A PROSECUTOR charged in court yesterday that seven Kosovans on trial in Pristina were part of an elaborate international network that traded in the organs of people living in extreme poverty.

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.

SERBIA took a crucial step forward in its bid to join the European Union yesterday, when EU foreign ministers agreed to examine Belgrade’s candidacy, in reward for softening its stance on Kosovo.

About 160 peacekeeping troops stranded in Kosovo got the green light to return home today.

Around 160 Irish troops, due to return home from a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, are stranded in the Balkans.

Rescuers continued their search for victims today as experts began an investigation into the Belgian rush-hour train crash.

Belgian officials have tonight revised the number of people injured in today's train crash to 80 - 20 of them seriously, and the death toll - 15 men and three women - was not considered final.

At least 18 people are now thought to have died when two commuter trains collided head-on after one ran a stop light at rush-hour in a Brussels suburb.

Two commuter trains collided head-on after one ran a stop light at rush-hour in a Brussels suburb, killing at least 12 people and injuring 55, a Belgian official said.

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.

Bulgarian authorities have detained a former Kosovo prime minister on an international arrest warrant.

THE rotor blades whirred, the down-draught bending vegetation as the helicopter airlifted a wounded soldier to safety.

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.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen will tomorrow make a pre-Christmas visit to Irish troops serving in Kosovo.

Kosovo’s independence was a reality, Montenegro’s foreign minister said today, suggesting his government would recognise the new state even though that would anger traditional ally Serbia.

IRISH-RUN duty free stores in Russia have stocked more than 100,000 bottles of vodka for the legion of soccer fans travelling to the Champions League Final.

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.

Defence Minister Willie O’Dea today begins a two-day trip to Kosovo and Austria.

The first supply of Russian aid for Serbs in Kosovo arrived in Belgrade today in a gesture of Moscow’s support for Serbia in the dispute with the West over Kosovo.

Rescuers were preparing today to enter the heart of a massive blast site at an Albanian army ammunition dump, where a chain of explosions killed at least five people and injured 243.

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.

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

SERBS set off sporadic explosions and torched checkpoints between Serbia and Kosovo yesterday to protest Kosovo’s declaration of independence and international recognition of the state.

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.

YESTERDAY, Pristina awoke to a city-wide hangover after its delirious denizens marked independence with an all-night city-wide party.

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.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern will attend a meeting of EU Foreign Minister today following Kosovo's declaration of 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.

Russia tried to block Kosovo's independence today during an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, saying it is deeply concerned about the fate of Serbs in the province.

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.

The European Union’s 27 nations were divided today over whether to recognise Kosovo’s statehood after the province unilaterally declares independence from Serbia.

Ireland will recognise an independent Kosovo as the world’s newest country, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern declared today.

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.

Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo took to the streets to celebrate the declaration of independence from Serbia expected to come this weekend.

Serbia’s foreign minister has urged the UN Security Council to oppose Kosovo’s expected declaration of independence and called on the secretary-general to order that any proclamation be declared null and void.

CONFESSION is good for the soul so, hands up, I was wrong last week. Like everyone else, I expected Barack Obama to win New Hampshire.

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.

50 Cent has become the biggest star to perform in Kosovo, after playing a sold-out gig in the Eastern European state on Monday night.