BUCHAREST (AFP) – An interministerial panel in Romania ruled yesterday that an 11-year-old girl who became pregnant after allegedly being raped by her uncle can have an abortion.

“The committee has decided that a voluntary termination of the pregnancy can be carried out,” said Health Ministry official and panel member Vlad Iliescu. An abortion was allowed under Romanian law because the girl was a victim of sexual abuse, Iliescu said, adding that she faced “major risks to her mental health” if the pregnancy continued.

SOFIA (AFP) – Bulgaria and Hungary appear to be becoming impatient at slow progress on the EU’s flagship Nabucco gas pipeline, with two top officials pressing for action yesterday. Bulgarian Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov told a joint news conference here with Hungary’s Nabucco gas pipeline coordinator Mihaly Bayer that the two countries were concerned the project was in danger of getting bogged down. “We believe there has been some slowing down of activities on the project and so we’ve agreed to launch a political effort to speed it up,” Dimitrov said. More support was needed from the consumer countries, but governments and the companies making up the Nabucco consortium needed to intensify their efforts to ensure that there was sufficient gas to feed the pipeline, Dimitrov said.

VIENNA (AFP) – All 23 members of Turkey’s Euro 2008 squad are to receive 450,000 euros, dwarfing the amount which players from finalists Germany and Spain will be paid in bonuses. Turkish Football Federation president Hasan Dogan announced the sums just two days after they were beaten 3-2 by Germany in the semifinals – the first time they had reached the last four at the European soccer showpiece. The German players have been promised 250,000 euros each should they win the trophy tomorrow, while the Spanish will get 214,000 euros.

A forest fire raged on a hill near the Turkish Mediterranean resort of Marmaris yesterday, prompting the evacuation of nearby hotels and houses at the height of the tourist season, broadcasters said. Television footage showed woodland ablaze and strong winds blowing thick smoke across residential areas just 200 meters away in the Marmaris district of Armutalan. The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear. (Reuters)

The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague said yesterday it would temporarily release two former Serbian intelligence chiefs after the court delayed their trial for at least three months in May. The two suspects, Jovica Stanisic, head of the secret service of late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, and Franko Simatovic, a commander of elite Serb forces, are accused of arming and training militias who committed atrocities against non-Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia. Both accused have pleaded not guilty. (Reuters)

Bulgaria’s influential Orthodox Church yesterday called on authorities to ban the country’s first ever gay pride march. The march, planned for today, has already been moved from a downtown area of the capital, Sofia, to a remote park after municipal authorities expressed security concerns. The church argued the event would undermine the country’s Christian traditions. “Bulgarian society needs healthy, strong and moral individuals to build new life on the indestructible foundation of faith, prayer, repentance, honor, Christian culture and morals,” a statement said. (AP)

Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev will go to Paris on July 4 to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy, four days after France takes over the EU presidency, a government spokeswoman said yesterday. His trip will take place as Bulgaria awaits a European Commission report on the progress it has been making in fighting corruption and organized crime since joining the European Union in 2007. (AFP)