WIESBADEN (Reuters) – Germany dismissed speculation yesterday that it was about to pull all its 850 troops out of Bosnia, denying it had set a target date for such a move. “We are not at this point completely pulling out,” Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told a news conference after a meeting of EU defense ministers. “We must continue to look closely at the general situation as regards how the next steps will be implemented,” he added. The Financial Times, citing an EU diplomat, reported yesterday that Germany was preparing to follow Britain in deciding to withdraw its troops from Bosnia. “The decisions for force transition are still in progress. But the Germans are on the way out,” the unnamed diplomat said.

ANKARA (AFP) – Turkey’s Kurds may respond with violence if jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan’s life is really in danger, the country’s main Kurdish party warned yesterday following claims that Ocalan is being progressively poisoned in prison. “If the allegations are true, it means that a planned murder is being consciously committed,” Aysel Tugluk, deputy chairwoman of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), told reporters here. “Ocalan wields influence over the Kurdish people,” she said. “If something bad happens, those who sympathize with him will react... Turkey will be faced with very serious dangers.” Tugluk argued that “some people may be planning a Turkish-Kurdish (civil) war” and urged Ankara to allow an independent medical commission to examine Ocalan’s health and the poisoning claims, made by Ocalan’s lawyers at a press conference in Rome on Thursday.

Bulgaria’s Socialist-led government survived a no-confidence vote yesterday on a motion filed by the opposition, claiming that the government was unable to cope with a healthcare crisis in Bulgaria. The motion was rejected in the 240-member parliament 163-60 with one abstention. The remaining 16 lawmakers were absent. It was the second vote faced by the Socialist-led center-left administration since taking office in 2005, and the first after the country joined the EU on January 1. (AP)

Bulgarian veterinary authorities yesterday reported an outbreak of swine fever in the northeast of the country and began slaughtering 285 pigs to prevent the spread of the disease. “Laboratory analysis confirmed a swine fever outbreak in two pig herds in the village of Zlatar to the northeast,” the Farming Ministry said in a statement. “Authorities are currently culling all 285 pigs in the two farms,” it added. Eighteen pigs had died in the two herds in the course of the past week. (AFP)