• 13 dead, including a baby, after house-to-house shooting spree in Serbian village

    A man in a small village outside Belgrade, Serbia went door to door, gunning down 13 people including his own son, six women and one baby. The man tried to kill himself and his wife but they survived and are gravely wounded.

    By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

    A 60-year-old man fatally shot 13 people, including a baby, in a house-to-house rampage in a quiet village in Serbia Tuesday, before trying to kill himself and his wife.

    The gunman, identified by police as Ljubisa Bogdanovic - a former soldier and veteran of the early-1990s regional conflict– was in a critical condition in hospital along with his wife, Javorak, police told reporters.

    Serbian police official Milorad Veljovic said the victims included 6 women, 6 men and a two-year-old boy, according to Serbian news site Press Online and other reports.

    The shooter came from a “quiet family” and had no criminal record, Veljovic said. “We'll see what the motive is for this gruesome murder, we're all just stunned,” he told reporters.

    Marko Djurica / Reuters

    A policeman stands guard in the village of Velika Ivanca, Serbia, on Tuesday.

    Bogdanovic had lost his job last year, Veljovic said according to Reuters, and had a firearms permit for his CZ88 pistol, according to Press Online and Novosti.

    "We have never seen a tragedy like this in Serbia, and for that reason a motive must be ascertained - what prompted this man to kill so many people in their sleep," Veljovic added, according to news site B92.

    'Good neighbor'
    Residents of the village of Velika Ivanca, 30 miles southeast of the capital Belgrade, said Bogdanovic first killed his son, before leaving the house and shooting his neighbors, some of whom were still asleep. 

    "He knocked on the doors, and as they were opened he just fired a shot," villager Radovan Radosavljevic told The Associated Press. "He was a good neighbor and anyone would open their doors to him. I don't know what happened."

    The killings occurred between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m local time (11 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. ET Monday), the AP said.

    Nada Macura, an official at the Belgrade hospital in Belgrade where the two were being treated, told the AP that Bogdanovic had no history of mental illness. However, Kostadinovic's wife Stanica said the man's father had hanged himself when he was a young boy and his uncle had a history of mental illness. 

    The AP added:

    Although such apparently random shootings are rare in Serbia, weapons are readily available mostly from the regional conflicts that tore through the Balkans in the 1990s and there is a tradition of possessing firearms.

    The last similar shooting spree happened in Serbia in 2007 when a 39-year-old man gunned down nine people and injured two in a village in the east of the country.

    Bogdanovic served as Serbian army soldier in the war in Croatia that began in 1991 and lasted until 1995, Reuters reported.

     

    This story was originally published on Tue Apr 9, 2013 3:21 AM EDT

  • Winter storm strands thousands of motorists overnight in eastern Europe

    Szilard Gergely / AFP - Getty Images

    A man walks past a damaged truck at the site of an accident on the E71 motorway, near the Croatian, Slovenian and Hungarian borders on Friday, a day after a heavy snow storm hit the area.

    By Krisztina Than, Reuters

    BUDAPEST - Hungary deployed tanks to reach thousands of motorists trapped in heavy snow on Friday as a sudden cold snap and high winds struck parts of the Balkans, Slovakia and Poland, leaving at least two people dead.

    Snow stranded people in cars, buses and trains through the night and conspired with strong winds to cut off dozens of towns and villages in Hungary.

    "The situation is most critical on the M1 motorway (linking Budapest and Vienna) where hundreds of cars are stranded in the snow, most of them for 18-20 hours now," said Marton Hajdu, spokesman for the National Directorate for Disaster Management.

    Reuters photographer traveling with a rescue convoy said high winds had caused snowdrifts on the motorway up to three feet high.

    People took to Facebook to appeal for help.

    "At the Gyorszentivan exit on the motorway I have friends stranded since yesterday evening," wrote Ibolya Csukovics. "Can anyone help? They've run out of food and drink."

    The government said it had sent in tanks and other military vehicles with caterpillar tracks.

    The weekend's premier league and second tier football fixtures were canceled, with night-time temperatures expected to drop as low as 5 degrees Fahrenheit).

    After a relatively mild winter for much of the region, almost 200,000 people in Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia were left shivering without electricity on Friday. Heavy rain hit parts of Serbia and Bosnia.

