SOFIA (AFP) – Bulgarian customs said yesterday they had seized over 290 kilos (640 pounds) of heroin in the past month, more than half the amount seized in 2006, at checkpoints on the Turkish border. Customs officials seized 290.6 kilos of heroin in seven different busts at Bulgaria’s three border checkpoints with Turkey, an agency report obtained by AFP showed. The largest bust, in which 123.6 kilos were seized, occurred at the southeastern border checkpoint of Lesovo in late August. The latest took place early yesterday at Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint, where officials found 54 kilograms of heroin. In all the cases, the heroin was hidden on cars or trucks coming from Turkey and traveling either to Bulgaria or through it to other European countries.

SOFIA (AFP) – Bulgaria’s national veterinary service confirmed yesterday a second outbreak of the rare animal disease brucellosis in the south of the country. The service said in a statement that 36 goats out of a herd of 70 had tested positive for the rare infection in the southern town of Harmanli. “All necessary measures for containing the disease have been taken,” it added. The infection in Harmanli spread from a first outbreak in August in the nearby village of Valche Pole, where dozens of goats and sheep were found to be infected after a woman fell ill with brucellosis-like symptoms. Three other people later also tested positive for the disease, which is often difficult to diagnose as its initial symptoms, which include weakness, fever, sweating, headaches and joint pains, resemble ordinary flu.

Bishops, clergy and lay members of the Romanian Orthodox Church are choosing a new patriarch leader today, with an ecumenical and an outspoken archbishop among the favorite candidates. Metropolitan Daniel, the 56-year-old church leader in the eastern province of Moldavia, is known for his ecumenical stance and is disliked by some church traditionalists. Nevertheless, Daniel was seen by many as the top choice for replacing Patriarch Teoctist, who died in July at age 92. Daniel’s main competition was from Metropolitan Bartolomeu Anania, 86, an influential traditionalist known for his criticism of political corruption and television’s influence in modern life. (AP)

The Croat state-run television council appointed Hloverka Novak Srzic as television news editor yesterday, despite complaints that her past links to nationalists might compromise her credibility. Novak Srzic, who has been working at Croatian Television since 1990, with two brief hiatuses, was elected by the Programming Council on a 6-4 vote. Novak Srzic was often criticized for openly favoring the ruling Croatian Democratic Union and its leader, late president Franjo Tudjman, in the early 1990s. She was briefly a party member in that era. (AP)