New York  - The United Nations said Wednesday Kosovo's independence has propelled the body into assuming a political role to try to solve the sovereignty dispute between Kosovo and Serbia.

Serbia still claims Kosovo as its territory after Pristina declared independence in February, adopted a constitution in June and was recognized by a total of 52 governments, including the United States and many European nations.

The UN Mission in Kosovo, which began its work in 1999, is fast changing because Kosovo now is ruled by a government. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has ordered an accelerated reconfiguration of the mission so it can readjust to circumstances in the former Serb province.

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon ordered Tuesday an accelerated reconfiguration of the organization's mission in Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia earlier this year and is now recognized by more than 40 countries.

The UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has ceased to carry out most of its tasks after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, Ban said in a report to the UN Security Council, which planned to meet Wednesday to discuss the new development.

Banjaluka - The Austrian building company Strabag and Bosnia's Srpska Republic (RS) signed a 2.9 billion euro (3.6 billion dollars) contract for the construction of highway network on Monday, local media reported.

The Austrian company has won a 30 year concession to build 397 kilometers of road in RS, the Serb entity within Bosnia.

Belgrade - The last of the Yugoslav-era cars, known for their lack of reliability as much as tasteless design and crude unworkmanlike finish, rolled off the assembly line in Serbia on Friday, nearly two decades after Yugoslavia itself fell apart.

Zastava, the car factory in the central Serbian town Kragujevac, has effectively ceased to exist and, following a massive investment by the Italian giant Fiat, is to begin making a modern small car.

Launched in 1953 in a country recovering from a destructive war while trying to implement its own form of socialism, Zastava was to prove that Yugoslavia could build a car of its own.

Belgrade - It was only Tuesday that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decided to hear Croatia's genocide case against Serbia and already on Wednesday the thin scabs covering old Balkan war wounds had been scratched off.

"Serbia raped" was one among the fiery headlines from Serbia's yellow press bringing back memories of the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo during the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Pristina - Leaders in Kosovo Tuesday again rejected a Serbia-sponsored United Nations proposal to revise an upcoming European Union mission, the Eulex, in Kosovo, warning they would not allow even a hint at the partition of the country along ethnic lines.