The benefits of an efficient, fast road system accrue hugely to society as a whole

European Union foreign ministers will recommend that Serbia be allowed to become an official candidate for membership after the country reached an agreement with its former province of Kosovo.

Leka of Albania was one of the most colourful and controversial characters on the 20th century Balkan scene, and one of the last links with the pre-Second World War Zogist monarchy. He was born in 1939 into a world of deep political crisis, with the government of his father, King Zog, Albania's first king, about to be snuffed out by Mussolini's forces. When Leka was one day old, his father held a great military parade in the capital, Tirana, a great provocation to the Duce in Rome.

A US prosecutor will investigate claims that Kosovo's Prime Minister led a criminal network that sold organs of civilian captives during the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

Nato announced yesterday that it will send hundreds more troops to Kosovo after an escalation of violence between ethnic Albanians and Serbs last week.

Kosovo's special police forces, which moved into the country's disputed north overnight on Monday to extend the government's writ at borders with Serbia, have agreed to withdraw as part of a deal between Kosovo and Serbia and mediated by Nato, a spokesman for the military alliance said yesterday.

Kosovo will tomorrow hold its first face-to-face talks with Serbia since declaring independence three years ago after insurgency and ethnic cleansing left 10,000 people dead and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes.

The former head of Serbia's police force was jailed for 27 years yesterday for war crimes, crimes against humanity and the murders of at least 724 civilians in Kosovo 12 years ago. Dressed in dark blue suit and white shirt, Vlastimir Djordjevic remained emotionless as the presiding judge, Kevin Parker, passed sentence at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi headed a mafia-style organised crime ring in the late 1990s that engaged in assassinations, beatings, organ trafficking and other crimes, says a draft report released yesterday.

Kosovo's prime Minister, Hasim Thaci, claimed victory last night as exit polls put the ruling PDK in the lead in a historic parliamentary election, the first since the unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008.

Boris Johnson faced calls to apologise for "appalling" comments about housing benefit reforms today after London's mayor dramatically stoked political controversy over welfare cuts.

Ethnic Serbs and Albanians have clashed in Kosovo's divided town of Mitrovica, wounding three international peacekeepers and six locals.

The International Court of Justice's ruling in favour of Kosovo's independence has stunned both Serbs and Kosovo Albanians, while prompting fears that it may encourage separatist movements the world over. Considered opinion was that the court would sit on the fence, allowing Serbs and Albanians to draw their own interpretations. Instead, the judges' non-binding advice sides more clearly with the Albanians than anyone expected.