Dejan Pavicevic

BELGRADE - The Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija said on Thursday Pristina had denied entry to the province to its Deputy Director Svetlana Miladinov, who was to visit the Orthodox Serb population on St Nicholas Day (December 19).

BELGRADE- The interim authorities in Pristina have denied a request by Belgrade's liaison officer Dejan Pavicevic to visit two Serb detainees in a Podujevo prison to see the conditions they are being held in and verify that their rights are respected, the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija said on Friday.

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo has said it is "concerned" about the recent denial of entry to the country by journalistic crews from Serbia at the Jarinje crossing point.

Serbia has condemned as a "chauvinistic farce" a decision by electoral authorities in Kosovo to declare invalid more than 3,700 votes sent from Serbia during an October parliamentary election in the former Serbian province.

Kosovo's Dialogue Minister Edita Tahiri announced last week that an agreement had been reached for the Civilna Zastita, which has been operating as a de facto security force in Serb-majority northern Kosovo, to be dissolved and its members incorporated into the regular police.

PRISTINA - A requiem service for the victims of violence committed by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo on March 17-18, 2004 was held at the Church of St. Nicholas in Pristina on Tuesday.

PRISTINA/BELGRADE - The fact that permissions for visits to Kosovo-Metohija by Serbian officials and to the rest of Serbia by Kosovo officials will have to be obtained through liaison officers is not a first step towards establishing diplomatic relations with Pristina, as some diplomatic circles in Brussels believe, says Belgrade's liaison officer in Pristina Dejan Pavicevic.

BRUSSELS - A technical dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina started in Brussels on Thursday, mostly dedicated to the issue of integrated crossings along the administrative line (integrated boundary management - IBM).

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - Assistant Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Ljubisa Antonijevic said on Monday that trucks carrying free schoolbooks for children in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) were kept at the Jarinje crossing over the weekend because of some technical problems.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA- Doctor Milan Ivanovic, acting director of the health center in Kosovska Mitrovica, said on Friday that several days ago the Kosovo customs service at the Jarinje crošing made hemodialysis materials bound for this center unfit for use.