PRISTINA (AFP) – Kosovo’s justice system has failed to charge and sentence alleged perpetrators of riots in 2004 that saw the worst ethnic violence since the 1999 war, an OSCE report said yesterday. “The Kosovo justice system could have made more progress in the prosecution of those responsible for the March riots 2004,” the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Kosovo said in the report. “All the actors involved in criminal proceedings – police, prosecutors, courts and witnesses – contributed to shortcomings,” the report said. The report said that since March 2004 police and prosecutors have brought charges against only about 400 people although there were 1,400 complaints in relation to alleged crimes committed during the violence. “The low number of prosecutions fails to adequately fight impunity and send a clear message that ethnic violence such as that of March 2004 will not be tolerated,” the report said.

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) – Slovenian police yesterday said they had seized 98 tons of acetic anhydride, a chemical used in the production of heroin, making it the world’s biggest criminal haul of the chemical compound. “This amount of chemical would enable production of heroin that could be sold for some 6.5 billion euros ($10.32 billion),” police spokesman Drago Menegalija told Reuters. The police said up to 438 tons of heroin could be produced from the acid which was seized in Slovenia in June after an investigation that lasted several months. Police officers from Germany, Austria, Ukraine, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Serbia and the Czech Republic also participated in the investigation. The acid will be destroyed while four Slovenian citizens and three Turkish citizens are in detention for illegal trading in the chemical.

BINGHAMTON, New York (AP) – Two Bosnian nationals charged in the brutal beating of a university student that has gained international attention have been jailed. Judge Martin Smith on Wednesday ordered Sanel Softic and Edin Dzubur held pending a July 7 hearing on whether their bail will be increased now that authorities have upgraded the assault charges against them, The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reported. Both men had been free on $10,000 bail since being charged with beating Bryan Steinhauer, a Binghamton University honors student who has been in a coma since the May 4 attack at a bar. Dzubur is a Bosnian citizen and Softic is a US and Bosnian citizen.

Bulgarian triple jumper Tereza Marinova says she is retiring from competition due to injury, a few weeks before the Beijing Olympics. The 30-year-old Marinova won gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, leaping 15.20 meters on her first attempt. She said yesterday her decision was dictated by an old Achilles tendon injury that worsened over the past six months. “This was the hardest decision in my life,” Marinova told a news conference in Sofia. (AP)

The Bulgarian government asked parliament yesterday to approve the purchase of two second-hand Belgian frigates and a minesweeper to help bring its navy up to NATO standards. “The purchase will enable the Bulgarian navy to implement its tasks within NATO,” the government information service said in a statement. It added that the three ships were in very good condition, fully equipped and fully compatible with Alliance standards. Sofia already bought one second-hand Belgian frigate in 2005, its first warship to comply with NATO standards. Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev was to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy on a one-day official visit to Paris today and speculation has been rife in the Bulgarian press that the visit could unlock the frozen 1-billion-euro deal with Armaris. (AFP)