Belgrade - A Serbian policeman taking photos of what he thought was an emaciated corpse nearly fainted when the body raised its head and complained about flashes of light, the Belgrade daily Blic reported Friday.

The incident occurred after police in Kragujevac, an industrial town 120 kilometres south of Belgrade, were called to check up a single- room home owned by a man nobody has seen in two weeks.

The man's neighbours thought the worst when a horrible stench emanated from behind his locked doors.

"We broke in and the man was as dead," said one policeman. "When he spoke we panicked, but the colleague with the camera fell into real shock."

BELGRADE, Serbia, Dec. 5 - Serbian authorities have stepped up the search for accused Bosnian war criminal Ratko Mladic, searching his son's house in Belgrade Thursday.

Rasim Luajic, president of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, told Radio B92 that no arrest was expected immediately.

"No operation to arrest Ratko Mladic is under way, but rather a search for clues that will lead to Mladic''s arrest," he said.

Other locations in the Serbian capital were also being searched.

Belgrade - When web designer Petar Jakovljevic found a cramped two-bedroom apartment close to downtown Belgrade for 70,000 euros (90,000 dollars), he jumped at the chance.

It was a good deal in Serbia, where a severe housing shortage is keeping the capital's apartment prices at levels similar to the Paris suburbs while the average Serbian earns less than 400 euros (500 dollars) a month.

Jakovljevic, who has a wife and small child, also considered a larger, old apartment on the run-down Balkan city's outskirts that was selling for the same price per square meter.

In the end, they chose the new 35-square-metre flat with elevator and central heating, thinking it's the better investment.

New York  - The United Nations said Wednesday Kosovo's independence has propelled the body into assuming a political role to try to solve the sovereignty dispute between Kosovo and Serbia.

Serbia still claims Kosovo as its territory after Pristina declared independence in February, adopted a constitution in June and was recognized by a total of 52 governments, including the United States and many European nations.

The UN Mission in Kosovo, which began its work in 1999, is fast changing because Kosovo now is ruled by a government. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has ordered an accelerated reconfiguration of the mission so it can readjust to circumstances in the former Serb province.

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon ordered Tuesday an accelerated reconfiguration of the organization's mission in Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia earlier this year and is now recognized by more than 40 countries.

The UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has ceased to carry out most of its tasks after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, Ban said in a report to the UN Security Council, which planned to meet Wednesday to discuss the new development.

Banjaluka - The Austrian building company Strabag and Bosnia's Srpska Republic (RS) signed a 2.9 billion euro (3.6 billion dollars) contract for the construction of highway network on Monday, local media reported.

The Austrian company has won a 30 year concession to build 397 kilometers of road in RS, the Serb entity within Bosnia.