SOFIA (Reuters) - Bird flu reported in Bulgaria last week is most probably not from the highly virulent H5 or H7 strain, potentially dangerous for humans, veterinarian officials said yesterday. Preliminary tests of samples from the affected area showed the presence also of Newcastle disease, which might have contributed for the mass deaths of around 200 birds. “This is a mixed infection between bird flu and Newcastle disease. The bird flu virus we have isolated has so far tested negative for both H5 and H7 strains,” said Georgi Georgiev, a scientist with the Bulgarian Veterinarian Institute.

TIRANA (AP) - The Albanian government has frozen another bank account belonging to a businessman accused by US authorities of receiving money from Osama bin Laden to set up a radical Islamic terrorist network in Albania. The Finance Ministry said yesterday that it has also frozen bank accounts and seized property belonging to five Islamic charities operating in the country. Finance Minister Ridvan Bode ordered the action on July 5. Six bank accounts were frozen and property was seized in the capital Tirana and in the small northern towns of Kukes and Bulqiza.

The British government has drawn up a list of 45,000 Bulgarians and Romanians linked to organized crime or seen as security risks who might come to Britain when the two states join the EU, a newspaper reported yesterday. The Sunday Times said its report was based on a leaked Home Office document which revealed the government had compiled the “warnings index” from the records of Bulgarians and Romanians who had tried to enter Britain illegally in the past, or were thought to be involved in organized crime. (Reuters)