NICOSIA (AFP) – More than a third of Greek Cypriots do not believe the divided island will be reunified, despite continuing UN-brokered peace talks, according to an opinion poll published yesterday. The survey in Phileleftheros newspaper showed that some 38 percent of those asked said a solution would not happen, while a combined 57 percent believed a settlement was attainable in the next two years, or when Turkey joins the European Union. The lack of a political settlement on Cyprus is an obstacle to Ankara’s bid to become an EU member. Although the percentage of those skeptical about reunification seems high, the figure is lower than the 44 percent who said in April 2007 there would never be a solution. Fresh reunification talks hailed by the international community as the best chance for peace began in September between President Dimitris Christofias, a Greek Cypriot, and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat. The next meeting between the two is scheduled for December 16.

ANKARA (AFP) – Four clandestine migrants died on Saturday, when their boat capsized off the northwestern coast of Turkey, Anatolia news agency reported. The rubber dinghy carrying 27 migrants, most of them Palestinians, sank off the village of Ayvalik. Twenty-three of them were rescued and assisted by coastguards but three men and one woman were pulled from the water dead. Thousands of illegal immigrants pass through the Aegean Sea every year as they try to reach the West.

Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor’s office says the FBI is investigating several US citizens of Serb origin suspected of sending death threats to the prosecutor. Spokesman Bruno Vekaric said yesterday that several people in the United States have been questioned in connection with the investigation, adding that the “basic circle” of people suspected of sending the threats has been identified. Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic is in charge of hunting down Gen. Ratko Mladic and other Serbs sought by a UN war crimes court. He has so far received more than 40 threatening letters, many of which had been mailed from US cities with large Serb communities, such as Chicago. (AP)

Twelve migrants were slightly injured during protests against conditions in a Turkish immigration center, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. Reports said that illegal immigrants held at the center in the northwestern Edirne region set fire to their blankets causing a blaze that left 12 of them suffering from smoke inhalation. They were taken to a hospital but their condition was not life-threatening. More than 170 migrants were held at the camp at the time of the incident, local officials said. (AFP)