The Hague - The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ruled on Tuesday it has jurisdiction to hear a claim by Croatia that Serbia committed genocide against its population in the 1991-95 war.

The ICJ said the decision was final, binding and without appeal and had been made by 10 votes to seven.

Croatia filed the case against the rump Yugoslavia, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro, in 1999, while it was still run by the strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

Zagreb claims Belgrade fomented and supported a Serb insurgency following Croatia's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

The Hague - The International Court of Justice (ICJ) was to say Tuesday whether it has jurisdiction to rule on a claim by Croatia that Serbia committed genocide against its population in the 1991-95 war.

Croatia had filed the case against the rump Yugoslavia, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro, in 1999, while it was still run by the strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

Zagreb claims Belgrade fomented and supported a Serb insurgency following Croatia's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

Ethnic Serbs, then making up some 12 per cent of the population, had proclaimed a state of their own, which was recognized only by Belgrade, on a third of Croatia's territory.

Belgrade - The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Serge Brammertz, arrived in Belgrade Monday to press Serbian officials for the arrest of Ratko Mladic, the most wanted war crimes suspect.

But Belgrade, despite its ties with the European Union hinging on the arrest of fugitive war criminals, has again said Mladic, the Bosnian Serb wartime military chief, is out of its reach.

"We have no trail leading to Mladic, only if a miracle should happen," Serbian minister in charge of cooperation with ICTY, Rasim Ljajic, said ahead of Brammertz's arrival.

Belgrade - The triumph of two Serbs at the Shanghai Masters over the weekend, two players on top of global rankings and another two with the throne in sight at the close of the tennis season drove Belgrade newspapers deeper into euphoria on Monday.

Belgrade - A Royal Jordanian jet airliner safely made an emergency landing in Belgrade Saturday late afternoon, Serbian television RTS reported.

The Airbus A310-300 with 154 passengers and 14 crew flying from Amman to London requested to land after losing pressure in the cockpit, the Belgrade airport confirmed.

The passengers were due to be flown to London by another Royal airplane during the course of the evening, it said.

Belgrade  - Serbia's ruling coalition overcame internal strife over where to cut spending and has agreed on a 15-month, 520- million dollar standby credit with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Finance MInister Diana Dragutinovic said Friday.

Within the deal, Serbia must cut spending to keep the 2009 budget deficit under 1.5 per cent of the gross domestic product and the annual inflation rate at 8 per cent.

A standby credit means that through March 2010 Serbia may draw the funds if its macroeconomic stability becomes jeopardized.