    In Bulgaria, one woman was killed when scaffolding collapsed in high winds in the central town of Gabrovo, and a school was evacuated in the southern town of Krichim when wind tore off the roof.

    To the south, in Kosovo, a 10-year-old girl drowned when a river burst its banks in heavy rain in the northern town of Skenderaj. Dozens of homes were flooded in the west of the country, a Reuters reporter said.

    "The situation is alarming," Klina municipality spokeswoman Samije Gjergjaj told Reuters. She said some 300 people were stranded by floodwater.

    "There's just one small boat evacuating these people," said Gjergjaj. "We're waiting for the state emergency services to help out."

    Heavy snow also paralyzed parts of southeastern Poland, where police banned heavy lorries from entering the city of Rzeszow for fear they would get stuck.

    In eastern Slovakia, snow stranded some 40 lorries on a highway in the High Tatras region. The army deployed hundreds of soldiers to help out and authorities appealed to people to avoid venturing out by car. 

    Alexey Gromov / AFP - Getty Images

    People struggle against wind and drifting snow in the Belarus capital, Minsk, on Friday.

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Only European king buried on U.S. soil goes back home

    AFP - Getty Images

    Serbian Patriarch Irinej performs a liturgy during a solemn burial ceremony for the remains of Yugoslavia's last king Peter II Karadjordjevic, in Belgrade, on Jan. 22. The remains of the last Yugoslav king Peter II Karadjordjevic, who fled the country in the onset of Nazi invasion, were repatriated today for a re-burial in Serbia, 43 years after his death in exile in the United States. After being exhumed last week from the Serb Orthodox monastery Saint Sava at Libertyville, US, the coffin with remains of the Peter II, covered with the Serbian flag, was brought to the church at the Royal palace of Karadjordjevic in Belgrade.

    By Hasani Gittens, News Editor, NBC News

    The King has left the country.

    Yugoslavia's last king, Peter II Karadjordjevic, who died in the United States in 1970, was taken to Serbia Tuesday, thus removing the only European royal to be buried on American soil.

    The former ruler had fled the Nazis at the start of World War II. He decided to stay in the U.S. when Communists took over Yugoslavia at the end of the war. 

    He died in exile at the age of 47 and had been buried at the Serbian Orthodox Church monastery in Libertyville, Ill.

    Darko Vojinovic / AP

    A royalist supporter holds up a candle and picture of Yugoslavia's last king — Peter II Karadjordjevic during a solemn ceremony in Belgrade, Serbia, on Jan. 22.

    Darko Vojinovic / AP

    This photo shows a Serbian Orthodox style icon depicting Jesus Christ, said to have been damaged by bullet holes from rounds shot by Serbian communist supporters after World War II, seen inside the Serbian royal family complex in Belgrade, Serbia, on Jan. 22. The remains of Yugoslavia's last king, Peter II Karadjordjevic, who died in the U.S. in 1970, were flown back to Serbia in a solemn ceremony on Tuesday, despite protests by some Serb royalists in America. The former king fled the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia at the start of World War II and never returned, as Communists took over at the end of the war, and he died in exile with his remains buried at a Serbian Orthodox monastery in Libertyville, Illinois, the only European monarch buried on U.S. soil.

    Darko Vojinovic / AP

    Royalist supporters wearing old military uniforms are seen during a solemn ceremony after the remains of Yugoslavia's last king — Peter II Karadjordjevic were flown back to Serbia in Belgrade, Serbia, on Jan. 22.

     

  • Albanian rebel memorial removed by Serbia police

    Sasa Djordjevic / AFP - Getty Images

    A bulldozer prepares to remove a monument to ethnic Albanians in the Serb town of Presevo, early Sunday.

    By Branko Filipovic, Reuters

    PRESEVO, Serbia — More than 200 heavily-armed and masked Serbian police took down a memorial to ethnic Albanian guerrillas in Serbia's south overnight, trying to end a row that has highlighted still-simmering tension in the region.

    Security forces deployed armored personnel carriers to cordon off the main square in the southern, mainly Albanian, town of Presevo, and hauled away the memorial bearing the names of 27 guerrillas who died during an insurgency in the region in 2001, a Reuters reporter at the scene said on Sunday.

