Finland's Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva said Monday most European Union member countries are prepared to recognize Kosovo's independence from Serbia. VOA's Barry Wood reports Kanerva is in Washington meeting with U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The international community “cannot afford to fail the people of the Balkans yet again” as Kosovo heads for independence, according to an expert at The University of Nottingham.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urged European allies not to put off what she called "tough decisions" on the final status of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province.

The Austrian Foreign Ministry is hosting a conference on security in Kosovo in a follow-up to the latest round of talks on the status of the Albanian-dominated province in Serbia.

Kosovo Albanian and Serb leaders failed to reach an agreement on Kosovo's status during three days of tense negotiations in an Austrian spa town, but pledged on Wednesday to refrain from violence.

Serbian President Boris Tadic says there is still room for compromise on the status of his country's breakaway Kosovo province if both sides make concessions.

International talks on the future of Kosovo opened on Monday in Austria with no sign of a compromise in sight.

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday that if Kosovo unilaterally declared independence it would lead to a new escalation in the Balkans.

A party led by ex-guerrilla Hashim Thaci has won Kosovo's parliamentary election, according to unofficial results, and is set to lead it into a showdown with Serbia on the ethnic Albanian majority's demand for independence.

Serbia's predominantly Albanian province of Kosovo is holding parliamentary elections Saturday, amid the breakaway region's drive for officially recognized statehood.

A senior State Department official Wednesday reaffirmed U.S. backing for giving Kosovo supervised independence if negotiations over the status of the United Nations-administered Serbian province do not produce an agreement by December 10.

Russia’s foreign minister insists there are alternatives to Kosovo becoming independent. Serbian and ethnic Albanian leaders remain bitterly opposed about Kosovo's future.