ISTANBUL (AP) - Turkish rescuers yesterday struggled to reach 11 crew members of a North Korean-flagged cargo ship who abandoned ship for a raft after their vessel capsized in the Black Sea, authorities said. The ship capsized some 30 nautical miles (57 kilometers) northeast of the Black Sea town of Sinop and Turkey sent helicopters to search for the crew who abandoned the ship, Sinop port officials said. The crew comprised eight Syrians and three Egyptians.

SARAJEVO (AP) - European Union troops said yesterday they will start going from door to door to collect weapons from Sarajevans who — even after a decade of peace — often still keep them at home. “The success of this operation will depend upon the cooperation of the citizens,” said Lt Chris Percival, a spokesman for the EU force. Many citizens still keep weapons left over from the country’s 1992-95 war.

Two Bosnians have died in northern Bosnia in a spell of bitterly cold weather, police said yesterday. Since Sunday, two men, whose bodies were found in the open, perished of hypothermia in the region of the northern town of Banja Luka. Several schools have been forced to close early because of the cold. (AFP)

Romania’s new reformist president, Traian Basescu, will travel to Russia for a two-day visit next week at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, his office said yesterday. (AP)

Albania’s Central Election Commission yesterday warned 26 smaller political parties that they will not receive funding ahead of this summer’s election unless they pay back money they received before previous polls. The groups should pay back a total of 31 million leks ($300,000 or 240,000 euros) they had received ahead of parliamentary and local elections from 2000 to 2003, when they failed to win at least 2.5 percent of the votes, CEC spokesman Erton Sinani said. (AP)