     The scale of the operation, which followed weeks of threats and counter-threats between Serbian government officials and local ethnic Albanians, highlighted how fragile the situation remains in the south, which borders Serbia's former Kosovo province.

    Majority Albanian Kosovo declared independence in 2008 almost a decade after NATO air strikes wrested control of the territory from Belgrade to end a brutal Serbian counter-insurgency war.

    The 2000-2001 insurgency in the southern Serbian regions of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac was widely seen as a spillover of the Kosovo conflict, as ethnic Albanians in Serbia's south pressed to join newly-free Kosovo.

    NATO brokered a peace deal, and Serbia pledged greater rights and economic opportunity for the south. But progress has been patchy, and southern Serbia remains the poorest region of a country now aiming to join the European Union.

    Ethnic Albanians regard the guerrillas as heroes. Serbia says they are terrorists.

    "Serbia has shown enough patience, but it has also sent a clear and strong message that the law must be respected and that no one is stronger than the state," Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said in comments carried by the state news agency Tanjug.

    There were no incidents during the police operation.

    There are other monuments to the guerrillas in the area, but the one removed overnight held pride of place on Presevo's central square, in front of the local council building. Dacic had described it as a provocation.

    Tensions in the region, known as the Presevo Valley, have the potential to complicate EU-mediated talks between Serbia and Kosovo aimed at normalizing their relations five years after Kosovo declared independence.

    Serbia does not recognize it as sovereign, but is under pressure to cooperate with the new country before the EU moves ahead with Belgrade's bid to join the bloc. 

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Bad day? Try 5 minutes in the 'Rage Room'

    Darko Vojinovic/AP

    Visitor Savo Duvnjak smashes furniture and other household items during a demolishing session at the Rage Room, in Novi Sad, Serbia, last month.

    By Jovana Gec, The Associated Press

    NOVI SAD, Serbia -- Savo Duvnjak looks around the room, lifts a metal baseball bat and wrecks everything in sight — bed, table, shelves, chair — until there's nothing left to wreck.

    This isn't a criminal onslaught. It's the Rage Room.

    And it's smashing its way to success in Serbia one angry visitor at a time.

    "This feels so good!" Duvnjak said sweating and panting, as he admired the mound of debris he created — for just a modest fee.

    "I feel I let go of all my negative energy," the 18-year-old gushed. "This last year was a tough one and I wanted to end it with a bang!"

    Since it opened in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad in October, the Rage Room has drawn a flurry of attention in the Balkan country where two decades of war, political crisis and economic hardship have driven many people over the edge.

    Inspiration from Texas
    Inspired by a similar "Anger Room" in Dallas, Texas, Serbia's version was set up by two teens who saw the U.S. original online and figured it could be a way to earn pocket money.

    "On average, we have one person a day, enough to keep us going," said Nikola Pausic, an 18-year-old who runs the room with a friend.

    The Dallas version costs up to $75 per session and has an array of objects to destroy, including computers and office furniture. Serbia's Rage Room, organized in a refurbished garage, is much more basic — and cheaper.

    Included in the roughly $6 fee is the right to smash a chair, a table, a bed, a coat-rack and a book-shelf, along with items such as framed photographs, empty cans and plastic containers.

    Clients must wear a helmet, protective glasses and gloves. Afterward they get to unwind to relaxing music, leaving the clean-up to staff.

    "Dozens have come so far," Pausic said, "people of all ages" — adding that it's also popular among women. He said that visitors usually need about five minutes to destroy everything inside.

    While it may be an easy way to let off steam, experts warn that projects like this are no replacement for anger management therapy.

    Expert: Yoga 'more useful'
    Sanja Marjanovic, a psychologist from Belgrade, said that modern science looks for ways to control frustrations before they explode into full-blown rage.

    She explained that "venting anger does give you an immediate sense of relief but in the long run, one becomes accustomed to feeling angry."

    "In a stressful situation, one can count to ten, or take calm, deep breaths," she said. "It's much more useful to practice yoga."

    Pausic said each visitor must sign a document that includes a clause saying the Rage Room does not aspire to offer medical assistance.

    And, after the session is over, customers are given a CD that includes information about professional therapists and how to contact them.

    For his part, Duvnjak found therapeutic value in the Rage Room. He said the session helped to take off some of the pressure that had built up in his studies — adding that many of his friends felt the same way.

