BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - The US ambassador to Bosnia on Monday warned Serbs against carrying out a boycott threat in protest at moves to strengthen the country's central institutions.

'The international community is hoping that politicians from (Bosnia's Serb entity of) Republika Srpska will not withdraw from Bosnia's institutions,' ambassador Charles English told the Nezavisne Novine daily.

'If that happens, there would be serious difficulties in the functioning of state institutions.

SARAJEVO, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - A Bosnian court on Monday jailed a former Serb policeman for seven years after finding him guilty of committing atrocities against civilians and prisoners, an official said.

Branislav Berjan, a police commander during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war, was found guilty of personally ordering executions of non-Serb civilians and prisoners, Sarajevo county court spokesman Slobodan Nikolic told AFP.

He was involved in the expulsion, torture and illegal imprisonment of non-Serbs in the Sarajevo suburb of Ilidza, according to the verdict.

ZAGREB, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - A prominent Croatian lawmaker went on trial here Monday to face charges of war crimes against Serb civilians during the country's 1991-1995 war.

Branimir Glavas pleaded not guilty to charges including abduction, torture and the murder of 12 ethnic Serbs in the eastern town of Osijek in 1991, when he was the town's defence chief, national radio reported.

The 51-year-old, the country's most senior political figure to have been indicted for war crimes, is being tried along with six other suspects.

SARAJEVO, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - An election has been called to find a successor to late Bosnia Serb president Milan Jelic on December 9, the country's electoral commission said Thursday.

Jelic, 51, died of a heart attack on September 30, less than a year after being elected president of Republika Srpska, Bosnia's Serb-run entity. His funeral was held last week.

His role was taken over in the interim by Bosnian Serb parliamentary speaker Igor Radojicic.

MODRICA, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Some 50,000 mourners turned out Wednesday for the funeral of Bosnian Serb president Milan Jelic, who died at the weekend.

The ceremony in Jelic's hometown of Modrica was attended by Serbia's President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Miroslav Lajcak, the top international envoy to Bosnia.

Jelic suffered a fatal heart attack on Sunday while watching a Modrica football match, and died in a hospital of the nearby northeastern town of Doboj. He was 51 years old.

ZAGREB, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - Five Croatian youths were detained and charged with having vandalised the reconstructed homes of Serbian refugee families who fled during the country's 1991-1995 war, police said Tuesday.

The five, all under 18 years of age, live in the region of the central coastal town of Zadar, where the six houses belonging to citizens of Serbian origin were damaged at the weekend.

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - The Bosnian Serb parliament on Monday appointed parliamentary speaker Igor Radojicic as interim president following the death of Milan Jelic.

Radojicic, seen as a moderate politician, was backed by 68 deputies in the 83-seat parliament of of Republika Srpska, the Serb-run half of Bosnia Herzegovina. Six of the 74 deputies present abstained.

Radojicic said he expected early presidential election to be held by the end of the year. The 41-year-old replaces Jelic, who died of a heart attack on Sunday.

ZAGREB, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - Vandals in central Croatia have smashed up recently reconstructed homes of Serbian refugee families who fled during the country's 1991-1995 war, police said Monday.

'Unknown perpetrators damaged six houses belonging to citizens of Serbian origin' in Ceranje Donje village, near the central coastal town of Zadar, overnight between Saturday and Sunday, spokeswoman Sonja Simurina told AFP.

The damage included smashed windows, doors, and electricity and sanitary installations, she said, adding that an investigation was ongoing.

SARAJEVO, Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) - The president of Bosnia's Serb-run Republika Srpska, Milan Jelic, died Sunday of a heart attack, the entity's prime minister said.

'The president of the RS has died. It's a sad day for the RS,' Prime Minister Milorad Dodik told journalists in Banja Luka.

The 51-year-old died in hospital in the northern town of Doboj where he had been hospitalised earlier Sunday night, hospital director Dusko Vasic said.

A businessman and economist, Jelic had occupied the post of president since October 2006 elections.

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - The Bosnian Serb prime minister, who has made calls for statehood and put the brakes on police reform, was reelected Saturday as head of his party for another four years.

Milorad Dodik, 48, has led the Union of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) since its creation in 1996, just after the Bosnian war, and was reelected by some 800 party delegates at a conference here, the SRNA news agency reported.

SARAJEVO, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - Two former Bosnian Serb soldiers have been indicted for crimes against humanity committed against Muslim civilians at the beginning of the country's 1992-1995 war, a court said Monday.

Brothers Ranko and Rajko Vukovic are accused of killing two Bosnian Muslim civilians in the village of Podlokum near the eastern town of Foca in May 1992, the Court of Bosnia-Hercegovina said in a statement.