BANJA LUKA (AFP) – The Bosnian-Serb prime minister, who has made calls for statehood and put the brakes on police reform, was re-elected Saturday as head of his party for another four years. Milorad Dodik, 48, has led the Union of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) since its creation in 1996, just after the Bosnian war, and was re-elected by some 800 party delegates at a conference here, the SRNA news agency reported. He is considered a moderate politician but his election campaign for general elections in October 2006 was marked by nationalist rhetoric. Since then Dodik has also made calls for statehood for Republika Srpska – the Serb-run half of Bosnia – saying its claim would be particularly strong if nearby Kosovo were granted independence.

SOFIA (AFP) – A Bulgarian nuclear plant reported late Friday a small radioactive leak but said there had been no contamination of staff. The leak from a tube that carries radioactive water was found during a routine inspection on Thursday and 1.5 square meters (16 square feet) of wall and floor had been contaminated, said the plant’s director, Ivan Guenov. The leak was caused by weak soldering around the tube, Guenov told Bulgarian national radio.

An association of victims of Croatia’s 1991-1995 war condemned a Zagreb bookstore Saturday for selling copies of a novel by Bosnia Serb genocide suspect Radovan Karadzic. “This bookstore has been selling a novel by Radovan Karadzic, the former Serbian leader in Bosnia and one of the world’s most wanted war criminals, for months,” the association said in a statement. “The sale of this book in the center of Zagreb is a disgrace for Croatia and a scandal.” (AFP)

A former Yugoslav army officer, acquitted by a UN war crimes court of charges he was involved in a 1991 massacre of Croats, has returned to Serbia, state news agency Tanjug reported. Miroslav Radic arrived at the Belgrade airport late Friday, the report said. He was greeted by family and friends, but no government representatives. On Thursday, the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague acquitted Radic but convicted two of his fellow officers to 20 and five years in prison for the massacre. (AP)

The leader of the French far-right, Jean-Marie Le Pen, helped launched the election campaign in Sofia on Sunday for the Bulgarian ultranationalist party Ataka. Le Pen, a member of the European Parliament (MEP), told a press conference, “We will fight arm in arm against those people who are united in weakening Europe and seek its submission.” His personal appearance in the Bulgarian capital comes ahead of local elections taking place October 28. Ataka, led by Volen Siderov, made its electoral breakthrough into the Bulgarian Parliament in 2005, and has three MEPs. (AFP)