ANKARA (AP) – Agriculture authorities yesterday said the bird flu virus has been detected in tests following the deaths of fowl in another southeastern village in Turkey. Further tests were under way to determine whether it was the H5N1 strain of the virus. The virus was detected in the village of Esentepe in Batman province, said Erdal Ozer, a local agriculture official. Authorities earlier this month confirmed an outbreak of the H5N1 virus elsewhere in the province. Authorities on Monday also reported that the bird flu virus was detected near the town of Silvan in neighboring Diyarbakir province.

SARAJEVO (Reuters) –The leader of the main Muslim party in Bosnia criticized the prime minister of the country’s component Serb Republic yesterday for saying his region would ignore a World Court genocide verdict later this month. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court, will deliver a judgment on February 26 after Muslim-led Bosnia accused the rump of the Yugoslav state – Serbia and Montenegro – of genocide during the 1992-1995 war. “Nobody will ask him (Serb Republic Prime Minister Milorad Dodik) whether the ruling by the International Court will be implemented, just as nobody will ask the plaintiff if they were happy with it,” Sulejman Tihic, leader of Bosnia’s Muslim Party of Democratic Action (SDA) said.

Authorities yesterday piled sandbags next to swollen rivers in western Romania, where days of heavy rain have put 15 counties at risk of flooding. The Environment Ministry sent orange-code warnings, the second-highest level of alert, to authorities in five western and northwestern counties in the Transylvania and Banat regions, state news agency Rompres reported. With forecasters predicting more heavy rain over the next two days, local authorities were placing sandbags along the banks of the Somes and Crisul Alb rivers to prevent flooding. Lower-grade flood warnings were issued for 10 other western and northwestern counties. (AP)

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated yesterday against the EU’s visa system which imposes strict conditions on Bosnians wishing to travel to Europe. Since Yugoslavia fell apart 16 years ago, Bosnians have been required to obtain visas to travel to EU and other countries. The procedure often leads to long lines forming outside embassies in Sarajevo. (AP)