    "This is better than getting into a fight," he concluded.

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Serbia's richest man jailed for 30 days ahead of corruption trial

    By The Associated Press

    BELGRADE, Serbia -- A judge on Friday ordered the richest man in Serbia to be held in prison for 30 days pending trial on suspicion of corruption, as the government hailed his arrest as proof that no one is above the law in the graft-plagued country.

    The arrest of influential billionaire retail tycoon Miroslav Miskovic is part of an anti-corruption sweep that the new nationalist government says is necessary if the country wants to move closer to European Union membership. But critics argue the crackdown is mostly aimed at political opponents and allies of the country's previous pro-Western leadership.

    Miskovic, 67, was arrested on Wednesday along with his son Marko and eight others in connection with the privatization of several Serbian road construction companies in 2005, during which the suspects allegedly gained illegal profits of about $39 million.


    The judge at Serbia's special court for organized crime ruled that Miskovic, his son and five others must remain in prison during the pre-trial investigation. The rest were freed, with their travel documents seized.

    "We are now starting with the investigations," said public prosecutor for organized crime Miljko Radisavljevic. "We will try to collect as much evidence as possible."

    Serbian mountain is the latest to brace for 'Doomsday' crowd

    Briefly served in Milosevic government
    Miskovic is the owner of Delta Holding, the largest private company in Serbia, which deals with retail, real estate, insurance and agriculture business throughout the Balkans. Though he is not openly a government opponent he has financed several pro-Western parties that are now in opposition.

    He started his business empire under late strongman Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s, when he also briefly served as deputy prime minister.

    Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

    But after Milosevic fell from power in 2000, Miskovic supported the new, pro-Western authorities and expanded his wealth, estimated in 2007 at some $2 billion and believed to have grown since then.

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    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Officials: Serbian ambassador to NATO jumps to his death in Belgium

    AFP - Getty Images

    Serbian Ambassador to NATO Branislav Milinkovic, seen at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Dec. 14, 2006, was described as a "skilled diplomat" and "an intellectual."

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    BRUSSELS – Serbia’s ambassador to NATO jumped to his death from a multi-story building in Belgium, officials said Wednesday.


    Brussels prosecutor's office told Reuters that they “can be sure that it was a suicide, therefore we are not investigating any further."

    However, Serbia said it was investigating the death of Branislav Milinkovic, 52, which happened at a parking garage at Brussels airport during a conference of NATO foreign ministers.

    A Serbian Foreign Ministry official, who asked not to be named, said they were “shocked.”

    "We have no clues about what could prompt Milinkovic to do that. He was a good man," the official said.

    'A noble man'
    The ministry praised him as a distinguished diplomat and jurist who would be "remembered as a skilled diplomat, an intellectual and a noble man."

    Serbian tabloid newspaper Kurir reported that Milinkovic jumped about 30 feet in the presence of Serbia's assistant foreign minister for security policy, Zoran Vujic.

    Serbia inches closer to European Union candidacy

    A diplomat described the death to The Associated Press, saying she had spoken to a member of the delegation who saw what happened.

    She said Milinkovic was chatting and joking with colleagues in the garage when he suddenly strolled to the barrier and jumped.

    Milinkovic was a former author and activist who opposed the authoritarian regime of Serbia's former strongman, Slobodan Milosevic.

    According to diplomats and acquaintances, he was outgoing, had a warm sense of humor and worked to keep good ties with ambassadors from other ex-Yugoslav countries.

    West watches nervously as ex-Milosevic aide becomes Serbia's new PM

    But Milinkovic had mentioned to colleagues at diplomatic functions that he was unhappy at living apart from his wife, a Serbian diplomat based in Vienna, and their 17-year-old son. 

    He was appointed ambassador to NATO in 2009 but had already been based in Brussels since 2004 as an envoy from the now defunct state union of Serbia and Montenegro.

    NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was "deeply saddened by the tragic death of the Serbian ambassador," an alliance spokeswoman said.

    James Appathurai, NATO deputy assistant secretary general for political affairs, said Milinkovic was “deeply respected here and very well liked.”

    “He did a very professional job … there are really no good words to say things like this but certainly he will be missed here on a personal basis and on a professional basis as well,” he said.

