U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain accused President Vladimir Putin of preparing to lead a puppet government in Russia in a blistering critique on Friday.   The Arizona senator, long critical of Putin, had harsh words for the Russian leader as he prepares to give up the presidency to a …

A special session of Kosovo’s parliament has voted to declare independence from Serbia, with thousands of ethnic Albanians jamming the streets of Pristina, the main city, for the historic moment.

BAGHDAD – Negotiations to free a CBS News journalist seized in the southern Iraqi city of Basra a week ago are being held up over discussions about how he should be released, a leading Shi’ite militia group said on Sunday.

BELGRADE – Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica condemned Kosovo as a false state in a televised address to the nation on Sunday minutes after its mainly Albanian province declared independence.

JERUSALEM – French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Sunday that Israel and the Palestinians have made no real progress since a U.S.-sponsored peace conference in November, and called the situation dangerous.

ISMAILIA, Egypt  – A locally made Palestinian rocket exploded on the Egyptian side of the crossing point with Gaza on Sunday, damaging an Egyptian administrative building, security sources said. There were no injuries.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Sunday, ending a long chapter in the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia.

BELGRADE – Serbia is ready for years of resistance to Kosovo’s independence and counts on Russian help to defend its claim to the “occupied” territory, nationalist leaders said on Sunday.

GAZA – Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, has voiced confidence that Egypt will help it ease the effects of an Israeli blockade.

Kosovo Albanians will proclaim independence from Serbia on Sunday, ending a long chapter in the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia but cementing a bitter ethnic front line in the Balkans.