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The genocide trial of Radovan Karadzic went ahead without him Tuesday, with prosecutors branding him "supreme commander" of an ethnic cleansing campaign in the 1992-95 Bosnian war. "This case is about that supreme commander, a man who harnessed the forces of nationalism, hatred and fear to implement his vision of an ethnically separated Bosnia: Radovan Karadzic," prosecutor Alan Tieger told the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Mr. Karadzic, who faces 11 charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, had "ethnically cleansed vast portions of Bosnia and Hercegovina" during the war that claimed some...

TORONTO • She presented a facade of normalcy, yet harboured an obsessive jealousy that led to the murder of a 14-year-old girl she had never met. Melissa Todorovic’s identity is no longer protected under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, but how she thinks remains largely a mystery and therefore, a judge concluded, a potential danger to the public’s safety. On Tuesday, she was sentenced to a lifetime in jail with no chance at parole for seven years — the stiffest possible prison term available after a jury convicted Todorovic in March of first-degree murder in the death of...

Serbian prosecutors said Saturday they were hunting rioters who targeted the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade leaving one person dead while a senior Serbian minister blamed Washington for the violence triggered by Kosovo's breakaway. Authorities said they had arrested nearly 200 rioters who took part in the violence on Thursday that prompted the United States to evacuate non-essential embassy staff and warn Serbia it would be held responsible. "We are collecting evidence and are identifying the culprits," Slobodan Radovanovic said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. Serbia's Kosovo minister Slobodan Samardzic said Saturday that the U.S. -- which backed...

Kosovo's breakaway from Serbia provoked fresh unrest Friday as U.N. police were attacked by ethnic Serb demonstrators in northern Kosovo a day after angry demonstrations in the Serbian capital Belgrade left one person dead. art.embassy.afp.gi.jpg Serbian riot policemen guard the entrance to the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade on Friday. more photos » The Associated Press said protesters among a crowd of 5,000 trying to cross a key bridge in the divided city of Mitrovica, hurled empty bottles and stones at the police. It was initally thought that the police retaliated with canisters of tear gas but AP later said this...

Angry demonstrators protesting Kosovo's independence from Serbia attacked the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade on Thursday, throwing rocks, breaking windows and setting fires. Serbian TV showed someone trying to set fire to the U.S. flag at the embassy, which was closed and unstaffed when the masked protesters attacked. Riot police fired tear gas at the rioters and lines of armored vehicles were on the streets before the embassy perimeter was secured. A State Department official told CNN "things are under control." Kosovo declared independence last Sunday and the United States was among the first countries to offer official recognition of its...

Pristina - NATO-led peacekeepers have closed two border crossings toward Serbia on Tuesday and stepped up its presence in the area owing to an 'escalating situation' on the other side, police said in Pristina. The peacekeepers from the KFOR mission took control over the crossings from the Kosovo and international police, shortly before noon, spokesman Veton Elshani told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. 'There are two border crossings in northern Kosovo which are closed, at Janjine and Leposavic, due to the very serious situation which is escalating there,' Elshani said. One of the crossing points the Serbian side was torched and the...