SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria’s Parliament approved yesterday a proposal by Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg to sack four ministers in his 19-member Cabinet in the first reshuffle of his government after two years in power. The chamber voted 119 to 107, with seven abstentions, for the reshuffle, firing the ministers of transport and communications, education, healthcare, and a minister without portfolio. Social Policy Minister Lidia Shuleva will replace Economy Minister Nikolai Vassilev, who goes to transport. The main opposition center-right UDF and the Socialists voted against the reshuffle, saying it produced only cosmetic changes.

ANKARA (AFP) - Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern yesterday praised Turkey’s efforts to improve its democracy and pledged to support Ankara’s EU bid when Ireland assumes the bloc’s presidency next year. “The several reform packages which Turkey has now brought forward... is an enormous task,” Ahern said after talks with Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Irish premier, however, urged Ankara to work for the reunification of Cyprus. “I believe that a settlement is possible on the basis of the secretary-general’s proposals,” Ahern said of a reunification plan by UN chief Kofi Annan which failed in March.

Bosnian-Serb authorities said yesterday they would offer money to any fugitives who voluntarily surrender to the UN war crimes tribunal, marking a new willingness by the government to cooperate with the court. Appealing to the suspects still at large to turn themselves in, the government also promised money to the families of any suspects who surrender. “These measures will clearly show that the Bosnian-Serb authorities wish to have an active future cooperation with the tribunal in The Hague,” the government said in a statement. (AP)

Serbia and Montenegro must arrest top Bosnian-Serb war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic if he’s in the country and drop a lawsuit against NATO if it wants to upgrade ties, an alliance official said yesterday. George Katsirdakis, acting director for Defense Partnership and Cooperation at NATO headquarters in Brussels, said the country must resolve two outstanding problems before joining the partnership program. “The case against NATO before the International Court of Justice must be lifted and Belgrade must resolve the ICTY- (International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia) related issue concerning Mladic,” he said. (Reuters)

Turkish police have discovered an arms cache belonging to the banned Kurdish Workers Party in the basement of a house in Istanbul, the Anatolia news agency said yesterday. Anatolia said police had found 21 grenades, three AK47 rifles, four cartridge clips and ammunition. No arrests were made. (AFP)

Albania will hold local elections on October 12, the government said yesterday. Albanians, who voted for a ruling leftist majority in 2000, will choose local government officials and councils for town halls nationwide. (AP)