SARAJEVO (AFP) – Bosnia’s parliament amended an election law on Tuesday enabling Muslims to keep running Srebrenica, the town from which Serb forces expelled the ethnic group following a notorious 1995 massacre. The amendment, which is to come into force after municipal elections scheduled for October, allows former Srebrenica residents to vote there despite having resettled elsewhere in the Balkan country. It will enable Muslims to retain a majority in the Srebrenica assembly and to elect their own mayor despite the town being located in the Serb-run part of the country. The change was initiated by a leading Muslim political party because many former Srebrenica residents lost their refugee status after fleeing the eastern town, thus losing the right to vote there.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Armenia’s Orthodox leader yesterday used the pulpit of the Vatican to condemn the 1915 killing of 1.5 million ethnic Armenians by Ottoman Turks, saying the whole world should recognize it as a genocide. “We Armenians are a people who have survived genocide, and we know well the value of love, brotherhood, friendship and a secure life,” Karekin II said in a public address during Pope Benedict’s general audience in St Peter’s Square. “Today, many countries of the world recognize and condemn the genocide committed against the Armenian people by Ottoman Turkey,” the head of Armenia’s Apostolic Church added, speaking in English before tens of thousands of people. Turkey strongly denies Armenian claims, saying that Muslim Turks also died in interethnic conflict as the Ottoman Empire crumbled during World War I.

The top international envoy in Bosnia urged EU nations yesterday to quickly sign a key pact on closer ties with Sarajevo before further delays dampen pro-European attitudes and undermine stability. “If we wait too long, then we may lose the momentum we have created with such a huge effort,” High Representative Miroslav Lajcak warned. The pact – a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) – would provide Bosnia with access to EU funds to build up its dilapidated infrastructure. It was essentially ironed out and initialed in December. The delay now is blamed on “technical” problems linked to translating the pact into EU and Bosnian languages. (AFP)

An earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale shook northeastern Bulgaria at 11.02 a.m. (0802 GMT) yesterday without causing injuries or damage, the country’s geophysical institute announced. (AFP)