Croatian President Stipe Mesic warned Serbia on Wednesday it would be making a mistake if it filed a complaint against his country for alleged ethnic cleansing during the 1991-1995 war.

`It is a mistake,` Mesic told national television, referring to an announcement made Tuesday by Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic.

Croatia and Serbia have reopened old wounds by trading accusations of war crimes before the world court that mark the worst point in their ties since Slobodan Milosevic`s ouster, analysts said Wednesday.

Croatia and Serbia have reopened old wounds by trading accusations of war crimes before the world court that mark the worst point in their ties since Slobodan Milosevic`s ouster, analysts said Wednesday.

ZAGREB, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - An opinion poll Saturday gave Croatia's main opposition a slender lead over the ruling conservative party with just over a week to go before legislative elections.

The leftist Social Democratic Party (SDP) held a 2.2 percent advantage over the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the survey published by the Vecernji List daily showed.

ZAGREB, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Croatian star of hit television series 'ER', Goran Visnjic, has admitted paternity of a baby girl, the product of an affair in 2006, local press in Croatia reported Saturday.

Visnjic, 35, did not fly over from the United States for a DNA test scheduled for Friday in Zagreb but instead sent a document confirming he was the father of eight-month old Lana Lourdes, the report said.

'He admitted paternity without DNA testing,' a lawyer for the mother, 36-year-old Mirela Rupic, told the Jutarnji List daily.

BELGRADE, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Belgrade said Monday it has begun investigating two former Serb paramilitaries suspected of murdering elderly civilians in Croatia during its war of independence.

Serbia's war crimes prosecution launched the probe after it received evidence that the suspects had shot dead six civilians in the central Croatian village of Banski Kovacevac in March 1992.

AZGREB , Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - Just a month before legislative elections, Croatia's ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is narrowly ahead of opposition leftists, according to a poll published Saturday.

The HDZ scored 31.9 percent, slightly leading the 30.1 percent earned by the Social Democratic Party (SDP), according to the survey by the Media Metar institute.

ZAGREB, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Croatia expects to earn a record 7.0 billion euros (10 billion dollars) from its booming tourist industry in 2007, the government said on Friday.

'In the first six months of the year, we had an increase of tourism revenues of 11.6 percent' compared with the same period in 2006, said Tourism Minister Bozidar Kalmeta.

'It's realistic to expect that revenues will reach some 7.0 billion euros for the whole year,' Kalmeta told a government session.

ZAGREB, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - A Croatian journalist and blogger known for his articles on criminality and war crimes was arrested in Zagreb, accused of revealing a state secret, a police source said on Thursday.

'We detained Zeljko Peratovic Wednesday evening. He is the object of a criminal investigation on charges of revealing a state secret,' police spokesperson Aleksandra Ljuba told AFP, without giving further details.

ZAGREB, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - The Croatian government said Wednesday that the country's election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council was an endorsement of its policy of pursuing stability in the Balkan region.

'This is recognition of our policy of cooperation, stability and support to this part of Europe,' it said in a statement after Croatia won a place in the Council along with Burkina Faso Faso, Costa Rica, Libya and Vietnam.