NUSAYBIN, Turkey (Reuters) – Turkey aims to complete mine clearance along its border with Syria this month before opening a border crossing that businessmen hope will spur the local economy by opening it to trade with their southern neighbor. The initiative marks a fresh step in improving relations between the two countries, which came close to conflict a decade ago over the presence in Syria of Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan. German firm Tauber began the mine clearance late last month at the site of the closed border crossing of Nusaybin in southeast Turkey, which borders northeast Syria. It will clear some 200 mines near the crossing, easing the area’s isolation. “We’ve been isolated for a long time. As soon as the mine clearance is done, construction will begin on a new border crossing for our people and goods,” said Mahsum Ozen, head of the Nusaybin Chamber of Commerce. There are believed to be some 500,000 land mines on Turkey’s 510-kilometer (320-mile) border with Syria, laid originally in the 1950s to deter smuggling. Hundreds of people have died or lost limbs in these border areas due to mine accidents, which local authorities say have also hindered trade. Currently, two border gates between Turkey and Syria are open for trade. Nusaybin, where most of the region’s inhabitants depend on farming, will be the third and is expected to open by mid-2009.

LJUBLJANA (AP) – Divers pulled seven bodies out of the Sava River and fought strong currents yesterday to search for five other missing people after two canoes were crushed running over a dam in southeastern Slovenia. Two people managed to swim ashore after their boats broke up and capsized but one died yesterday in the hospital, raising the death toll to eight, according to police spokesman Pavel Perc. The second survivor remained hospitalized. The accident happened late Thursday, when two large canoes ran over a dam under construction near Sevnica, a town 90 kilometers (56 miles) southeast of the capital Ljubljana. At that section, the dam, part of a hydroelectric plant, is currently built only to about the height of the water. The trip – ominously dubbed “The Final Descent” – was organized by local officials and all participants were Slovenians. It was to be the last ride down that section of the river, which will soon be blocked by the hydroelectric plant. Two other canoes – part of the four-boat excursion – left the river before reaching the site.

SKOPJE (Reuters) – About 10 people were wounded in an overnight shootout between supporters of rival ethnic Albanian political parties in the northwest of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), a police source said yesterday. The gunfight took place in the village of Radusa, near the border with newly independent Kosovo. “We are still figuring out what happened exactly,” the police source told Reuters. The 25 percent Albanian minority is divided between two opposing parties – the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) and the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) – both of which have links to armed criminal groups. The police source said it was unknown which of the two groups started the fight. “Three people were seriously wounded, all of them are in hospital,” the source added. A source from the DUI party told Reuters one of the wounded is the son of a party MP, former guerrilla commander Rafiz Aliti.

A Canadian businessman serving a 17-year sentence for embezzlement has been released from prison, Bulgaria’s Justice Ministry said yesterday. A ministry statement said Michael Kapoustin, 55, was released “a few days ago” after spending 12 years in custody. Petar Vasilev, head of Bulgaria’s detention facilities, said Kapoustin secured early release on the grounds of good behavior after having served two-thirds of his sentence. An Interior Ministry official said Kapoustin was free to leave Bulgaria once he renewed his expired Canadian passport. He said Kapoustin was released from prison last week, and moved to an open holding center for illegal immigrants until Thursday, when he moved in with friends in Sofia. The official spoke on condition of anonymity. (AP)

Bulgarian customs and border police made a third major drugs seizure this week, confiscating 77.8 kilograms (171.5 pounds) of heroin at the border with Romania, the customs agency said yesterday. The drugs were held in 154 packages hidden in a special compartment in the floor of a Polish truck crossing over a Danube bridge into Romania, the agency said in a statement. The 50-year-old Polish driver was arrested. (AFP)