FRANCE KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE

Kosovo Albanians from France and Germany, waving their national flag, left, and wearing a t-shirt of a black double-headed eagle on a red background, celebrate in front of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, eastern France, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008. Kosovo declared itself a nation on Sunday, mounting a brash and historic bid to become an "independent and democratic state" backed by the U.S. and key European allies but bitterly contested by Serbia and Russia. (AP Photo/Christian Lutz)