PRISTINA (AP) - United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette said yesterday the process to resolve Kosovo’s future status will not be determined until this UN-administered province meets a set of targets on human rights and democracy. The UN will assess Kosovo’s progress within the next few months, a preliminary step leading up to the process of deciding the province’s future status, Frechette said. “If the assessment is positive, then I think it would pave the way for a process to determine the future status of Kosovo,” she said while concluding a two-day visit to Kosovo yesterday.

SOFIA (AFP) - EU members-in-waiting Bulgaria and Romania yesterday said in a joint declaration that they supported the Union’s constitution and wanted the ratification process to continue. “Our two countries favor a continuation of the ratification of the constitutional treaty, as it would allow all member states and all citizens to make their voices heard in the debate on the values, the aims and the development of Europe,” Bulgarian Foreign Minister Simon Passy and his Romanian counterpart Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu said.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko arrived in Turkey yesterday for a three-day visit expected to focus on developing greater energy cooperation between the two countries and freeing up the visa regime. “We are ready to seriously review our visa regime, including with Turkey,” Yushchenko was quoted as telling Turkish media through his press service before his departure for Ankara. Yushchenko was scheduled to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan late yesterday and with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc today. (AFP)

The UN tribunal in The Hague said yesterday it had decided to provisionally release former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj pending his war crimes trial. Haradinaj is the most senior former Kosovo guerrilla to be indicted by the tribunal for alleged atrocities in the 1998-99 separatist war against Serb forces. (Reuters)

The UN has asked Bulgaria to send 120 soldiers to Iraq to help protect one of the organization’s offices there, the Bulgarian army’s chief of staff said yesterday. Kolev said the Bulgarian military was mulling the request but that no political decision has been reached yet. (AFP)

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica yesterday was re-elected head of his Democratic Party of Serbia, further strengthening his position on Serbia’s political scene. (AP)