Missing Serbs released safely

The Yugoslav authorities say that four Serbs who were apparently abducted by ethnic Albanian separatists on the border with Kosovo have been freed.

The Yugoslav news agency, Tanyug, said the four disappeared on Saturday while travelling to Kosovo to spend Christmas with their families.

It said they were released thanks to the efforts of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, K-FOR.

The Yugoslav president, Vojislav Kostunica, had demanded that K-FOR and the NATO Secretary General, George Robertson, take steps to ensure the four Serbs were released unharmed.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service