Pristina - The number of international troops in Kosovo (Kfor) will be reduced but they will not be completely withdrawn, Kfor commander general Giuseppe Emilio Gay said on Tuesday.

"We are in the phase of reducing our troops and this will happen in every corner of Kosovo", Gay said in Pristina.

Serbian daily Politika reported earlier Tuesday that NATO was set to drastically reduce troop numbers in Kosovo by June, leaving only "a symbolic number of troops". Gay denied the reports.

Belgrade  - Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, in an unusual interview with Friday's edition of the conservative Belgrade daily Politika, called on Serbia to acknowledge the "fact they are facing" and recognize Kosovo.

"Nobody in Belgrade believes Kosovo could return to become a part of Serbia. Serbian politicians face the fact of our independence everywhere they go, to Washington, Brussels, even in Podgorica and Skopje," Thaci said.

Kosovo, with a 90-per cent Albanian majority, declared independence from Serbia a year ago with the support of leading Western nations.

Pristina/Belgrade - Kosovo Albanians were set to celebrate the first year of independence Tuesday, while minority Serbs and Belgrade leaders vowed to continue challenging the secession.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and President Fatmir Sejdiu were scheduled to address the parliament in Pristina at a solemn session, before paying respect to prominent politicians and rebels who launched the fight against Serbian authority in the 1990s.

Kosovo Serb deputies said they would boycott the session.

Brussels - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Kosovo's split from Serbia was a "European success," while his Spanish counterpart, Miguel Angel Moratinos saw it as "violation of international law."

Kosovo declared independence a year ago, on February 17, 2008, prompting rifts withing the EU, in which 22 of the 27 member-states recognized the new country.

Pristina  - Although the 90-per-cent Albanian majority in Kosovo unanimously sought and welcomed the declaration of independence from Serbia a year ago, by now many have realized that it takes much more than political statements to end hardship and turn lives around.

"My life hasn't changed since independence ... I'm still jobless. It turned out that stories how everything will improve with independence and about investors were just that - stories," says Admir Llapashtica, a 25-year-old unemployed economist.