BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania’s parliament brought in new legislation yesterday that could make it more difficult for suspended President Traian Basescu to return to office even if he avoids impeachment in a referendum on May 19. One opposition party branded the new law as unconstitutional. Last week, the parliament suspended the popular reformist president from office for 30 days on charges of overstepping his constitutional powers, paving the way for the referendum to decide whether he should be impeached. Many analysts said the suspension reflected growing reluctance among some politicians in the new European Union member for anti-corruption reforms, which Basescu has supported. The impeachment law had said more than half the electorate had to vote for a suspended president to be impeached in a referendum. The new legislation now gives parliament the authority to decide what happens if voter turnout is too low.

PRISTINA (AP) – A soldier serving with the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo was killed and another injured yesterday in a road accident in the western part of the province, the alliance said. No other vehicle was involved and the reason for the accident is under investigation, said Colonel Michael Knop, the spokesman for NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, known as KFOR. Knop did not reveal the nationality of the dead soldier pending notification of the family.

Lawyers representing the family of assassinated Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic joined the prosecution yesterday in demands for maximum 40-year prison sentences for his suspected killers. In their closing arguments in the trial of two former paramilitary commanders and 11 other suspects, the attorneys said it had been proven beyond reasonable doubt that the accused had planned and carried out the 2003 sniper shooting in central Belgrade. But one of the two lawyers, Srdja Popovic, said that despite “the proven guilt” of the alleged assassins, the three-year trial had failed to clarify the political motive for the killing of Serbia’s first democratic prime minister. “They did what they were told to do,” Popovic said. “Maybe I’ll have an opportunity to deliver another closing argument when those who organized and ordered Djindjic’s assassination are put on trial.” (AP)

Robbers made off with a sweet haul of cash from a Serbian security firm’s armored vehicle when a guard stopped to buy a bar of chocolate, a local newspaper reported yesterday. The driver of the bullet-proof Progard van was disarmed by the three robbers Monday after his co-worker entered a grocery store on the outskirts of Belgrade to buy the candy, said the Blic daily. In broad daylight, the robbers forced him to drive to a nearby location before pushing him out of the van, snatching 20 bags of cash and setting fire to the vehicle. (AFP)