PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — A court in Kosovo on Friday sentenced two ethnic Serbs to life in prison and another to a 30-year jail term over a clash in 2023 between police and a group of Serb gunmen that left four people dead and sent tensions soaring in the volatile Balkan region.
The Basic Court in Pristina, Kosovo's capital, convicted the three men of violating the country's constitutional order and inciting terror activities with an aim to break away the predominantly ethnic Serb northern Kosovo and unite it with Serbia.
“Through this well-organized plan, they attempted to separate the municipalities in the north from Kosovo and annex them to Serbia," Judge Ngadhenjim Arni said.
The clash in September 2023 saw heavily armed Serb men set up barricades in northern Kosovo before launching an hourslong gunbattle with Kosovo police at Banjska village, A Kosovo police officer and three gunmen were killed in the clash.
Kosovo has accused Serbia of arming and supporting the group. Belgrade denied the allegations, saying the men acted on their own. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence.
A total of 45 people were initially charged but the trial was held for just three who were in custody. Among those still at large is the group leader Milan Radoicic, a politician and wealthy businessman with ties to Serbia’s ruling populist party and President Aleksandar Vucic.
Serbia briefly detained Radoicic after the shooting, accusing him of criminal conspiracy and unlawful possession of weapons. Radoicic has not been put on trial despite pressure from the U.S. and European Union officials. He has been sanctioned by the U.S. and Britain for alleged financial criminal activity.
The three gunman tried in Kosovo were injured during the clashes and arrested in Banjska, while others fled to Serbia. One of the defendants, Blagoje Spasojevic, has told the court that "I am not a terrorist.”
“This (incident) was my biggest mistake in life ... but I did not kill anyone," Blagojevic said during the trial.
Lawyers have argued that prosecutors failed to prove the charges against their clients. They said they would appeal Friday's verdict which they described as “too harsh.”
The main ethnic Serb political party in Kosovo, Srpska Lista, or Serb List, said in a statement that the verdict was “retribution" and a “grave violation of basic principles of justice and the right to a fair trial.”
More than 10,000 people were killed during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo that erupted when ethnic Albanian separatist rebels launched an insurgency against Serbia's rule. Belgrade's brutal response prompted NATO to intervene to end the conflict.
Washington and most EU countries have recognized Kosovo's statehood while Russia and China have backed Serbia's claim on the territory. Belgrade and Pristina have been told they must normalize ties to advance in their bids to join the EU.
FILE - Kosovo police officers secure the area outside the Banjska monastery in the village of Banjska, Kosovo on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu, file)
NEW YORK (AP) — A surge for Intel following a blowout profit report is leading technology stocks higher Friday, while oil prices keep swinging in the wait for what’s next with the Iran war.
The S&P 500 added 0.4% and inched above its all-time high set on Wednesday, even though the majority stocks within the index fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 168 points, or 0.3%, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1% higher.
Intel led the way and is potentially heading for its best day since 1987. It jumped 23.8% after reporting much stronger results for the first three months of the year than analysts expected. CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the next wave of artificial-intelligence technology is increasing the need for Intel’s chips and products, and the company’s forecast for profit in the spring topped analysts’ estimates.
Such strong profit reports have helped Wall Street rally to records, and the S&P 500 has leaped more than 12% in a little under a month. Hopes have also built in financial markets that the United States and Iran can find a way to avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy because of their war.
A ceasefire is tenuously in place between the two, but tensions between them are still keeping oil tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. Oil prices climbed this week on worries about the strait, but a potentially encouraging signal came Friday after Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency confirmed Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was heading to Pakistan for talks.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June yo-yoed between roughly $103 and $107 in the morning and most recently was down less than 0.1% at $105.04. The price for Brent delivered in July, which is where more of the trading is happening in the market, fell 0.4% to $98.96.
On Wall Street, Procter & Gamble rose 3.9% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Shailesh Jejurikar said it saw broad-based growth across regions and products, which include Bounty paper towels and Tide detergent.
That helped offset a drop of 22.5% for Charter Communications, whose profit for the latest quarter came in weaker than analysts expected. It lost 120,000 internet customers during the three months, more than some analysts expected.
Hartford Insurance Group fell 1% after reporting profit growth for the latest quarter that fell short of analysts’ expectations.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased after a report said sentiment among U.S. consumers remains sour. A survey by the University of Michigan found weaker sentiment in April across political party, income, age, and education, though it improved a bit after the ceasefire in the war with Iran was announced earlier in the month.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped to 4.30% from 4.34% late Thursday.
Investors are also betting again on the possibility that the Federal Reserve could resume its cuts to interest rates later this year. The path appeared to clear Friday for President Donald Trump's nominee to chair the Fed, Kevin Warsh, after the U.S. Justice Department ended its probe into the Fed's current chair, Jerome Powell.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, has said he would oppose Warsh until the investigation was resolved, effectively blocking his confirmation. Warsh is the choice of Trump, who has been arguing loudly for lower interest rates.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1%, and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.7% for two of the world’s bigger moves.
AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
Options trader Matthew Hefter, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist John Parisi works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A board above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange displays the closing number for the Dow Jones industrial average, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