    “We have absolutely no information beyond what is in the media and what the police reports,” he added. “NATO had no contact, no personnel at all involved in this so we were very, very, as I said, surprised and shocked.”

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Race shame as crowd monkey noises taint European soccer

    The British government has called for Serbia's national soccer team to face sanctions for racial abuse against its players. NBC's Karl Bostic reports.

    By Peter Jeary, NBC News

    Britain's government has written to European soccer authorities demanding "tough sanctions" against Serbia after racist chants - including monkey noises - were heard at an international match with England on Tuesday night.

    Abuse was hurled at black members of the England Under-21 team in Krusevac, Serbia, according to England officials. The match ended in a series of angry tussles between players on on both sides.

    Monkey chants, which the England team captain said came from Serb supporters, were audible on above ambient crowd noise.

    British sports Minister Hugh Robertson said Wednesday the scenes at the end of the game were "disgraceful."

    "I have written to [Union of European Football Associations] President Michel Platini ... urging them to investigate immediately," he said.

    Trouble quickly escalated when Serbia's players and officials started attacking their England counterparts, in scenes broadcast on a British sports channel.

    YouTube user "Strvideosfull"

    A video clip, unverified by NBC News, appears to show monkey noises audible from the crowd at Tuesday night's U21 soccer match between England and Serbia

    The monkey chants could clearly be heard in clips uploaded to YouTube as black England defender Danny Rose was penalized for kicking the ball into the crowd in frustration. It was not clear where the noise had come from.

    Read more on this story at ITV News

    Rose, who had been standing apart from the main group of players after trouble broke out, mimicked a monkey by sticking his arms underneath his armpits to demonstrate the racial nature of the abuse he could hear.

    A spokesman for  Britain's Prime Minister, David Cameron, said he was "appalled" at the scenes, while Rose's father told ITV News he wanted Serbia banned from European soccer.

    In a statement, England Under-21 captain, Jordan Henderson, said: "There was a lot of racist abuse out there from the stands. There was also stones, coins and seats getting thrown at us.”

    The Football Association of Serbia also issued a statement, placing the blame on Rose, who, they said, behaved "in inappropriate, unsportsmanlike and vulgar manner towards the supporters on the stands at the stadium in Krusevac."

    Serbian player Milos Ninkovic, left, and England's Danny Rose, right, and Craig Dawson, center, clash during the match.

    The statement went on to say: “FA of Serbia absolutely refuses and denies that there were any occurrences of racism before and during the match at the stadium in Krusevac.”

    Serbia’s soccer fans are notorious for causing trouble at home and abroad. The European governing body,  UEFA, awarded Italy a 3-0 win over Serbia after a qualifier in Genoa, Italy, in 2010 was stopped when Serbia supporters threw flares and fireworks onto the field, burned a flag and broke barriers.

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. ITV News is the UK partner of NBC News. 

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  • West watches nervously as ex-Milosevic aide becomes Serbia's new PM

    Andrej Isakovic / AFP - Getty Images

    Ivica Dacic's election as Serbia's prime minister has triggered fears of resurgent nationalism in the Balkan country.

    By NBC News wire services

    BELGRADE, Serbia -- Slobodan Milosevic's former spokesman became Serbia's new prime minister on Friday, promising to promote reconciliation in the Balkans after his nomination triggered fears of resurgent nationalism in the volatile region.

    The election marks the first time Milosevic's former party and their allies will dominate the government since they ruled Serbia for a decade in the 1990s — an era marked with wars, international sanctions and economic downturn.

    The West is watching Ivica Dacic nervously as the 46-year-old takes the reins of a country bidding to join the European Union little more than a decade since it was bombed by NATO.

    'There has been enough blood'
    Dacic was Milosevic's wartime spokesman, nick-named "Little Sloba" for his admiration of the former party chief. Dacic's nomination to the post of the prime minister triggered fears of resurgent nationalism in the Balkan country.


    In the speech to the parliament on Thursday, Dacic tried to dispel those concerns, promising to advance Serbia's EU bid, press on with reform and promote reconciliation in the region.

    He told lawmakers that "there has been enough blood in the Balkans."

    "Let us turn to the future and not deal with the past," he said.

