TIRANA (AP) – Three women injured in an explosion at an ammunition dump have died in an Italian hospital, Albanian authorities said yesterday, bringing the death toll from the blasts to 24. About 300 people were injured. Government spokeswoman Juela Mecani said another two of the injured being treated at the same hospital in Brindisi, Italy, remain in serious condition following the March 15 explosions. Albania’s military says one person is still listed as missing.

ZAGREB (AFP) – A Croatian Serb party said yesterday it has decided to stay in the country’s government a week after threatening to leave the ruling coalition when Zagreb recognized Kosovo’s independence. The Independent Serb Democratic Party (SDSS) of Deputy Prime Minister Slobodan Uzelac, who had offered his resignation over the issue, said it opted to remain in power in order to protect Serb interests, its president said.

Police have arrested three Italians and shut down their circus on allegations that they forced Bulgarian teenage sisters to perform in tanks full of piranhas and snakes, news reports said Wednesday. Italian dailies Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica said a 19-year-old woman was forced to swim in a tank filled with freezing water to keep the piranhas lethargic, while her 16-year-old sister was covered with snakes and tarantulas. The reports said that three suspects run a circus near Naples in southern Italy. (AP)

A Serbian nationalist now standing trial in The Hague for alleged war crimes leads his party’s list of candidates for key May parliamentary elections, officials said yesterday. Vojislav Seselj still formally leads the highly popular Serbian Radical Party, despite proceedings against him at the UN court in the Netherlands. (AP)

Several hundred Bosnian Serb war veterans scuffled with police during a protest yesterday to seek better invalid pensioner allowances. The former soldiers, who gathered in downtown Banja Luka, were seen trying to march toward the government building, but anti-riot police blocked their path some 200m (650 feet) away. The demonstrators – who want a 50 percent increase in their pensions – grew angry and began scuffling with police, leaving one war veteran injured, police said. (AFP)