Ljubljana/Vienna - Slovenia's government on Thursday decided to field former diplomat Ernest Petric as a candidate to lead the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), further widening the pool of potential successors to Mohamed ElBaradei.

Petric, 72, serves as a judge on Slovenia's Constitutional Court. He previously represented his country as ambassador to Austria and international organisations in Vienna, including the IAEA.

Ljubljana  - Slovenian foresters used tranquilizer darts to capture a young brown bear after it wreaked havoc by appearing and disappearing in the capital Ljubljana Thursday.

The first sighting of the bear was in a park at 4 am, but the search was called off eight hours later after forestry workers failed to locate the animal.

After the barricades were removed and the park re-opened, the bear again appeared and was eventually tranquilized 150 metres from the US ambassador's residence and 400 metres from the Slovenian parliament.

Ljubljana - Slovenian steeplechase champion Bostjan Buc on Tuesday dismissed media reports which mentioned him in connection doping scheme exposed in Austria.

"I have no idea why I was brought into this context," Buc, 28, sauid in a telephone interview with the German Press Agency dpa in Ljubljana.

On Monday, news reports had alleged that Buc was part of the scheme exposed in Austria around sports manager Stefan Matschiner, with the Delo daily saying: "The wave (of doping) washed over the Alps (into Slovenia)."

Ljubljana  - Slovenian President Danilo Turk on Friday signed a law paving the way for Croatia to join NATO next week, the STA news agency reported.

Slovenia, a member of NATO and the European Union since 2004, is embroiled in a border dispute with Croatia. Both countries emerged as independent countries from former Yugoslavia in 1991.

Ljubljana,  - Slovenia's premier-designate Borit Pahor presented a youthful, 18-minister cabinet to the nation's parliament on Friday.

The 45-year-old Pahor in addition proposed to introduce five women to the government and handing two of them the important ministries of interior and defence.

He has nominated the 35-year-old lawyer and Liberal Party chief Katarina Kresal as interior minister and defence expert Ljubica Jelisic, 45, as defence minister.

The four-way coalition led by Pahor's Social Democrats, won 59 of the 90 seats in the Slovenian parliament in September elections and is expected to easily pass the new cabinet in the confidence vote next Friday.

Ljubljana,- Slovenia's parliament on Friday endorsed youthful centre-left leader Borut Pahor as the nation's new prime minister.

Pahor, 45, has pledged to focus on the small European Union nation's economy.

He won 59 votes in the 90-seat parliament, becoming the sixth prime minister since Slovenia won independence from Yugoslavia after a brief 1991 war.

Pahor's Social Democrats won the most seats in September parliamentary elections and will lead a four-party coalition government.