BERLIN (Reuters) - A broadcaster said late Thursday that German intelligence knew in advance that ethnic Albanians in Kosovo were planning violence in March that Western officials have said took them by surprise. German broadcaster ZDF said intelligence services intercepted conversations three weeks before the clashes broke out in which an ethnic Albanian discussed with an accomplice preparations for attacks on minority Serbs. Citing intelligence service documents and unidentified sources, it said the man was also a paid informant of Germany’s foreign intelligence service (BND). A BND spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.

PRISTINA (Reuters) - A former guerrilla commander accused of war crimes by Serbia was tipped yesterday to become the next prime minister of Kosovo, worrying the West and infuriating Belgrade. Ramush Haradinaj, the bullish former regional leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, is pitching for the job in the UN protectorate by offering to form a coalition government with the dominant party of President Ibrahim Rugova. One envoy told Reuters that Western powers were trying to block the appointment, which has been forecast by media and Haradinaj himself.

The deaths of two Serbian army sentries in Belgrade last month were the result of a simple fight between them and not part of a war crimes cover-up, the army was quoted as saying yesterday. The president of the military court, Djordje Trifunovic, told the daily Politika that although “a third person cannot absolutely be ruled out,” army investigators said there was no material evidence or indication to support the idea. The sentries were shot dead on Oct. 5 in a military compound in Belgrade’s plush Topcider district, quickly generating speculation that they had been eliminated because they had seen a top war crimes fugitive sheltering in the restricted area. (Reuters)