Belgrade  - Where until recently people quietly leafed through books in the heart of Belgrade or met to discuss literary works, today they read newspapers while drinking franchise coffee or eyeing designer clothes.

The government plan to privatize one of the older Serbian publishing houses, the Prosveta, stirred book lovers into a state of alarm amid concern that the city's oldest bookstore, which it owns, may be converted into another brand-name store.

Moscow - Serbian President Boris Tadic flew to Moscow on Wednesday to ink a multimillion-dollar energy deal with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

Under the deal, Serbia will sell a controlling stake in its oil monopoly NIS to Russian state giant Gazprom in exchange for a share in a strategic Russian pipeline through Serbia.

Serbian media reported the 51-per-cent stake was sold for 400 million euros (560 million dollars).

Belgrade - Russian energy company Gazprom and Serbian officials on Monday initialed a multimillion-dollar deal for the sale of majority stake in Serbia's oil company NIS, Belgrade media reported.

Serbia will sell 51 per cent stake in NIS to Russian Gazprom for 400 million euros (560 million dollars) in exchange for a share in the South Stream gas line - a pipeline which will carry Russian gas to Bulgaria and Serbia before heading to Western Europe

Belgrade - Several people were injured and arrested during clashes on Sunday between Serbian veterans and the police, Belgrade media reported.

Belgrade - Pressed by the global crisis and falling demand, the American giant US Steel would within "consolidation plans" suspend production in Serbia for at least three months in order to save money, a spokesman said Friday.

US Steel Serbia, launched with the purchase of a bankrupted Serbian mill in 2003, already turned off one blast furnace and was set to shut down the other, spokesman Nemanja Brkovic told the Serbian television RTS.

Belgrade  - As Serbs and Albanians continue their tug-of-war over Kosovo, almost a year since the breakaway province declared independence, the European Union seems destined to watch the game instead of decisively joining in.

Following an encouraging wink from the West, Pristina announced secession from Serbia on February 17, almost eight years after a United Nations administration arrived in Kosovo to take over governance from Serbian authorities, who had been ousted by NATO.

But while the United States immediately recognized the new country, an EU consensus on how to treat Pristina and Belgrade remained elusive. In the end, individual members were left to make their own decision, with some nations choosing recognition and some choosing against.