BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Bird flu could spread to humans in Romania because its rural areas, where nearly half the population live, lack proper water and sewage facilities, the World Health Organization and local experts said yesterday. The Black Sea country of 22 million has found bird flu in 31 villages since October, but the domestic birds were culled swiftly and no human cases have been reported so far. “The situation is critical. So far, we can say we have been lucky that we’ve had no cases of bird flu in humans,” Adrian Streinu-Cercel, head of Romania’s main virus laboratory, told reporters. Yesterday, a Bucharest laboratory confirmed that bird flu discovered the past two weeks in five villages in the country’s southeast was the deadly H5N1 virus.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government poses a threat to Turkey’s secular order, but the universities will fight any attempt to Islamicize learning, a senior education official said yesterday. “No prime minister in the EU refers to religion as much as Erdogan does... The (Islamist) threat will increase. We have to stay on guard,” said Isa Esme, deputy head of the powerful Higher Education Board (YOK) which oversees Turkey’s 77 universities. Esme defended a strict ban on wearing Islamic-style headscarves in all places of learning as well as curbs on religious vocational schools.

A senior US diplomat held talks with Turkish officials yesterday to press Washington’s case for action against Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Gregory Schulte, the US representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the coming weeks were crucial for trying to find a diplomatic solution before the UN Security Council is due to take up the matter. During two days of talks in Ankara, Schulte urged Turkey to impress upon Iranian leaders that they were increasingly isolated and losing the trust of the international community. “Turkey is well-regarded within the region. Its voice carries an important and special weight,” Schulte said. (AP)

Serbia-Montenegro’s defense minister said yesterday that he will resign unless war crimes fugitive Gen. Ratko Mladic is captured soon. Defense Minister Gen. Zoran Stankovic, in an interview with The Associated Press, also reiterated his call on the wartime Bosnian-Serb army commander to surrender, or take his own life. “I consider that a man should sometimes pass a judgment on himself if he is guilty of certain crimes,” said Stankovic. (AP)

The UN World Food Program said yesterday that it was ending its nearly decade-long operation in Albania, saying the country no longer required its assistance. Levels of poverty and malnutrition in Albania are now far lower than those in many African and Asian countries, the World Food Program said in a statement. (AP)