SOFIA (AP) - Bulgaria is ready to join the European Union and has earned the right to enter the bloc early, outgoing European Parliament President Pat Cox said yesterday. “The European Parliament would like to see (Bulgaria) sign the accession treaty as early as possible,” Cox told reporters after meeting with Ognian Gerdjikov, Bulgaria’s parliamentary speaker. Cox did not specify when he thought that would happen. Bulgaria concluded entry talks with the EU last month — six months ahead of schedule — bringing it closer to its target for joining the union in 2007.

BELGRADE (AP) - Serbia-Montenegro, the successor state to Yugoslavia, on Monday offered to help with Iraq’s reconstruction and said it fully backed efforts by Iraq’s new interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, to stabilize the nation. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said it was planning to expand its embassy staff in Baghdad. Belgrade withdrew its top diplomat to Iraq and two consular employees ahead of the US-led war that ousted Saddam Hussein, leaving only a caretaker to watch after the building in the Iraqi capital.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday started a two-day official visit to Sofia, where he met with his Bulgarian counterpart Simeon Saxe-Coburg. On Monday, Erdogan conducted a private visit to Jordan at the invitation of King Abdullah II, the Anatolia news agency reported. (AP, AFP)

Russian secret services have intercepted a Soviet-era tank and an armored personnel carrier that were being illegally shipped off to neighboring Turkey, ITAR-TASS reported yesterday. The report gave few details but said the two vehicles were being sent under cover as farm machinery and were partially disassembled. It said the incident occurred in June. The T-80 tank and the second armored vehicle were reported by ITAR-TASS to be worth about $1 million (810,000 euros). (AFP)

Romanian and French scientists met in a seminar that aims to harmonize Romania’s nuclear legislation with EU standards for safety and environmental protection. Some 130 scientists, experts and Romanian government officials were taking part in the five-day seminar that opened on Monday in the Transylvanian city of Cluj. (AP)