Belgrade - Feuding Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) bishops met Tuesday to discuss their leadership amid uncertainty surrounding the succession of the ailing current Patriarch, Pavle.

The 46 bishops of the SPC are divided whether to vote for the new patriarch immediately after they accept Pavle's plea to be relieved of his duties.

Belgrade - Serbian police raided several locations Monday in search of the alleged war criminal Ratko Mladic, Belgrade media reported quoting sources.

Raids involving special police forces were reported from several locations in and around Valjevo, a town 70 kilometres south-west of Serbia.

The capture of Mladic and his extradition to the United Nations war crimes tribunal is the key remaining condition for Serbia's further progress toward European Union membership.

Brussels  - Serbia could become a candidate for European Union membership in 2009 if it proves that it is doing its best to catch war-crimes suspects, the EU's executive said Wednesday.

Belgrade - The violent disintegration of Yugoslavia - the fragmentation, corruption and shadowy political interests - have spawned a ruthlessly efficient, unbiased and deadly network of organized crime spanning the entire Balkans, experts warn.

A Croatian criminal may kill as a favour to Serbian partner. He may then pass the tab to a Montenegrin "businessman" he owes. And so on - all under the umbrella of trafficking drugs, people, weapons and money laundering. And under the noses of secret services also in the know.

"It's all intertwined. Organized crime is unhampered by borders that block police from different countries," said Hajrudin Merdanovic, a retired Croatian policeman.

Belgrade - A Serbian war crimes prosecutor said in an interview released Wednesday that Albania was hiding evidence of a mass murder committed to harvest victims' organs during the Kosovo war.

The unverified claims have stirred up bad memories and bad blood between the countries.

"Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha. ... ordered security services to destroy documents on Serbs who disappeared in Kosovo, their transport to Albania and the trafficking of their organs," the prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic, told the daily Press.

Belgrade - The 2009 Universiade in Belgrade will have to run on half the original budget and with 15 instead of the planned 21 sports competitions, officials said Wednesday in Belgrade.

"It will be the largest sports event ever held in Serbia," Serbian Deputy Premier Bozidar Djelic told a press conference, announcing a "realistic budget" of 3.5 billion dinars 
(51 million dollars).