A French Gendarme was shot and wounded early today during clashes between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo’s ethnically divided city of Mitrovica as European Union police fired tear gas to disperse the violent crowd, a European Union official said.

Riot police in Kosovo used tear gas and pepper spray today to separate hundreds of ethnic Albanian protesters from rock-throwing Serbs voting in local Serbian elections in the tense, divided town of Mitrovica.

Riot police used tear gas and pepper spray to separate hundreds of ethnic Albanian and Serb protesters in the divided town of Mitrovica today.

A GUNMAN clad in black went on a shooting rampage yesterday, slaying four workers at a suburban shopping mall near Helsinki before turning his gun on himself, police said.

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

UN police yesterday began returning to the Serb-held town in northern Kosovo where protesters with guns and hand grenades killed one of their colleagues and wounded dozens more.

UN police today began returning to the Serb-held town in northern Kosovo where protesters with guns and hand grenades killed one of their colleagues and wounded dozens more.

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

NATO troops came under fire during Serb riots in the northern Kosovo flashpoint of Mitrovica yesterday, in the worst violence in the territory since the Albanian majority declared independence last month.

UN forces were attacked as they forced Serb demonstrators from an occupied court today sparking a running battle as they faced rocks, grenades and bullets.

TO a sea of Albanian and American flags, Prime Minister Hasim Thaci called the republic of Kosovo into being last Sunday week, setting off a diplomatic firestorm, raising Russian- backed Serbian ire and sparking fears that minority ethnic groups from Spain to China would have a new basis for resistance.

Thousands of Serbs destroyed two border checkpoints in Kosovo today during protests over the country’s newly-declared independence.

Angry Serbs set off explosions in northern Kosovo today protesting at the newborn republic’s 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.