BUCHAREST (AP) – Heavy flooding hit north and west Romania this week, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate dozens of flooded rural towns, officials said yesterday. In all, 72 towns and 1,060 farms were flooded in Romania’s northwest region of Transylvania and its northern county of Suceava, Interior Ministry official Paul Dobre said yesterday. At least 130 people were stranded in their homes due to rising waters and 300 others had to evacuate, officials said. Police spokesman Gabriel Pantaru said rescuers were searching for a 15-year-old boy missing after falling into the swollen Suceava River in northern Romania.

BRUSSELS (AFP) – The European Commission has decided to release 66 million euros ($100 million) in so-called pre-accession aid to Croatia, which was frozen over concerns about the EU candidate’s handling of funds. “Croatia has made substantial progress in reinforcing its administrative capacity in order to better manage EU pre-accession financial assistance,” a Commission spokesman said yesterday. On account of those improvements, the Commission said it “has lifted” the suspension made in December.

DIYARBAKIR (Reuters) – Three Turkish soldiers were killed yesterday in the mountainous southeastern province of Sirnak after triggering a mine laid by Kurdish rebels, military sources said. Immediately after the explosion Turkish helicopters bombed areas where the Kurdistan Workers’ Party was suspected of operating, the sources said.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic yesterday vowed that his country wanted to settle the issue of Kosovo through compromise and within the framework of European Union integration. “By pursuing a policy of peace through compromise, the Western Balkans can truly be transformed into a region that submits to the rule of law, while embracing Europe,” he said during a Security Council debate on Kosovo. “We believe in peaceful and consensual resolution of disputes, including the one we are here today to discuss,” he added. (AFP)

A court in southern Bulgaria’s city of Haskovo sentenced a Montenegrin to 16 years in prison for masterminding a criminal ring trafficking heroin from Turkey to Western Europe, the court said yesterday. Budimir Kujovic, 39, was arrested in December 2007 during a joint police operation that also seized 60 kilos of top-quality heroin en route from Turkey. Three Bulgarians, aged between 41 and 53, were also arrested and put on trial along with Kujovic. They received sentences yesterday of between 12 and 15 years. (AFP)

German federal prosecutors said yesterday they have indicted two militants from an outlawed Turkish far-left group for membership of a terrorist organization. The federal prosecutor’s office in this southwestern city said a 43-year-old woman identified only as Heike S. was believed to have belonged to the leadership of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) from 1996 to 1999. She is also suspected of involvement in a number of killings as well as a series of arson attacks and firebombings in Turkey. (AFP)

An 11-year-old boy stole a car in Belgrade and took it for a joy ride before causing a traffic accident that left seven people injured, including the driver, Serbia’s B92 Television reported yesterday. The boy lost control of the car on Thursday, hitting an oncoming vehicle, according to B92. Two adults suffered serious injuries – one with a skull fracture and the other an injured femur – while four children were also hospitalized. (AFP)

The head of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) conceded yesterday that his legal authority in the ethnic Albanian-majority Balkan territory had been drastically curtailed since a new constitution went into force last month. “Since the entry into force of the Kosovo constitution, exercising my legal powers under UN Security Council Resolution 1244 has become increasingly difficult,” Lamberto Zannier told the Security Council. (AFP)