THE European Union is set to complete authorisation of a big supervisory mission in Kosovo this week, just before the territory is expected to declare independence from Serbia, diplomats and EU officials said.

Indonesia started pulling out the last of 24,000 troops from tsunami-ravaged Aceh province today, a key component of a peace accord to end a three-decade civil war with separatist rebels.

It is up to UN experts to determine whether killings and other atrocities in the Sudanese province of Darfur amounted to genocide, the EU said today.

SUDAN yesterday said it expected to meet a UN deadline in three weeks’ time for it to improve security and human rights in its troubled Darfur region.

In a concession to Serbia, Nato is ready to consider a plan that would allow Serb forces to put more of a squeeze on ethnic Albanian guerrillas operating just outside Kosovo.