Serbia warned over Kosovo election

The European security organisation, the OSCE, has told the Serbian Government that the international community will not tolerate a boycott of next month's elections in Kosovo.

Belgrade has not yet decided whether to tell Kosovo Serbs to participate in the elections, due to take place on 17 November, because of security concerns.

The head of the OSCE mission to Kosovo, Dan Everts, said it was in the Serbs' own interests to take part.

He said the international community was doing everything it could to create normal living conditions for all citizens of Kosovo.

On Wednesday, Serbia's deputy prime minister, Nebojsa Covic, met the ethnic Albanian leaders Ibrahim Rugova, Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj in Pristina for discussions about the provincial elections.

It's the first such meeting by a senior Serbian minister since the war in Kosovo two years ago.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service