SOFIA (AFP) - Bulgarian lawmakers yesterday approved constitutional amendments strengthening the judiciary, as the country scrambles to meet EU requirements and avoid a delay in its entry into the bloc next year. A total of 220 deputies in the 240-seat Parliament voted on the proposed changes, with 184 in favor, 35 against and one abstaining. A two-thirds majority was required for final adoption of the proposed changes in the primary law ahead of a crucial progress report by the European Commission in mid-May. The report will decide if Bulgaria is ready to join the EU as scheduled on January 1, 2007. The European Union has threatened Bulgaria with a delay of one year if the country does not accelerate the pace of reforms and take steps to combat corruption.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union told Serbia yesterday it must act “without delay” to bring top war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic to justice or run the risk of a suspension of talks on closer ties. The 25-member bloc kept up the pressure on Belgrade ahead of a new round of talks slated for April 5 despite Serbia’s warning on Wednesday that any break-off in the discussions could jeopardize stability and reform efforts in the country. “Before April 5, we’ll have to decide whether we can hold the negotiation round or whether this negotiation round will have to be put on hold because of lack of full cooperation by Serbia,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told reporters. Rehn is due to meet with chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte today to receive her report on Belgrade’s efforts to find and arrest Mladic, the Bosnian-Serb military chief indicted for genocide for his role in the 1992-95 Bosnia war

Police said yesterday that they had arrested two ethnic Albanian youths for allegedly stabbing a Serb in an ethnically tense town in Kosovo. The two suspects, both under 18, were in police custody. The UN police commissioner in Kosovo, Kai Vittrup, said they had confessed to the crime. The 19-year-old Serb, who survived, was stabbed with a knife Tuesday in Kosovska Mitrovica, which is divided between an ethnic Albanian south and a Serb-dominated north. A few hundred Serbs took to the streets to protest the incident. Vittrup said, however, that “there isn’t any ethnic background for this attack.” According to preliminary investigation, the stabbing occurred when the suspects and the victim began fighting after an argument, Kosovo police official Maj. Latif Merovci said. (AP)