PRISTINA (AFP) - NATO has made preparations to avoid another outbreak of inter-ethnic violence in Kosovo like the bloody riots that rocked the province in March, German General Harald Kujat said yesterday. The chairman of NATO’s military committee visited the province with a delegation of military officials from the 25 NATO member states. “We will not allow that riots as those in mid-March will happen again. We are prepared to cope with that,” he told reporters after his arrival in the provincial capital.

ISTANBUL (AFP) - Turkey and the Palestinian Authority signed yesterday an agreement aimed at boosting bilateral cooperation and trade, the Anatolia news agency reported. The agreement, inked by Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen and Palestinian Economy Minister Maher al-Masri, lifts customs duties and overlapping duties on imports of industrial products. It also foresees cooperation in many fields from agriculture to industry, as well as Turkish technical assistance to Palestinians.

About 14 percent of Bulgarians — 1.1 million out of a population of 8 million — live under a poverty line established at a monthly income of 52 euros (66 dollars) per person, according to a study issued yesterday by the national statistics institute. The poverty level is fixed at 85 percent of the average monthly income of 61 euros. The study found that members of the country’s Roma or Gypsy community have much higher rates of poverty and social deprivation. (AFP)

Bosnian-Serb lawmakers appointed a nationalist party politician as parliamentary speaker yesterday, replacing Dragan Kalinic who was sacked for allegedly supporting war criminals. Kalinic was the most powerful figure among 60 Bosnian-Serb officials who were sacked last month by international High Representative Paddy Ashdown, the overseer of the Balkan republic’s 1995 Dayton peace accords. (AFP)

President George W. Bush will hold talks with Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase at the White House today to discuss the war on terrorism, Afghanistan and Iraq, a Bush spokesman announced. (AP)

Romania’s top institution for scholars and scientists yesterday called on the government to halt the construction of a Canadian-funded gold mine, saying it would damage ancient monuments in the area. A statement from the Romanian Academy said the mine project in northwestern Romania was not in the public interest and urged authorities to review the scheme with domestic and foreign scientists. Toronto-based Gabriel Resources Ltd is backing plans to mine parts of Rosia Montana, an area in the Apuseni Mountains in Transylvania. (AP)