BRUSSELS (AFP) – International donors pledged 1.2 billion euros (1.9 billion dollars) yesterday to help build Kosovo’s battered economy, surpassing their target, but tied their offers to action against corruption. Almost two-thirds of the money was donated by the European Union, with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Switzerland making big contributions, five months after Kosovo – one of Europe’s poorest regions – broke away from Serbia. “This is an extraordinary success for the prospect of Kosovo as a safe, democratic and multiethnic state,” said Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci as the daylong donors conference in Brussels wrapped up. Thaci pledged that his government would put the funds to good use. “The government of Kosovo pledges to continue good governance,” he said. “Our pledge today is an expression of our trust. But implementation remains an outstanding issue. We are waiting to see the results,” EU Enlargement Commission Olli Rehn said as he announced a 500-million-euro Commission pledge.

BELGRADE (AP) – A bus carrying Polish tourists overturned north of Belgrade yesterday, killing six people and injuring nearly 40, Serbian police said. Police said 68 people were on the bus when the accident happened at about 6.30 a. m. (0430 GMT) on the road between the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and the northern city of Novi Sad. The Polish bus “for a so far unknown reason swerved off the road and overturned, falling on its right side,” a police statement said. Two children, a woman and three men were killed, and nearly 40 were admitted to the hospital in Novi Sad, seven of whom were seriously injured, police said. Serbian state television reported the tourists were returning to Poland from a holiday in Bulgaria. In Poland, the PAP news agency quoted the owner of the Moana bus company, Josef Rzepka, as saying the two drivers of the vehicle were unhurt.

The European Commission and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) urged Croatia yesterday to protect a crime reporter who was severely beaten, hospitalized and then threatened when he left hospital. The Commission’s Zagreb office condemned the attacks on Dusan Miljus, who was attacked with baseball bats in front of his home in early June, and said it would “continue to closely monitor developments.” “Furthermore, the delegation encourages the relevant authorities to undertake all efforts to identify and prosecute those responsible for this, and other, attempts to stifle the free media,” it said in a statement. Miljus, a seasoned crime reporter of the Jutarnji List daily, had uncovered a series of organized crime and corruption cases. (Reuters)

A global anti-corruption watchdog said yesterday it was forced to close its Bosnia office due to safety concerns after being verbally attacked by a top Bosnian Serb official. “Transparency International (TI) is deeply concerned about the safety of the staff of TI Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was forced to temporarily close its office and suspend operations,” it said in a statement. The Berlin-based group said the move had to be made due to “ongoing unwarranted and damaging attacks that have recently escalated with (Bosnian Serb) Prime Minister Milorad Dodik’s claims that staff of TI in Bosnia are engaged in racketeering and organized crime.” (AFP)

An unexpected sexual curse has been uncovered by archaeologists at Cyprus’s old city kingdom of Amathus, on the island’s south coast near Limassol, according to a newspaper on yesterday. “A curse is inscribed in Greek on a lead tablet and part of it reads: ‘May your penis hurt when you make love, ’” Pierre Aubert, head of Athens Archaeological School in Greece, told the English language Cyprus Weekly. The inscription dates back to the 7th century AD when Christianity was well established on the island, leading the French professor to surmise that it referred to the activity of witchcraft or shamans surviving from the pagan era. (AFP)