BELGRADE (Reuters) – Big US firms are holding off on investment in Serbia until after the issue of its Kosovo province has been resolved peacefully, the United States ambassador to the country was quoted yesterday as saying. In an interview with Vecernje Novosti daily, Ambassador Cameron Munter said a solution for Kosovo was key to Serbia’s progress. “In the last few years, our investments have slowed down due to a fear of instability,” Munter said. “New companies are waiting for stability in the Balkans – not only US firms, but also European, even Asian companies.”

ZAGREB (AFP) – Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said yesterday he will protest before the UN General Assembly next week over a UN court’s rulings in a trial over the 1991 Vukovar massacre. “The prime minister will attend the (UN) session” on October 15, Croatian President Stipe Mesic said after meeting with Sanader. “Vukovar victims demand justice, and if this verdict remains then justice would not be served and the purpose of the (UN) tribunal would not be fulfilled,” the HINA news agency quoted Sanader as saying.

Romania announced plans to limit the right of its doctors to work abroad, as a survey published yesterday showed almost 50 percent of young medics were ready to seek better-paid jobs elsewhere. “The government is preparing a bill aimed at toughening the conditions under which medical workers trained in Romania, at the state’s cost, can work abroad,” Health Minister Eugen Nicolaescu said. The measures were necessary because Romania’s health system was facing serious staff shortages, said Nicolaescu. (AFP)

Romania’s Agriculture Minister Decebal Traian Remes is being investigated for allegedly taking a bribe from a businessman in exchange for promising to favor his company in a public auction, the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office said yesterday. Remes is accused of taking 15,000 euros ($21,130) and a promise of goods worth 1,500 lei (–455, $640) from former Agriculture Minister Ioan Muresan, acting as an intermediary for businessman Gheorghe Cioaba. The payment was to “act in favor of (Cioaba’s) firm in a public auction organized by a public institution which was subordinated to the minister,” a statement said. (AP)