INTERNATIONAL
Ethnic Albanians' hopes of Kosovo's being granted independence by the end of the year were placed in doubt over the weekend as Secretary General Kofi Annan of the United Nations said talks on the future of the province could be delayed.
Annan told a Croatian newspaper that fears that a UN proposal for Kosovo's future status might influence elections in Serbia, which is struggling to retain its links with the province, meant that the world body might "not stick to the deadlines as we had originally planned."
His comments are the most serious suggestion so far that a timetable advanced by five Western governments and adopted by the UN could be dropped. On Sunday, Annan's office confirmed that negotiations could be extended into next year after Serbia holds parliamentary elections, but maintained that the UN's chief negotiator on Kosovo still aimed to conclude negotiations by the end of the year.
