SOFIA (AFP) - Bulgarians were anxiously awaiting a verdict set to be delivered in Libya today on six Bulgarians and a Palestinian charged with purposely spreading AIDS in a hospital, risking the death penalty. A fair outcome is seen as crucial for the international standing of Libya, which, since December when it agreed to discard programs for weapons of mass destruction, has been moving to rejoin the world community. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy said the outcome of the trial would be a key element in whether Libya was allowed to join the EU’s partnership agreement with the countries of the Mediterranean basin — the so-called Barcelona Process.

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Prosecutors have urged the Hague war crimes court to throw out a motion to drop genocide charges against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, arguing they can prove he intended mass murder. In a 226-page document unsealed yesterday, chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte conceded she and her services had perhaps, due to time pressure, not offered detailed enough evidence on all incidents. But she said the material they had brought to the court was sufficient to prove beyond reasonable doubt the “genocidal intent of the accused.”

The UN war crimes tribunal formally complained to the Security Council on Tuesday about Serbia-Montenegro, saying it was refusing to cooperate with prosecutors. The complaint is the most serious measure in the court’s power and exposes Serbia-Montenegro to potential sanctions. Tribunal President Theodor Meron said Serbia-Montenegro had committed “extremely serious failures” in its obligations to help track down wanted fugitives like former Bosnian-Serb President Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic. (AP)

A human rights group urged the Bosnian authorities yesterday to scrap their decision to send troops to Iraq, saying the presence of international troops there was an “occupation.” The Bosnian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights “appeals to the relevant authorities of Bosnia-Herzegovina not to send troops to Iraq as long as the international military presence there is an occupation,” the group said. (AFP)

Security forces fought Kurdish rebels in southeast Turkey in two separate clashes that left two people dead and five injured, officials said yesterday. (AP)

A court in southern Romania released a man who had spent 11 years in prison for killing and raping a young woman after DNA tests proved he was not guilty, authorities said yesterday. Ilie Marcel Tundrea, 54, was released late Tuesday from the prison in Targu Jiu after a test in March showed he was not the perpetrator. (AP)