By a vote of 128-100, the Serbian legislature yesterday elected Zoran Zivkovic as prime minister to replace Zoran Djindjic, who was slain last week.  Zivkovic, a close Djindjic ally, promised to be "decisive in carrying out" the assassinated leader's program of reform.

The new prime minister promised Djindjic's killers will be brought to justice.  Focusing on a crime gang that flourished under former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who is now on trial for war crimes at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, police investigating the assassination have arrested more than 750 suspects.

Under a state of emergency declared following the assassination, the government has allowed police to hold suspects for up to 30 days without charges and has banned media reports that could hamper the investigation.  Despite critics' charges that freedom of speech is being violated, authorities yesterday shut down the newspaper Nacional and banned distribution of another newspaper, Dan (Misha Savic, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, March 18).  Zivkovic said the state of emergency is "only a necessity and not a permanent choice of this government" (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo! News, March 19).