BRUSSELS (AP) – Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor freed by Libya after more than eight years in prison for allegedly infecting children with HIV waived their right to seek redress from Libya upon their release, the doctor said yesterday. “Yes, we signed such papers,” Dr Ashraf al-Hazouz told journalists at the European Parliament, where the group attended meetings with the assembly’s political groups and president. Al-Hazouz did not elaborate on the nature of the documents. The European Commission, which was involved in the negotiations to free the medics, said it had no knowledge of any waivers signed by the group. “We don’t know if they’ve signed anything; if they did, we weren’t there,” said Christiane Hohmann, spokeswoman for EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

DIYARBAKIR (AFP) – Five people were injured yesterday when a bomb was hurled at a police vehicle in Diyarbakir, the largest city of Turkey’s restive mainly Kurdish southeast, witnesses said. Two policemen and three civilians were among the injured, they said. It was not immediately known who was behind the attack.

A 15-year-old Kosovo girl who went into hiding in late September to avoid deportation from Austria and threatened to commit suicide, is safe and sound, a regional governor said yesterday after meeting with the girl. Upper Austria Governor Josef Puehringer told Austrian television he had met for half an hour Tuesday evening with Arigona Zogaj, whose case has ignited a national debate over asylum seekers. “The girl is safe,” Puehringer said, adding that she was being sheltered by a priest who had called the governor for help. Arigona went into hiding shortly before her family was to be deported back to their native Kosovo. The 15-year-old later threatened in a letter and video to the media to kill herself if her family was not brought back to Austria. (AFP)

NATO and European partner nations have launched three-week military exercises in Albania, the largest ever held in the former communist country. Albania hopes to join NATO next year. The Defense Ministry said yesterday that 1,100 soldiers from 25 countries are participating in the exercises, named Cooperative Longbow/Lancer 07. (AP)