MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia’s FSB security agency Saturday denied press reports that Bosnian Serb war crimes suspects were living on Russian soil under its protection. “Such information has no basis and absolutely does not correspond to reality,” an unnamed spokesman for the Soviet-era KGB successor agency told the ITAR-TASS news agency. “FSB has not and is not protecting criminals,” another unnamed FSB spokesman told Interfax.

BELGRADE (AFP) - Serbs who fled Croatia to escape ethnic violence during the 1991-95 war should grasp what may be a one-off opportunity to return home, the head of the pan-European OSCE security body’s Croatian mission told AFP yesterday. Peter Somneby, of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe, met Serbia’s refugee commissioner Dragisa Dabetic during a flying visit here and got his message across to those concerned with an interview on Serbian state television RTS. “If there are not enough applications it may create the impression that the issue is not an important one,” Somneby said.

The Bosnian Serb parliament has refused to abolish the entity’s defense ministry as demanded by the top international envoy, Paddy Ashdown. “The abolition of defence ministry of Republika Srpska (RS, Serb-run entity) and transfer of its competences onto Bosnian level is unacceptable,” the parliament said in a resolution, adopted late Friday. (AFP)

Floodwaters swept parts of western and northern Romania on Saturday, with more than 30 localities, dozens of bridges and roads inundated from melting snow. Seven Romanian counties were affected by the flooding, with weather forecasters saying that rain is expected which could make the situation worse. Thirty-three localities and 150 farms were flooded, according to the Environment and Water Ministry. (AP)

Albania’s main opposition Democratic Party accused the government of corruption and failing to fight widespread poverty, and called on the public yesterday to vote against the governing Socialists in parliamentary elections expected in July. Thousands of opposition supporters rallied in central Tirana to commemorate their party’s first victory in March 1992, when the Democratic Party, led by Sali Berisha, came to power following the collapse of the communist regime more than a year earlier. (AP)

A shootout at a popular Belgrade nightclub yesterday left a security guard dead and three others wounded, one seriously, while a bystander was also injured, authorities said. Police said the violence erupted at 4 a.m. at the Stupica club in downtown Belgrade, when a group of around 10 customers started breaking furniture. One of the security guards, identified as Vladimir Tankosic, 25, tried to calm the situation but was hit over the head with an ashtray, police said. He died shortly afterward at the Belgrade emergency clinic. (AP)