THE HAGUE (AP) – Lawyers and human right groups are joining forces to urge the United Nations to promote an American attorney to chief prosecutor at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal rather than appoint an outsider, amid fears prosecutors could quit if their preferred candidate is not chosen. At stake, they say, is the fate of the final years of the first international war crimes court since those set up in the aftermath of World War II – and its legacy when it closes down. The Security Council is pressing the court, formally known as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, or ICTY, to complete its work by 2010. Complex trials expected to take months to complete have yet to start. In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 18 senior tribunal lawyers, including trial attorneys and other legal officers, called for US lawyer David Tolbert, current deputy to Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, to be appointed her successor. “By his words and actions he has shown himself to be a champion of international criminal justice,” says the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

SOFIA (Reuters) – Sofia’s maverick mayor, Boiko Borisov, was re-elected in local elections on Sunday, which helped affirm his new rightist group (GERB) as a leading Bulgarian party, nearly final results showed yesterday. Borisov, formerly a bodyguard for ex-king Simeon Saxe-Coburg and late communist dictator Todor Zhivkov, has ambitions to become the Balkan country’s next prime minister, some political commentators say. “From just a media phenomena based on the charisma of its leader, GERB has now become a national political party,” said political analyst Andrei Raichev.

Rescuers searching a freighter that capsized off Denmark’s southern coast found a third victim yesterday afternoon and said hopes were fading of finding five other missing members of the Turkish crew alive. Divers recovered the man from the Slovakian-registered ship hours after they had found a female crew member, Danish Navy spokesman Hans Christian Iversen said. Another crew member was found dead on Sunday after the Omer N capsized between Denmark and Germany with 11 people on board. (AP)

Three Romanian boxers were given lifetime bans after they were caught shoplifting in a Chicago department store during the world amateur championships. Marius Bogdan Dinu, 21, Ronald Gavril, 21, and Iulian Stan, 20, were caught on Friday and have been sent home, the Amateur International Boxing Association said. (Reuters)