Zagreb  - Barack Obama's election victory opens "a new chapter" in US relations with the rest of the world, Croatia's president said Wednesday.

Stjepan Mesic congratulated the US president-elect in a statement.

"I am convinced your arrival as US president will mark the start of a new chapter, not only in the lives of many of your compatriots, but also of US relations with the world and of the world's relations with the US," Mesic said.

Zagreb - Croatian police have arrested 10 people suspected of taking part in the killing of journalist Ivo Pukanic, and were continuing the investigation with forces in neighbouring countries, a police spokesman said Thursday.

"They are dangerous members of the criminal milieu ... with the gravest crimes in their records," police spokesman Krunoslav Borovec told a press conference.

"We are continuing to collaborate with police in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina," Borovec said. Two of the suspects are Serbian nationals.

Several of the arrested suspects were prominent figures from the powerful Balkan underworld, local reports said.

Zagreb - Even as it hopes for an invitation to join the European Union, Croatia on Friday reeled in the wake of another high- profile murder and fears that organized crime has overpowered the state.

Croatia's top security body met in an urgent session after a bomb killed journalist, editor and publisher Ivo Pukanic and the marketing director of his NCL Media Group, Niko Franic, on Thursday evening.

Zagreb - Croatia's government has agreed to pay 78 million euros (101 million dollars) in damages to firms from Italy and Austria for claims arising from a cancelled highway project and a bank privatization, a local media report said Thursday.

The Croatian news portal business. hr, quoting a government source, said the settlements involve 44.3 million euros for Rome-based builder Astaldi SpA and 34.5 million euros for Austrian-based Hypo Alpe Adria Bank AG.

Zagreb - An infatuated Croatian youth arranged 400 candles in a park in a huge, bright message of love to his girlfriend before authorities snuffed them, the 24sata daily reported Friday.

"Ivana, I love you," pronounced the message, which appeared to float Thursday night in the darkness, with Zagreb's high-rise buildings in the background.

"It wasn't easy. It took us more than two hours to line up the candles and keep them alight," said the author, identified only by his first name, Domagoj.

"When we were close to finishing it, I went to pick Ivana up."

Zagreb- A former Croatian minister used his official car to drive his pet cat between his apartment in Zagreb and his family home in Osjek, local media reported Wednesday.

Berislav Roncevic, defence minister in the 2003-2007 government, frequently had the animal driven so it could spend the weekend with him and then be returned to the family, weekly Globus reported.

A one-way trip between Zagreb and Osjek, near the border with Serbia, is 260 kilometers, and the former minister's cat clocked up more than 150,000 kilometres using the government automobile.