A campaign to return the Olympics to Sarajevo -- site of the 1984 winter Olympics -- has failed. The International Olympic Committee picked four finalists for the 21st winter games in 2010, but the Bosnian capital did not make the list. The official IOC announcement is at http://www.olympic.org/uk/news/publications/press_uk.asp?release=306

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica caused an uproar after claiming that Republika Srpska is only "temporarily detached" from Serbia. At a campaign rally, Kostunica said Srpska was "part of our family we hold very dear, very close to us and only temporarily detached from us but always ours and always in our heart," according to media reports. "We consider this to be the worst form of cheap and irresponsible electioneering," a spokesman for Bosnia's high representative told AP. The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia and the Fund for Humanitarian Law also criticized the statement sas "a throwback to the Milosevic era." And Bosnian officials said the comment proved Serb nationalists are still clinging to their dream of creating a Greater Serbia -- a goal that led to ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and the deaths of several hundred thousand people. Kostunica complained his statement was "wrongfully and maliciously misinterpreted" by Bosnian officials. And Bosnian Serb Republic Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic said Kostunica "has no reason to apologize," according to SRNA, a Serb news agency. MORE ON THE WEB: Serbia: Kostunica Remarks Frighten Bosnia By Milanka Saponja-Hadzic in Belgrade, Institute of War and Peace Reporting http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr2/bcr2_20020918_1_eng.txt

Bosnian Serb fans of Yugoslavia's national basketball team rioted against Muslims throughout Republika Srpska, after the team won a world championship in Indianapolis. There were pogroms "in nearly all towns and villages in the RS where a significant number of [Muslim refugees returning to their homes are] residing," according to a media roundup from the High Representative's office. Attacks took place Kozarac, Brcko, Zvornik and Bijeljina, among other sites. The Yugoslav team was congratulated by Bosnian Serb wartime leader and indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic, who is accused of masterminding the murder and torture of tens of thousands of people. "The players are expected to accept the ex-leader's well-wishes," Ananova reported at http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_668649.html?menu=news.quirkies .

An official Bosnian Serb report claims that there was no massacre of Muslims in Srebrenica, the "UN safe haven" overrun by Serb forces in 1995 where thousands were slaughtered. "Alternative TV" in Banja Luka disclosed the report's findings. Forensic investigators have found the remains of about 6,000 victims of the slaughter, including some with hands bound behind their backs. A number of Serbs were indicted for genocide in the wake of the atrocity, and one, Radislav Krstic, has already been convicted by a UN war crimes tribunal. A Voice of America story on the report is posted at http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=9A4C1080-655C-4E60-B356553763AE8F4E

The Yugoslav and Bosnian national soccer teams recently played a match in Sarajevo, the city besieged by Yugoslav-backed Serb forces during the war. "Though the match -- won by Yugoslavia, 2-0 -- was relatively peaceful, the experience of the war permeated the event," the Los Angeles Times reported. "Fans shouted the names of wartime leaders, waved the wartime flags and shouted religious slogans. Still, the deadly potency of such language seemed truly diminished. 'This is finally just football now; the war is over,' said Vahidin Hodzic, 29, a Bosnian Muslim veteran of the war." However, "eight people were arrested and 25 were hurt in clashes between Bosnian fans and police after the match," Associated Press reported. Supporters of the Yugoslav team chanted Karadzic's name, inflaming anger among the Bosnian crowd. Police protected Serb fans as they left the stadium, but some Bosnian fans then attacked the officers, Sarajevo police told AP.

Italian investigators have called on former British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd to testify about charges of bribery and embezzlement. The inquiry involves NatWest Markets, "when the bank advised on a controversial deal involving Telecom Italia and the Serbian telephone network in 1997." Some charge that money paid by Telecom Italia for a stake in Telekom Serbia actually ended up in the hands of "bank accounts and front companies controlled by Slobodan Milosevic and his associates," the Observer reports. Hurd was a staunch opponent of Western intervention in Bosnia to stop Serb atrocities there and "was perceived to have been sympathetic to the Serbs during the Balkans conflict," the Observer notes. He later served as deputy chairman of NatWest during the time of the Telekom Serbia deal.