BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union yesterday urged Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian president, Ibrahim Rugova, to open a dialogue with Serbia about the future of his United Nations-run province. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the move would help possible international negotiations later this year on the status of Kosovo. “The Commission will... help Kosovo to make progress toward its European aspirations, provided its political leaders demonstrate a clear commitment to democratic principles, human rights, rule of law and economic reform,” he added.

TIMISOARA (AP) - Heavy flooding hit western Romania, forcing an international airport to remain closed for a second night and leading to the evacuation of hundreds of people, authorities said yesterday. Military officers used rubber boats to evacuate people from their homes in the villages of Gataia and Denta after the River Barzava burst its banks. The waters flooded 600 houses and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people, said Col. Mihai Benga of the emergency services.

Judges at the United Nations war crimes court have adjourned the trial of Slobodan Milosevic after medical reports showed that the former Yugoslav president is suffering from “dangerously high” blood pressure and faces the risk of a cardiovascular attack. The judges announced yesterday that the trial was being adjourned until next Monday. New medical reports on Milosevic’s condition are due tomorrow and Monday. (AFP)

Former Bosnian-Serb officer Drago Nicolic yesterday pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide related to his alleged participation in the massacre of some 8,000 Muslims in the eastern Bosnian Srebrenica enclave in 1995. (AFP)

A Serb forensic expert testified at a trial yesterday that at least 192 Croat prisoners of war were executed at a Croatian farm in 1991. Milos Tasic gave his testimony at Serbia’s special war crimes court in the trial of 18 Serbs suspected of participating in the slaying at the Ovcara farm, where the Serb paramilitaries allegedly executed the Croat POWs who were captured after the fall of the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar in November 1991. Tasic said that nearly all the Ovcara victims had gunshot wounds in their bodies and most also were shot in the head. (AP)