PRISTINA (AP) - The war crimes charges against Kosovo’s former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj are nothing but “innuendo and lies,” based on Serbian allegations, his lawyer said yesterday. “A close study of the indictment shows that it is nothing more than a collection of allegations taken directly from Serbian files,” said Michael O’Reilly, the coordinator of Haradinaj’s team of legal council.

SOFIA (AP) - A senior government official said yesterday that Bulgarian troops should remain in Iraq until the end of their mandate, despite widespread popular opposition. “A pullout of Bulgarian troops from Iraq ahead of the general elections here this summer would be a wrong move,” Deputy Foreign Minister Gergana Grancharova said. The government is to decide by the end of the month whether to keep troops in Iraq beyond July.

Croatia, looking to open EU entry talks next week, said yesterday it was doing its utmost to locate fugitive war criminal suspect Ante Gotovina and hoped to prove it in the next few days. Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said the recently intensified police search again indicated that Gotovina was not hiding in Croatia. “No reasonable person in Croatia would risk the start of the accession talks... for one individual,” he said. (Reuters)

Thousands of protesters gathered outside an Istanbul mosque yesterday after prayers to condemn the killing this week of Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov by Russian security forces. The demonstrators carried banners and Chechen flags and held a symbolic funeral for the slain rebel leader at the Fatih Mosque in central Istanbul. (Reuters)

President Traian Basescu said yesterday it was important for young Romanians to learn about the Holocaust as he returned from a three-day visit to the US. “It is time for us to recognize our own history and educate the young,” he said at Henri Coanda Airport. An estimated 420,000 Jews died after being deported to concentration camps by the country’s pro-Nazi ruler Ion Antonescu. (AP)

Turkish police have detained a man who buried his dead mother in his basement and disguised himself as her (photo) to draw her pension, it was reported yesterday. Tipped off by suspicious bank employees, police detained 47-year-old Serafettin Gencel in his home after he tried to withdraw his dead mother’s pension. A bank employee had become suspicious upon hearing Gencel’s male-sounding voice. (AP)