SOFIA (AP) - Strong winds and blizzards forced closures of the main Bulgarian and Romanian Black Sea ports yesterday and disrupted power supplies and communications in the eastern part of the two countries. In Romania the three Black Sea ports of Navodari, Constanta and Mangalia, along with the Danube River channel of Sulina, were closed as temperatures plunged to 10 below zero Celsius (14F) and winds from the north surged up to 70 kilometers per hour (44 mph). Forty-five ships were stranded by the closure as waves rose up to 10 meters (33 feet) at sea. Bulgaria’s ports of Varna and Burgas were closed for a second consecutive day because of gusty high winds, port spokesmen said. At least four people died from exposure in the northern Romanian cities of Cluj and Iasi yesterday.

ANKARA (AFP) - The head of Turkey’s powerful military told Prime Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday that his Islamist-rooted government should retain measures against “reactionary movements” that could pose a threat to the country’s secular system, Turkish television reported. The demand came during a briefing on domestic and external security matters by the chief of staff, General Hilmi Ozkok, to Gul and several other senior ministers, the NTV news channel said. The army chief said the government should sack public servants involved in extremist activities and keep an eye on businesses supporting fundamentalist groups, according to NTV. Gul was reportedly told that a dress code for public employees, under which women are barred from wearing the Islamic-style headscarf, should not be compromised.

The presidents of Balkan nations came together yesterday with an appeal to an expanding EU not to forget their aspirations to join the western bloc. The leaders of Yugoslavia, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Bosnia and Albania asked the EU to consider their membership hopes at a summit this week where the Union is to invite 10 new members to join. “We express our expectation that the final documents of the Copenhagen summit will contain a reference to the prospects for membership of our countries” said the letter from the Balkan leaders. (AP)