BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union urged Albania’s politicians yesterday not to encourage any repeat of violent protests that threatened to destabilize the government last weekend. The EU said Albania can only ever join its ranks by staying the course on “peaceful reform and development, not conflict.” In a statement, the 15-nation bloc urged “all parties to show restraint and to work together toward the shared goal of a stable and prosperous Albania.” “The use of violence against democratic institutions can never be condoned,” the EU statement said.

SARAJEVO (AP) - Fewer than half of all Bosnians, forced to flee during the country’s 1992-1995 war, have returned to their prewar homes, officials said yesterday. Of the 2.2 million people displaced by the fighting, about 985,000 have returned to their prewar homes, said Udo Janz, the head of the UN refugee agency in Bosnia. “Real and tangible progress in the return of Bosnian refugees has been achieved,” Janz told reporters as he presented his group’s latest figures.

Regional powers Turkey and Egypt yesterday warned against Iraq’s territorial breakup. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said at a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Necdet Sezer that the two countries are also calling for the implementation of the US-backed roadmap for Israeli-Palestinian peace. “Any initiative that would lead to a breakup or to a division will bring with it danger and insecurity,” Mubarak said. (AP)

The trial of the suspected killers of Serbia’s Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was postponed again yesterday, as the republic’s top court considered a request to have the presiding judge replaced. The defense attorneys on Monday filed criminal charges against Marko Kljajevic, claiming he is unfit to hear the trial due to alleged links with a criminal gang rival to the one their clients allegedly belong to. In a brief court hearing yesterday, Kljajevic adjourned the trial until next week because Serbia’s Supreme Court was still deliberating the defense attorneys’ accusations. (AP)

Slobodan Milosevic’s party demanded yesterday that officials at the UN war crimes tribunal fully restore his telephone privileges at the detention facility where he is being held while facing genocide and other charges. The Socialist Party of Serbia denounced the court’s decision to limit telephone access to the former president as being “extremely unfair” and an “obstruction of justice.” (AP)

Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson will meet Turkish leaders in Ankara next week to discuss the country’s struggling bid to join the European Union and bilateral issues, officials said yesterday. (AFP)