BELGRADE - A member of Yugoslavia’s ruling DOS coalition, Serbia’s Demochristian party (DPS), launched a bid yesterday to secure independence for Serbia. The party began collecting signatures in the hope of getting backing for a referendum on independence for the republic, which along with Montenegro makes up federal Yugoslavia. The party says independence is preferable to a March deal set to replace the existing federation with a new state, called “Serbia and Montenegro.” The party, which is headed by Justice Minister Vladan Batic, plans to conduct a campaign in 140 towns across Serbia until June 28. (AFP)

ANKARA - The Turkish government will try to push through Parliament an amnesty that could free some 5,000 prisoners, despite a presidential veto, a spokesman said yesterday. Turkey’s President Ahmet Necdet Sezer rejected the amnesty on Saturday, arguing it was unconstitutional. But Parliament can override his veto by passing the law a second time unchanged. “Our cabinet in principle reached a decision to pass the same amnesty law and... decided preparations would start as soon as possible for (Parliament’s) Justice Commission to meet and discuss the returned law,” State Minister Yilmaz Karakoyunlu said. (Reuters)

Property belonging to two Bosnian-Muslim families who had returned to their homes in the Serb-run part of Bosnia after the 1992-1995 war was set on fire over the weekend, police said yesterday. In one incident, in the eastern town of Srebrenica, unknown attackers torched a stable belonging to returnee Vahid Oric on Sunday, destroying part of the wooden structure and a haystack, police told AFP. The second incident occurred in the northeastern town of Zvornik, when the home of another Bosnian-Muslim returnee was set alight. The blaze was quickly extinguished and only caused minor damage. (AFP)

A pupil went on a shooting rampage in a secondary school in the Bosnian-Serb entity of Republika Srpska yesterday, killing one teacher and wounding another before killing himself, police said. The third-year student from a secondary school in Vlasenica, who was identified only by his initials D.P., shot dead history teacher Stanimir Reljic before wounding mathematics teacher Saveta Mojsilovic. The pupil then shot himself in the head. (AFP)

The Czech Republic is interested in participating in the construction of Bulgaria’s second nuclear plant, the country’s ambassador said yesterday. The government recently announced it would resume construction of a second nuclear power plant near the Danube port of Belene, 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of Sofia. “The Czech Republic is interested in the eventual resumption of the Belene project,” Czech Ambassador Petr Dokladal said. A Czech-built 1,000-megawatt reactor is stored at the Belene site. (AP)

Slobodan Milosevic’s point man during the Yugoslav counter-insurgency war against Kosovo Albanian guerrillas will leave for the UN war crimes court at The Hague on Thursday, an official of Milosevic’s party, who asked not to be named, said. Sainovic, along with Milosevic and another three of his closest collaborators, is charged with atrocities committed in Kosovo in 1998-99. (Reuters)