EULEX, the EU mission in Kosovo, says it has been moving the first of 1,900 police, customs agents, judges and prosecutors into Kosovo this week after a reluctant Serbia, which mistrusts the EU, reached an agreement with U.N. negotiators last month, The Times of London reported Wednesday.

Analysts say their biggest challenge will be to combat ethnic divisions as well as the rampant smuggling of people and drugs through Kosovo en route to Europe. Kosovo's courts are also staggering under a backlog of cases as well as from endemic corruption, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has said.

The Times said Kosovo remains tense after declaring independence from Serbia in February. Although more than 50 countries -- including most of the EU -- has recognized its independence, Kosovo is still stuck in legal limbo because Serbia ally Russia has vowed never to recognize its independence.

NATO, Russia to meet again soon BRUSSELS, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- An informal meeting between NATO and Russian envoy Dmitry Rogozin is on tap after the two sides agreed this month to resume relations, officials say.

The meeting between Rogozin and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer could be held in Brussels as early as next week, Moscow's mission to NATO told RIA Novosti Wednesday.

The meeting would be the first since the foreign ministers of NATO's 26 member-states last week instructed Scheffer to resume informal contacts with Russia after the alliance cut off ties due to the conflict between Russia and Georgia. NATO accused Russia of a "disproportionate" response to Georgia's incursion into the breakaway republic of South Ossetia and condemned its recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent of Georgia.

Russia responded by halting cooperation on a number of programs, including the Partnership for Peace, as well as calling off a planned Scheffer visit to Moscow, RIA Novosti said.

Muslim kids beaten in British madrassas LONDON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Muslim children taking Koran classes in Britain have been slapped, punched and had their ears twisted, an investigation by The Times of London found Wednesday.

Students at some British madrassas -- Islamic evening classes -- say they have endured severe corporal punishment, with an investigator claiming that one alleged child victim in the north of England said he had been "picked up by one leg and spun around" and another saying a madrassa teacher was "kicking in my head - like a football."

Those descriptions came from a report compiled by Irfan Chishti, a former British government adviser on Islamic affairs. The Times says it also found several instances of alleged abuse in its investigation. One unidentified woman told the newspaper her 7-year-old niece was slapped across the face so hard by her madrassa teacher that her ear was cut, became inflamed and required emergency medical treatment.

Another girl told The Times that at age 12 she was hit by her madrassa teacher whenever she mispronounced a word or forgot a verse of the Koran.

Officials say almost 1,600 madrassas operate in Britain, teaching Arabic and the Koran on weekday evenings to about 200,000 children.

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