BELGRADE (AP) - War crimes fugitive Gen. Ratko Mladic is being protected by a security network loyal to late president Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia-Montenegro’s foreign minister said yesterday. Vuk Draskovic spoke in Vienna, Austria, after claims by Serbia’s former secret service chief Goran Petrovic that the search in Serbia for the wartime Bosnian Serb army commander is “a farce and a circus.” “There is no excuse or apology for the fact that Mladic has not been delivered to the (UN war crimes) tribunal in The Hague,” Draskovic told the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. “It is too late for explanations.”

ANKARA (AP) - Two small bombs went off outside Turkey’s pro-secular Cumhuriyet newspaper in Istanbul yesterday, hours after police detonated a hand grenade tossed on the premises, the newspaper said. There were no injuries. Journalist Mehmet Farac said the attackers shouted “Allahu akbar,” or “Allah is great,” before throwing the bombs, suggesting that the attackers may have been linked to Islamic groups.

The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, said yesterday he favors preserving the union of Serbia and Montenegro, 10 days before the latter is to hold a referendum on independence. In a letter to Serbia-Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic, the patriarch said “the destruction of the union could cause long-term consequences and endanger the people and their freedom in Serbia, as well as Montenegro,” he said in the letter published on the Church website. (AFP)

The EU said yesterday it wants to speed up talks on justice and security with Croatia to help the Balkan country prepare for EU membership. Croatia’s long coastline and land frontiers with former Yugoslav neighbors would form part of the bloc’s external border. European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini said yesterday that the EU would help the Croatians recruit and train border guards and to develop a “comprehensive strategy” for fighting organized crime. (AP)

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, whose country will take over the EU presidency in July, will travel next week to Turkey and Croatia, both candidates for membership in the 25-member bloc, he said yesterday. Vanhanen will begin a three-day visit to Ankara next Tuesday for talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan about European affairs, accession negotiations and bilateral relations. (AFP)