official said.

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.

Prime minister Hashim Thaci has claimed victory in Kosovo’s first general election since the province declared independence from Serbia as an independent exit poll showed his Democratic Party of Kosovo ahead of its rivals.

KOSOVO police yesterday arrested the central bank governor on suspicion of corruption in an embarrassment for the government just a day after the World Court backed Kosovo’s independence.

KOSOVO’S unilateral secession from Serbia in 2008 did not violate international law, the World Court said yesterday, in a decision with implications for separatist movements everywhere.

Kosovo’s first election since independence from Serbia has ended peacefully, with some minority Serbs ignoring a call to boycott and casting ballots alongside ethnic Albanians.

Kosovo’s prime minister urged minority Serbs not to boycott the country’s first elections since independence from Serbia, calling the vote today a key test for his new nation.

Jubilant ethnic Albanians poured into the streets to celebrate the first anniversary of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia today.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen paid warm tribute to the work of Irish peacekeepers yesterday, as he became the first Taoiseach to pay a Christmas visit to members of the defence forces abroad.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen will today pay a pre-Christmas visit to Irish peacekeepers serving as part of the Kfor mission in Kosovo.

IRISH troops serving in Kosovo will be paid a pre-Christmas visit by Taoiseach Brian Cowen as part of his one-day visit to the newly independent country.

SERBIA made a case for a fast-track membership of the EU when its foreign minister met EU ministers for the first time since Kosovo declared its independence in February.

Tension remained high in northern Kosovo today after anti-independence Serb demonstrators killed a UN policeman during clashes.

Kosovo marked its first full week of independence with prayers and protests today as outraged Serbs geared up for demonstrations across Europe.

Thousands of Kosovo Serbs took to the streets in protest today over their ethnic Albanian leadership’s declaration of the province’s independence from Serbia.

Kosovo’s leaders sent out 192 letters to the world’s nations today asking for formal recognition of its independence.

HAND grenades were thrown at EU and UN buildings yesterday in the Kosovo Serb stronghold city of Mitrovica, after Kosovo declared independence with EU backing.

The move by Kosovo to become an “independent and democratic state” is backed by the US and key European allies but bitterly contested by Serbia and Russia.

Kosovo’s prime minister today announced a special afternoon session of parliament where lawmakers planned to declare independence – a bold and historic bid for statehood in defiance of Serbia and Russia.

Britain was this evening poised to recognise the independence of Kosovo, as the Balkan province prepares to break away from Serbia tomorrow.

Kosovo took another step towards announcing its independence today by creating a government office to handle the concerns of Serb minorities.

European Union foreign ministers will try to overcome differences today over whether to offer Serbia a path to EU membership despite the Balkan nation’s failure to track down suspected war criminals.

KOSOVO’S declaration of independence is a matter of days away, the Serbian province’s prime minister Hashim Thaci said yesterday.

A former ethnic Albanian rebel leader elected as Kosovo’s prime minister vowed that the province was only weeks away from independence and called on Serbia to give up its claim to the territory.

Serbia today demanded more talks with ethnic Albanians on the future status of Kosovo, saying an independence declaration by the province would be an “experiment with unforeseeable consequences”.

THE troubled UN-administerd province of Kosovo is facing an uncertain future following the death of President Ibrahim Rugova.

Kosovo’s politicians were to elect a new prime minister for the province today to replace Ramush Haradinaj, who resigned earlier this month after being indicted by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Kosovo’s largest ethnic Albanian party won general elections in the UN-run province, but failed to gain the absolute majority needed to govern alone and will have to form a coalition government, according to final results released today.

A moderate ethnic Albanian leader declared that his party swept to power in Kosovo’s elections, predicting that official results released today would give the Democratic League of Kosovo control of the Yugoslav province’s 120-seat assembly.