    Milosevic was ousted from power in 2000 following a popular revolt. He was widely blamed for instigating the bloody Balkan wars that followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. The wars claimed more than 100,000 lives and left millions homeless.

    "Dacic is one of the most intelligent and cunning politicians in Serbia," said Nenad Sebek, executive director of the Center for Reconciliation and Democracy in Southeast Europe think-tank.

    "Without ever saying sorry for what his party did during the 1990s under Milosevic, Dacic single-handedly returned the Socialists to the political mainstream in Serbia," Sebek told Reuters.

    Slideshow: The charges against Ratko Mladic

    Serge Ligtenberg / Getty Images

    A career soldier, Mladic stands accused of orchestrating the siege of Sarajevo and the slaughter of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.

    Launch slideshow

    The Dacic’s Cabinet was approved with 142 votes for and 72 against in a 250-member assembly, ending nearly three months of political uncertainty that followed an inconclusive election on May 6.

    Dacic's coalition government includes ministers from his own Socialist Party, from a nationalist Progressive Party of President Tomislav Nikolic as well as several smaller groups.

    A red chair for every victim: Siege of Sarajevo marked

    Milosevic died in 2006 in custody of the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, while on a genocide trial.  

    Among the challenges facing the new government are widespread joblessness and a cash-strapped budget amid deepening economic crisis. The average monthly salary in Serbia is around €350 ($429), while poverty is widespread.

    On the 17th anniversary of Europe's worst massacre since World War II, Muslims in Bosnia attended funeral services for 520 newly identified victims. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    Working his way back to power
    After Milosevic was ousted in 2000, Dacic assembled a team of young moderates to help overhaul the party, while retaining some of the old faces to appease the elderly ex-communist electorate.

    More Europe coverage from NBCNews.com

    In 2006 he became party president, and two years later took the Socialists back to power as junior partner to the Democrats, the main party that had helped topple Milosevic. The ultimate pragmatist, he threw his support behind the country's EU ambitions.

    "He has an almost computer-like precision when deciding when to forget or remember something," the Serbian daily Blic said.

    Within the coalition, Dacic's party controlled state-run energy and gas monopoly Srbijagas and secured funds and close ties with Russia through a partnership with oil and gas giant Gazprom. Western diplomats admit his apparent affinity with Moscow makes them nervous.

    Srebrenica: The story that will never end

    When voters turned against the Democrats and their leader, two-time President Boris Tadic, in elections in May, Dacic saw his chance.

    After weeks of negotiating to revive their alliance, Dacic said he was abandoning the Democrats in favor of the nationalist Serbian Progressive Party, whose leader Nikolic had just defeated Tadic in a presidential election.

    Nikolic offered Dacic the post of prime minister. He took it, telling a reception last week:

    "In this chamber there are many who toppled us in 2000, and I thank them, for if they hadn't toppled us we wouldn't have changed, realized our mistakes and we wouldn't be standing here today."

    Complete international coverage from NBCNews.com

    Now he must prove he has changed, according to analysts.

    "He is extremely smart and likely to be very cooperative when negotiating with the international community," said Sebek of the Center for Reconciliation and Democracy, "but he's still an eyesore for anyone who doesn't have the memory of a goldfish."

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Six choke to death in Serbia nightclub fire

    Stringer / Reuters

    Members of a forensic team carry the body of a victim of a fire in Novi Sad, about 50 miles north of Belgrade, April 1.

    By Reuters

    Three young women and three young men were killed in a fire that tore through a packed nightclub in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad overnight, police said on Sunday.

    Police said the fire appeared to have started in the stage area of the Contrast nightclub during a live performance shortly after 2 a.m. local time (7:00 p.m. ET Saturday)

    The victims, who were in their early 20s, most likely choked to death after locking themselves in the toilets of the club to escape the fire, the head of the interior ministry's emergencies department, Predrag Maric, told state television.

    Some 300-350 people are believed to have been in the club at the time.

    Investigative judge Ana Stamenic said 50 people had been taken in by police for questioning, including the owner of the club, and that prosecutors were considering charges of "causing general danger."

    Novi Sad mayor Igor Pavlicic said the club had only recently carried out a fire drill and was regularly checked for compliance to safety regulations.

    In 2008, eight people died in a fire in the Lounge cafe in Novi Sad and three died in a fire at the city's Putnik hotel the previous year.

