Milosevic allies warn against extradition of 4

[Napo]

Milosevic allies warn against extradition of 4

The Associated Press

Agence France-Presse, Reuters

Tuesday, December 28, 2004


BELGRADE Ultranationalist allies of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president, warned the authorities on Monday against arresting four top Serb police and army generals sought by the UN war crimes tribunal.

Tomislav Nikolic, a deputy leader of the Serbian Radical Party, said Serbia would face instability if the government used force to hand over the four to the tribunal at The Hague.

The four, who have been indicted for alleged crimes committed during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo, have not been arrested.

On Sunday, the Serbian deputy prime minister, Miroljub Labus, said they should be extradited by the end of January if the country is to have any chance of joining the European Union. (AP)


LONDON

Last hunt before ban draws record numbers

Record crowds gathered to hear cries of "tally-ho" and the barking of hounds for what could be Britain's last traditional post-Christmas hunt before a ban goes into effect next year.

The pro-hunting Countryside Alliance said 300,000 people joined huntsmen and women for the meets on Boxing Day, one of the biggest days on the hunting calendar, with more than 300 separate hunts taking place throughout England and Wales.

Last month, lawmakers in the lower House of Commons forced through a ban on the ancient pursuit, invoking the rarely used Parliament Act to brush aside opposition from the upper House of Lords.

The ban on all forms of hunting with dogs will come into force in February, but pro-hunt supporters have vowed to ignore the law, saying jobs will be put at risk.

egal challenges to the law are expected to delay the implementation of the ban. (Reuters)

SKOPJE, Macedonia

March vote is agreed for municipal elections

Macedonia will hold municipal elections on March 13, officials said Monday, following months of acrimonious debate and a national referendum on granting regional autonomy to the country's ethnic Albanians.

The Parliament's speaker, Ljubco Jordanovski, said the March 13 vote would be held under a contentious new law that has redrawn municipalities in the Balkan country to give ethnic Albanians greater control in areas where they live.

The vote for new mayors and municipal assemblies will be the country's first since 2001, when ethnic Albanian militants took up arms demanding broader rights for their ethnic group.(AP)

ZAGREB, Croatia

Blast damages statue of Tito in his hometown

A statue of the late Yugoslav Communist leader Josip Broz Tito in his native village in northern Croatia was seriously damaged when an explosive device went off overnight, the police said Monday.

The police refused to give details of the damage to the statue, located in front of the house in which Tito was born in the village of Kumrovec.

Radio reports said the head and the right shoulder of the statue were destroyed. Several nearby houses were also damaged in the blast.

During World War II, Tito led partisans who fought against the Germans and their local allies.(AFP)

COPENHAGEN: Burglars stole $181,000 in rings, earrings and necklaces designed by the Danish silversmith Georg Jensen, the police said Monday. The theft happened late Sunday after a group of burglars broke into a Georg Jensen shop in Aarhus, 200 kilometers, or 125 miles, northwest of Copenhagen. In the past months, jewelry, silverware and watches by Jensen have increasingly been targeted by burglars.(AP)


http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/12/27/news/europe.html

[Vojvoda]

That's no surprise,we're our own worst enemy