SOFIA (AP) – Bulgarians yesterday commemorated the massive protests that saved their Jewish countrymen from deportation to Nazi death camps during World War II. Laying flowers at memorials in the capital, Sofia, and in other big cities, they marked the 65th anniversary of protests held by Bulgarian clergymen, intellectuals, politicians and others. In 1943, the pro-fascist government of Germany’s ally Bulgaria signed a secret agreement with the Nazis to deport 20,000 Jews to death camps in Poland. This plan was partially put into effect: 11,343 Jews from Macedonia and Thrace, which were territories then administrated by Bulgarian authorities, were placed on trains and sent to their deaths. But thanks to the efforts of the then vice president of parliament, Dimitar Peshev, the deportation of Bulgarian citizens of Jewish origin was prevented.

ISTANBUL (AFP) – Three alleged members of an extreme left-wing group which figures on an EU terror list have been arrested for planning attacks on leading US firms and banks, Turkish news agencies reported on Sunday. The three men were seized in Istanbul on Wednesday, along with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, two pistols and 35 kilograms of chemical fertilizer, according to the Anatolia news agency. Police cited by the agency said the three – two alleged members of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and an accomplice – were planning “spectacular” attacks on Istanbul businesses owned by overseas firms. Another press agency, DHA, said the men had in their possession when arrested a list of addresses of US firms, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Citibank.

Support for NATO membership has been growing steadily in Croatia ahead of the alliance’s April summit at which the Balkan nation is expected to be invited to join, an opinion poll showed yesterday. Fifty-nine percent of 1,000 people questioned by the Accent polling agency said they supported the move, a 7 percent rise on February. Just 19 percent of respondents opposed Croatia becoming a NATO member while the rest were undecided. (AFP)