BELGRADE (Reuters) – The head of Serbia’s biggest trade union alliance urged politicians yesterday to quickly form a pro-European government to ensure more investment, new jobs and higher wages. A pro-Western bloc, led by President Boris Tadic and the rival Radicals, who oppose ties with the European Union, are both vying to form a ruling coalition following a May 11 vote. Ljubisav Orbovic, the leader of the 900,000-strong Alliance of Independent Trade Unions, said the group had put its weight behind the pro-European bloc, saying it was more committed to “transforming Serbia into a socially responsible state.” “We believe a pro-European government can meet our demands for new jobs, higher wages and pensions, better standards of living,” Orbovic told Reuters.

ISTANBUL (AP) – Turkey’s state-run media said fighting in the country’s east has killed a government-paid village guard and a Kurdish rebel. The Anatolia news agency says the shooting near the border with Iran left three other village guards wounded yesterday. It didn’t say how badly hurt they were.

The Bosnian war crimes court jailed a Bosnian Serb policeman for 13 years yesterday for the persecution and torture of Bosnian Muslims and the rape of Muslim women in the early 1990s. Zeljko Lelek, 46, took part in widespread and systematic attacks on Bosnian Muslim civilians by Bosnian Serbs in the town of Visegrad between April and June 1992, the court’s council said. (Reuters)

Albanian media entrepreneur Dritan Hoxha, whose channels became an irritant to the government with their independent news reports and investigations, died in yesterday in a car crash in Tirana. Initially a coffee trader, the 39-year-old invested more than anyone else in radio and later television, drawing huge audiences with a modern and independent approach to news, entertainment and music shows and corruption-busting programs. (Reuters)

Bosnian protesters have trashed shops and smashed windows at the headquarters of the country’s soccer association to protest the sacking of the national team coach. Police arrested 20 people after enraged fans threw bricks, stones, flares and chairs. The protest turned violent after hundreds gathered outside the association’s offices in Sarajevo yesterday to protest Meho Kodro’s dismissal and to call for the association’s management to step down. Police said two officers were slightly hurt. (AP)

Serbian authorities say a plaque that was ripped off the US Embassy building during nationalist riots in February has been found at a Belgrade restaurant. Serbia’s state prosecutor said yesterday that the owner of the restaurant will be charged with “disrespect of a foreign country.” He said the suspect hung the plaque above the entrance to his fish restaurant. (AP)