Petrit Selimi

A grand coalition between the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, led by Kadri Veseli, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, led by Ramush Haradinaj and Fatmir Limaj's initiative for Kosovo, NISMA, was agreed on Tuesday night - minutes before the deadline set by the Central Election Commission, CEC, to establish pre-election coalitions expired.

"111 countries have recognized our independence, despite the continued, and regrettable, hostility of Serbia and Russia towards us," says Petrit Selimi.

This has been stated in a opinion piece penned by Kosovo's acting foreign minister, published by the Financial Times, and carried by the Belgrade-based daily Danas.

The executive board voted on Wednesday by 27 to 14 for Kosovo's bid to join UNESCO to move to the next stage, despite opposition from Serbia, which sees it as a further unacceptable step towards recognition of its former province's independence.

"It was a small but emotional step forward in a long road," Kosovo's Deputy Foreign Minister Petrit Selimi wrote on Twitter after the vote.

Opposition party MPs set off three tear gas canisters in the legislature on Thursday, causing the chamber to be evacuated and the parliamentary session to be halted.

The canisters were brought into parliament despite that fact that MPs were searched on Thursday morning under new security measures introduced after a similar tear-gas attack by opposition lawmakers last week.

A Kosovo government official has said that "15 most influential countries of Europe and the world are lobbying for Kosovo's membership in UNESCO." unacceptable

Petrit Selimi, who serves as deputy to Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci, told the Pristina-based Albanian language newspaper Zeri that UNESCO membership would bring Kosovo "great political and cultural benefits."

Serbia's Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon saying that Kosovo's request to become a member of UNESCO is unacceptable under international law, Serbian public broadcaster RTS reported on Sunday.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci announced on Thursday that Kosovo had applied to join the UN's culture arm, UNESCO, marking another step to achieve full recognition of its independence.

Macedonia and Kosovo have established exchanges of information on verifying the identities of the victims and those who were arrested in Kumanovo last weekend during the Macedonian police action.

The Macedonian Interior Ministry has established that a number of those involved in the fighting were citizens of Kosovo.

Serbian war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic warned on Thursday that Thaci could be arrested if he attends the conference about Balkan countries' European integration in Belgrade on April 24.

"Thaci will be detained if he comes to Belgrade"

BELGRADE -- Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic has said that Deputy Kosovo PM and former KLA leader Hashim Thaci will be detained if he comes to Belgrade.

Serbian authorities have accused Thaci of committing war crimes.