SOFIA (AFP) – A bronze chariot dating to the second century AD has been unearthed in a Thracian burial mound in southeastern Bulgaria, archaeologists said yesterday. Over 10,000 Thracian burial mounds are scattered across central and southeastern Bulgaria, considered home to the ancient Thracians, who inhabited the region between 4000 BC and AD 300. “It is an ancient four-wheel chariot with a richly ornamented framework and a yoke of figured bronze,” archaeologist Veselin Ignatov told national radio. He said the chariot, which was exceptionally well preserved, had probably been buried in the tomb of a rich Thracian man in line with the Thracians’ belief that belongings accompany the dead into the afterlife.

OHRID (AFP) – Leaders of Southeastern European countries met yesterday in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to discuss joint ways of overcoming the global financial and economic crisis. FYROM President Branko Crvenkovski, the host of the gathering in the lake resort of Ohrid, appealed to Balkan leaders to find a “common response to new economic challenges” resulting from the crisis. Speaking at a joint press conference, Crvenkovski called for “a new philosophy, a new conception of relations, primarily economic relations” in the region. The fifth Regional Economic Forum for Southeast Europe was attended by the presidents of Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Montenegro. Their Serbian counterpart Boris Tadic was not taking part.

ZAGREB (AFP) –Croatia has opened an inquiry into a former defense minister over suspicions about the legality of the purchase of 39 Italian trucks in 2004, a newspaper reported yesterday. The investigation into Berislav Roncevic and his former deputy Ivo Becic was being conducted by the national bureau for the fight against corruption and organized crime (USKOK), said the daily Vecernji List. It was launched at the request of President Stipe Mesic, who has publicly sought a probe into the order of the trucks from Iveco, a division of Fiat, through Croatian dealer Europakamion.

The wife of one of five Bosnian Muslim detainees of the Guantanamo US “war on terror” detention camp ordered freed by a US judge yesterday criticized the way her country handled the case. “I am happy that my struggle was not in vain... but I am now calling on the government to stop continued human rights violations,” Nadja Dizdarevic told AFP. Dizdarevic’s husband Hadji Boudella was one of six Bosnians of Algerian origin handed over to the United States and whose detention at Guantanamo was declared illegal by a US judge on Thursday. Bosnian Security Minister Tarik Sadovic moved to allay her concerns, saying the government was prepared to receive them if they were released. (AFP)

A retired Croatian general has pleaded not guilty to charges that he seized gems worth $5 million (4 million euros) used in a wartime arms deal. Vladimir Zagorec faces charges of allegedly abusing his position and authority. The trial opened yesterday in Zagreb. Prosecutors say he seized diamonds, rubies and other jewels, allegedly used as collateral for the purchase of weapons during the 1991 war, when leaving the ministry in 2000. Zagorec’s lawyer, Zvonimir Hodak, says prosecutors will have “a tough job proving” the gems were ever given to the ministry. (AP)

Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry says a Bulgarian worker has been kidnapped in Nigeria. Ministry spokesman Dragovest Goranov said yesterday that the worker had been kidnapped the previous day and that he was the employee of a foreign company in Nigeria. Goranov says the company, which he did not name, has informed the Bulgarian Embassy in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, about the kidnapping. (AP)

Bulgarian authorities have incinerated 180 kilos (400 pounds) of illicit drugs seized at the country’s border checkpoints and in police raids, the customs agency said yesterday. The drugs included 80 kilos of heroin, 67 kilos of amphetamines and 32 kilos of marijuana, it added in a statement. More than 20 tons of drugs were destroyed over the past eight years in Bulgaria, which lies on a major drug-trafficking route. (AFP)