According to official reports, protesters in Serbia say they will attempt to block the excavation of what they said may be a mass grave containing bodies of ethnic Albanians.

Serbian news outlet B92 reported on Monday that the Association of Families of Missing Serbs from Kosovo said they would try to halt the operation unless there was simultaneous investigation of alleged mass grave sites in Kosovo where Serbs are thought to be buried.

Three Bollywood flicks including "Gulaal", "Delhi-6", and "Dev D." have been chosen for the "38th Belgrade International Film Festival" (FEST) Durban Film Festival 2009, in Serbia.

The film festival starts Deb 19 and continues till Feb 28.

Anurag Kashyap directed "Gulaal" centers around a Rajput boy who lost his moral excellence in the dark world of disloyalty and political beliefs. The film stars Kay Kay Menon, Jesse Randhawa, Ayesha Mohan, and Mahie Gill.

Belgrade, Dec 8 : A Belgrade court ordered Serbian President Boris Tadic to pay a fine of 40,000 dinars ($617) for drinking champagne at a stadium after Serbia qualified for the World Cup in October, local media reported Thursday.

Tadic, along with the sports minister and a Belgrade city hall official, appeared last week in court where they faced misdemeanour charges for drinking alcohol at a sports stadium.

According to Serbian so-called anti-hooligan law, aimed at suppressing violence at sports events, the sale or consumption of alcohol at sports stadiums during and after a match is illegal.

The Hague - British-born lawyer Richard Harvey was appointed defence counsel for former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in Karadzic's war crimes trial, an international court in The Hague announced on Friday.

In its decision to appoint Harvey, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said Karadzic, 64, refused to pick a particular lawyer on the list presented to him.

Belgrade - The head of Serbia's Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, died at the age of 95 on Sunday, local media reports quoting the church said.

Pavle had led the church through its post-Communist resurgence and its troubled role in the Balkan wars.

He died at the military hospital to which he was admitted two years ago. Pavle leaves behind a church torn in a power struggle between reformists and dogmatics, who failed to agree on electing a new patriarch a year ago. (dpa)

Belgrade - Serbia on Friday signed a contract to purchase 3 million flu vaccine units from the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis.

Novartis won a tender earlier this month and is to begin delivering the vaccine in early December. The cost of each vaccine is 800 dinars (13 dollars).

Serbian Health Minister Tomica Milosavljevic declared a nationwide flu epidemic on Wednesday. He said priority inoculation is planned in jeopardized segments of the population: children, chronic patients and pregnant women.

Belgrade - The Serbian government has formally declared an epidemic of the swine flu on Wednesday and ordered steps aimed at curbing the effects of the disease, Health Minister Tomica Milosavljevic said.

The measures include a ban on public gatherings, "emergency inoculation" and "epidemiologic surveillance." The ban on gatherings applies to schools and kindergartens, Milosavljevic told a news conference.

The ban is not comprehensive, and health authorities in charge would judge events "case by case." According to official figures, 258 cases of the flu were confirmed so far, with seven deaths attributed to it.

Belgrade  - The first Serbian animated movie, Edit i ja (Edith and Me), became an instant hit last month among local fans of comic books and science fiction, drawing in filmgoers with futuristic images of Belgrade and the city's unique slang and humour.

The movie, directed by Aleksa Gajic, was inspired by his comic book Technotise.

Belgrade  - Serbian lawyers said Monday they were going on a three-day strike to protest tighter financial oversight ordered by the government.

The head of Serbia's attorney bar, Dragoljub Djordjevic, told radio B92 all 7,000 lawyers in the country will join the stoppage and effectively block the justice system by refusing to perform any procedural activity until Thursday.

Belgrade - Well-known Serbian film-maker Emir Kusturica caused a mini scandal this week when he threw out a Croatian television crew and confiscated their footage after being offended by their questions, Belgrade dailies reported Friday.

"This is typical robbery and theft," said Croatian journalist Aleksandar Stankovic.

Stankovic asked Kusturica, a two time Palme d'Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival, about his ties with late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, which enraged the director.

Belgrade - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will unfreeze funds from a 4-billion-dollar standby loan to Serbia, which in return must curb spending and reform its social care system, officials said Wednesday in Belgrade.

The head of the IMF mission, Albert Jaeger, said the agreed economic policy framework was "balanced," warning Serbia that it must now implement the reforms.

The Hague - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was due to appear at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Tuesday afternoon after announcing he would participate in a hearing about the future of his trial which he has so far refused to attend.

In a letter to presiding judge O-Gon Kwon, the 64-year old had said Sunday he would attend the so-called "status conference" in which the court is due to decide how to proceed with the trial if Karadzic continues his boycott.

Sarajevo/Belgrade - Bosnian Muslim organizations have voiced disappointment over the false start to Radovan Karadzic's war crimes trial in The Hague, media in the region said Tuesday.

The former Bosnian Serb leader, who is representing himself in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), boycotted the start of the trial Monday. Karadzic argues that he needs more time to prepare his defence.

Begrade  - Booklovers, publishers and booksellers gathered at the annual 54th Belgrade Book Fair on Monday for a week-long celebration of "a good book."

Some 800 publishers from all over the world were expected to present their newest editions, with Greece as this year's guest of honor.

Organizers said that the new concept of bigger space, better organization and more high-profile guests will attract great crowds to the fair.

The Hague  - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was due to go on trial Monday at the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague despite announcing he was insufficiently prepared for the proceedings and would not attend.

Prosecutors Alan Tieger and Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia were scheduled at 9 am (0800 GMT) to deliver their opening statements, which were expected to continue two days.

Karadzic, 64, who intends to represent himself, faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including two counts of genocide, for acts allegedly committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

Belgrade  - For the Jovanovic family, the Belgrade Book Fair, which opens Monday, is an annual family gathering - "food for the soul" they call it.

"The first time I went to the fair I was a student. I can still remember the smell of the new books and the atmosphere and the thrill of being surrounded with so many book lovers," Srecko Jovanovic, a retired pilot from Belgrade told the German Press Agency dpa.

Belgrade - An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission on Thursday began reviewing Serbia's economic policies, with two tranches of a 4-billion-dollar standby loan hinging on its verdict.

The IMF and Serbia agreed to the two-year loan in March. The first 1-billion-dollar tranche was disbursed in May, in accordance with the planned schedule.

But the second instalment was halted in September when Serbia failed to persuade the IMF that it would keep its 2010 budget deficit below 3.5 per cent of its gross domestic product.

The Hague  - Radovan Karadzic will not be present at his first day of trial on October 26, the former Bosnian Serb leader informed the Hague-based war crimes tribunal on Thursday.

In the letter revealed to Dutch media on Thursday, Karadzic, who is to face 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including two counts of genocide for acts committed during the 1992- 1995 Bosnian war, said he had not been given enough time to prepare his defence.

The Hague  - The case against former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, which comes before a war crimes tribunal in the Hague on Monday, comprises roughly 600,000 documents and more than 1,000 legal papers.

Karadzic has been indicted on 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, including two counts of genocide, during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

He has repeatedly complained that he has not had enough time to study the case against him - that pouring over the documentation alone, could take years.

The Hague  ­ Every other day, Peter Robinson, defence counsel for former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, visits his client at the detention centre near The Hague.

They meet in the visitors' room to work on Karadzics war crimes trial, which is scheduled to begin in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Monday.