United States' embassies in the former Yugoslavia are open Wednesday, but U.S. military forces in the region remain on the highest alert following the terrorists attacks in Washington and New York.
Emergency meetings were held over night but the decision was made to continue operations.
U.S. military forces in Kosovo and Macedonia are in the highest form of readiness but patrols continue along the Kosovo Macedonia border. In Macedonia, weapons collections from Albanian insurgents continue with the operation now at the midway point.
Newspaper front pages throughout the Balkans speak of little else besides the horrific events in the United States. In Serbia and Macedonia, normal television programming was pre-empted with several stations carrying live coverage from U.S. and international networks.
In Belgrade, the Politika newspaper headlined its Wednesday edition, "Horror Over America, Black Day for the United States." Half-page photographs of the carnage in New York adorn the front pages of several Belgrade and Skopje newspapers.
Leaders from the throughout the region expressed horror and strongly condemned the terrorist attacks. In Bulgaria, Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, the former child king, cancelled an official visit to Belgium, for what would have been his first trip outside the country since winning elections in June.