ANKARA (AFP) – Six people, among them four children, drowned after a boat carrying illegal immigrants capsized off Turkey’s southwestern coast on its way to a nearby Greek island, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. The boat, carrying 19 Afghan nationals and their two Turkish smugglers, capsized late Thursday off the resort of Bodrum due to excess weight amid adverse weather conditions, the agency said. The coast guard retrieved the bodies of five Afghans – an adult, three children and a baby – as well as one of the Turkish smugglers on board. They were still searching for a missing Afghan woman. The second Turkish smuggler was believed to have swum ashore to safety.

SOFIA (AFP) – Bulgaria’s Health Ministry declared a nationwide swine flu epidemic yesterday as the country reported its sixth death from the A (H1N1) virus. The rate of infection necessary for declaring an epidemic – 200 infected people for every 10,000 – had already been surpassed in Bulgaria, the ministry said in a statement. Schools across the country will be closed all of next week. Local authorities will decide whether to also shut kindergartens and universities. All hospital visits as well as regular medical checks for pregnant women and babies will be suspended and planned operations postponed, the ministry added.

SOFIA (AP) – Bulgarian prosecutors are asking parliament to strip former Labor Minister Emilia Maslarova of her immunity as part of a corruption investigation. Maslarova is the third senior official from the previous Socialist government to be placed under investigation. She denies any wrongdoing but has asked parliament to lift her immunity. New center-right Prime Minister Boiko Borisov ousted former Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev in a July 5 general election on a promise to fight widespread public corruption. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor general said yesterday that Maslarova would be investigated for a state contract that was allegedly overpriced by 5 million euros ($6.5 million).

Bulgaria’s unemployment rate rose to 8.23 percent in October from 8.03 percent in September, preliminary data published by the Labor Ministry showed yesterday. The number of people unemployed stood at over 304,500 in October, compared with 297,515 in September, the ministry said in a statement. For the whole of 2009, the government is expecting the annual average unemployment rate to remain below 9.3 percent, although businesses and unions recently suggested it could exceed 10 percent. (AFP)

A Turkish army helicopter gunship crashed yesterday in the mainly Kurdish southeast, injuring the two pilots, the military said. An investigation was under way into the cause of the crash in Siirt province, it said. The Turkish army maintains a strong presence in the southeast, where it has been fighting a 25-year Kurdish insurgency for self-rule. (AFP)

Two more people have died of swine flu in Turkey, bringing the national toll to 21, the Health Ministry said yesterday. The latest victims of the A (H1N1) virus were an 11-year-old girl and a 21-year-old man, a ministry statement said. (AFP)

Serbian support for joining the European Union has risen more than 10 percentage points in the past month to 71 percent, a survey released yesterday showed. This compares with 60 percent in October, the poll of 1,600 people by the nongovernment monitoring group Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID) indicated. The increase in support for Serbia to join the 27-country bloc could be linked to a recent announcement that its citizens will be able to travel within the EU without the need for visas from January. (AFP)

Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor has charged six former Serb fighters over their alleged roles in killing, rape and torture of Roma civilians in eastern Bosnia during the 1992-95 war, a statement said yesterday. The six are suspected of killing at least 23 Roma civilians on July 11, 1992, the statement said. Before their murders the victims were tortured and three women were raped, it added. (Reuters)