ROME (AP) - A bus filled with Turkish tourists ran off a road in Rome and dropped about 15 meters (49 feet) into a ditch, killing 12 people and critically injuring six others, police said. Italian authorities said yesterday they had not yet determined what caused the crash of the bus, which was carrying about 30 people to their hotel after dinner late Monday when it went off the road. Firefighters said they began removing the wreckage yesterday with two cranes.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Commission recommended yesterday opening the first of 35 chapters of detailed policy talks with Turkey and Croatia. The EU’s executive arm gave its green light in a recommendation to the bloc’s 25 member states for the negotiations on Ankara’s ability to meet EU standards in the field of science and research policy, said a spokesman.

Ancient jewels and coins, some dating to the time of Alexander the Great and all together worth 1.2 million euros ($1.4 million), were stolen from a museum in central Bulgaria, police said yesterday. The theft in Veliko Tarnovo included 11,000 coins, 230 of them made of gold or silver from the Hellenic period and 68 stateres, a silver coin used in the time of Alexander the Great, police said. (AFP)

Bosnia yesterday opened a new border crossing with Serbia-Montenegro that is the first to be built with European Union funds as part of an effort to stop smugglers and strengthen the country’s borders. The crossing point in northeastern Bosnia was built with 3.9 million euros (about $4.7 million) in funds from the European Commission. (AP)

A Turkish prosecutor yesterday denied that imprisoned Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan had suffered a heart spasm overnight. A Turkish official said earlier that the 57-year-old Ocalan experienced a mild heart problem related to his being overweight, but that he was in stable condition. (AP)