    "This is a great tragedy," Pavlicic told reporters. "The wounds of past tragedies in Novi Sad have yet to heal, and now we have another."

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Serbia inches closer to EU candidacy

    Stringer/Belgium / Reuters

    Serbia's President Boris Tadic and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso hold a joint news conference after a meeting in Brussels on Feb. 28, 2012. Romania threatened on Tuesday to derail European Union plans to grant Serbia membership candidate status in a row over minority rights in the former Yugoslav state.

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    European Union foreign ministers are recommending that Serbia be allowed to become an official candidate for membership in the 27-member bloc after the country reached a key agreement with its former province of Kosovo.

    Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted congratulations to Serbia after a meeting of the EU's foreign ministers.

    Nicolai Wammen, minister of European affairs for Denmark, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said Serbia had fulfilled the conditions demanded by the bloc.

    The ministers were expected to confirm Serbia's candidacy, an essential step toward membership, but couldn't overcome objections from Romania.

     

    Bucharest unexpectedly refused to sign an agreement on granting Serbia the coveted status of candidate to join the 27-country bloc, in a row over minority rights in the former Yugoslav state, EU diplomats said.

    "This is not a critique," Romania's foreign minister Cristian Diaconescu told a Romanian daily, adding that Romania wants to encourage Belgrade to improve its attitude toward minorities.

    There are about 30,000 ethnic Romanians living in Serbia. Some members of the 40,000-strong ethnic Vlach community also consider themselves Romanian, while other Vlachs think of themselves as Serbian.

    Romanian President Traian Basescu has urged Serbia to grant ethnic Romanians living on its territory the right to education in the Romanian language and access to services in Romanian Orthodox churches.

    "We ask (Serbian authorities) to grant them the right to tuition in Romanian, to have an Orthodox church, to have a newspaper in their language, to have the right to tune into Romanian television or have a broadcast in Romanian," Basescu told a gathering of ethnic Romanians last year after meeting Serbian President Boris Tadic.

    Belgrade appeared to have been taken unawares by the Romanian move and had no immediate reaction.

    But other EU capitals insisted Serbia should be rewarded for years of democratic reforms, the capture of war crimes fugitives and efforts to mend fraught relations with Kosovo, a former province that declared independence in 2008.

    In a compromise, foreign and EU affairs ministers meeting in Brussels left it to their heads of state and government to make a formal decision when they meet on Thursday and Friday.

    Serbia had been expected to be made a formal candidate in December, after it captured two top war crimes suspects. But ministers delayed, saying they wanted to see more progress in talks between Serbia and Kosovo.

    The BBC reported Serbia agreed on Friday to allow Kosovo to participate in west Balkan regional meetings, even as it still refuses to recognize its 2008 self-declared independence.

    An EU proposal to have Kosovo's nameplate at meetings followed by an asterisk was also accepted, according to the BBC. There will be an added footnote explaining the territory's disputed status.

    Some 80 countries have recognized Kosovo since it declared independence in 2008, but the European Union has no official position toward Kosovo's status. Romania does not recognize the former province's independence.

    Winning EU candidate status is a largely symbolic step toward the start of accession negotiations, which often require years as applicants seek to harmonize their laws with EU rules and meet other requirements.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Serbia at a loss to stop population decline

    After a decade of war and isolation in the 1990s, Serbia is struggling to rebound since the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. Hundreds of thousands fled the country in search of a better life. For those who stayed, there is a strong migration from rural to urban locations in search of jobs.

    Marko Djurica / Reuters

    An elderly woman looks on as she tends her goats in the southern Serbian town of Trgoviste Nov. 8. Serbia has lost more than 377,000 people -- 5 percent of its population -- over the past nine years, according to the results of its most recent census released last month. Many municipalities such as Trgoviste offer incentives for people to stay and have babies, to no avail, as statistics show a migration from village to city as Serbs abandon rural life in search of jobs. The trend towards small families has driven up the national average age to 42.

    Marko Djurica / Reuters

    Schoolchildren look out of a classroom window in the southern Serbia's town of Trgoviste Nov. 8.

    Marko Djurica / Reuters

    An elderly woman walks past death notices in the southern Serbian town of Trgoviste Nov. 8.

    Read more in this Reuters report.