ANKARA (AFP) – The Turkish government said yesterday it would not seek to block France’s return to NATO command despite Paris objections to Ankara’s European Union integration, the Anatolia news agency reported. “We do not find it ethical or suitable to link the EU process with any other issue,” Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin was quoted as saying after a cabinet meeting here. He was responding to a question on whether Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, would use its power of veto in the alliance to persuade France to drop its opposition to Ankara becoming an EU member. France was a founding member of NATO but left the integrated command in 1966 when Charles de Gaulle rejected US dominance of the military alliance. French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced its reintegration during a major speech on defense on June 17. Sahin said Ankara expected Paris to work toward pushing the accession process forward when it takes over the bloc’s rotating presidency for six months today.

BUCHAREST (AFP) – An 11-year-old Romanian girl who became pregnant after allegedly being raped by her uncle has traveled to Britain for an abortion despite being given last-minute permission to undergo the procedure in her native country, officials said yesterday. “The girl and her mother left for Britain on Saturday evening,” the mayor of her village, Neculai Nicorescu, told AFP. They left the day after a government panel had ruled that the girl could have an abortion in Romania, despite the country’s tight abortion laws. Under Romanian legislation, abortions are allowed up until the 14th week of the pregnancy if the mother’s life is endangered or if the foetus suffers from malformation. The girl was already 17 weeks pregnant when her parents discovered her condition. “The girl and her parents were informed of the decision on Friday, but they nevertheless went ahead and signed the documents for the pregnancy termination to be carried out in Britain,” the mayor said.

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (photo: EPA) yesterday left the Turkish ambassador’s residence, where he fled after being accused of sodomy, after the government guaranteed his safety. Anwar, a former deputy premier who was sacked a decade ago and jailed on sodomy and corruption charges, accused the government of concocting new sex claims by a 23-year-old male aide and said he feared an assassination attempt. A friend of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Anwar sought sanctuary at the embassy on Sunday, saying he had received threats and feared for his life. Foreign Minister Rais Yatim summoned the Turkish ambassador yesterday and warned he would “suffer the consequences of obstructing justice” if he allowed Anwar to evade a police investigation. But Anwar said he left the ambassador’s residence of his own accord.

Serbian authorities have started a disciplinary procedure against two of the country’s diplomats accused of helping a Serbian college basketball player flee the US after being charged with severely beating a classmate, a radio station reported yesterday. The Serbian Foreign Ministry said it will “be extremely efficient” in solving the case of Miladin Kovacevic, Belgrade’s independent B92 radio reported, without providing any details about what it would do. The 6-foot-9-inch (2.05-meter), 260-pound (118-kilogram) Kovacevic, who was recruited to play basketball for Binghamton University in upstate New York, was arrested after a May 4 fight at a downtown Binghamton bar that left student Bryan Steinhauer near death. (AP)

The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague said yesterday it would appoint a defense lawyer for Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect General Zdravko Tolimir if he continued to obstruct the court proceedings. If Tolimir is not prepared to accept documents by Friday the court would appoint counsel to represent him, the court said in a statement. (Reuters)