BELGRADE (Reuters) – Two of Serbia’s closest neighbors are expected to move toward recognizing Kosovo on Thursday, a blow to Belgrade’s efforts to counter the secession of its former province.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin brushed aside a demand by the Communist Party to sack Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin on Thursday, saying now was not the time to discuss mistakes made by economic authorities.

An Iraqi MP from the bloc of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has died in a roadside bombing in Baghdad.