ANKARA (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will pay a one-day visit to Turkey on April 26 for talks on Iran’s nuclear program and the situation in Iraq, a Turkish diplomat said yesterday. Rice is expected to meet her Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Turkey has long been frustrated by Washington’s reluctance to act against armed Kurdish rebels hiding out in the mountains of northern Iraq, from where they infiltrate Turkish territory to attack government targets. Washington has been leery of committing itself to military action, arguing instead for means to dry up the group’s financial resources.

SOFIA (AFP) - Bulgaria’s Parliament yesterday rejected a no-confidence motion against the government over opposition allegations that it failed to cope with previous disasters, as the country braced itself for further floods on the Danube. Of the 228 deputies present in the 240-seat Parliament, 166 rejected the motion, 61 supported it and one abstained. The motion, which sparked a six-hour debate in Parliament Tuesday, accused the government of “inability to cope with disaster situations” which hit Bulgaria in June, August and September 2005, and again in February 2006. The right-wing opposition in a statement also criticized the government for “creating lasting corrupt practices in the way flood relief funds were disbursed.”

The United Nations has appointed a former US brigadier general to be the deputy head of the UN mission in Kosovo, the organization said yesterday in a statement. Steven Schook, who has retired from the US Army, previously served in Kosovo as chief of staff to the commander of NATO-led peacekeepers deployed in the province. Schook was also the NATO commander and senior military representative in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegoniva, and served as the commander of multinational peacekeeping troops known as SFOR in that country, the UN said. (AP)

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has canceled a trip to the Netherlands, where he was to participate in a conference, and event organizers said yesterday they were told he had suffered a heart problem. Turkish officials, however, said doctors determined Erdogan suffered only from a muscle spasm in his back. He was examined at a hospital Monday night, given medication and ordered to rest at home for three days, said his spokesman, Akif Beki. Doctors are to re-examine him today to see if he can return to work, Beki said. (AP)