Serbia Blames US as Rallies Continue

Rubber animals, South Park figures take up cause in Russia

(NEWSER) - Don't toy with us, furious Russian officials are warning activists. But that's just what they're doing. Government critics have staged a miniature protest in the Siberian town of Barnaul using tiny Lego men, South Park figurines, and rubber animals holding little placards emblazoned with messages like "I'm for Clean Elections," and "A Thief Should Sit in Jail, not in the Kremlin," the Guardian reports. "Political opposition forces are using new technologies to carry out public events—using toys with placards at mini-protests," said the town's deputy police chief. "In our opinion, this is still an unsanctioned public event." More»

Extreme nationalists: 'Death to homosexuals'

(NEWSER) - Serbia's first Gay Pride parade in nearly a decade was disrupted yesterday by anti-gay riots that left 100 people injured and saw another 100 arrested. The rioters threw petrol bombs and stones at the police during the march in Belgrade, and the office of the ruling Democratic Party was briefly on fire, reports the BBC . Extreme nationalist groups are believed to be responsible; shouts of “Death to homosexuals!” and “Go to Kosovo!” were heard, notes the Economist . More»

Site contains bodies of ethnic Albanians

(NEWSER) - The bodies of hundreds of people believed to be ethnic Albanian victims of atrocities in the late '90s have been found buried under a parking lot in Serbia. The site near the Kosovan border is believed to contain the bodies of 250 Kosovo Albanians, according to Serbian authorities. The bodies—buried at a site belonging to a state-owned road company—were found after a tip-off to war crimes investigators, the Guardian reports. More»

(AP) - Thousands of ethnic Albanians braved low temperatures and a cold wind in Kosovo's capital Pristina to welcome former President Bill Clinton today as he attended the unveiling of an 11-foot statue of himself on a key boulevard that also bears his name. Clinton is celebrated as a hero by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority for launching NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999 that stopped the brutal Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians. More»

But UN wants ethnic Albanian leader freed

(AP) - Bulgarian authorities have detained a former Kosovo prime minister on an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol at Serbia's request, reports the AP. Agim Ceku, PM between 2006 and 2008, is wanted for war crimes allegedly committed during the 1998-1999 war when he was military chief of the Kosovo Liberation Army, made up of ethnic Albanian guerrillas. His arrest comes despite repeated requests from UN that the charges be dropped. More»