PRISTINA (AFP) - The US military does not have a secret detention facility at its military base in Kosovo, but maintains a joint detention center within the NATO-led peacekeeping mission (KFOR), the US military in Kosovo said on Saturday. “There are no secret detention facilities located on Camp Bondsteel (East Kosovo). It is common knowledge that we do have a Kosovo Force (KFOR) detention facility located here,” Major Michael Wunn, US military contingent in Kosovo spokesman, told AFP. Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles said Friday the US military ran a Guantanamo-type detention center in Kosovo.

BARCELONA (AFP) - New German Chancellor Angela Merkel was scheduled yesterday to hold potentially testy talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Ankara’s hopes to joint the European Union, German officials said. Merkel, who was sworn in last week, was to meet Erdogan for bilateral talks before the start of a 35-nation Mediterranean summit. Merkel’s skepticism about Turkey’s bid to join the EU is well-known: She says Turkey should be offered a “privileged partnership” with the EU rather than full membership.

Members of the autonomy-seeking Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, kidnapped three men in southeastern Turkey and later executed two of them, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. The third man was sent to town to get food, but went to inform security officials of the kidnapping, the agency said. When police arrived at the scene, they found the bodies of Halil Mese and Metin Durbak, who had been shot, Anatolia said. (AP)

Turkish teachers demonstrating for better working conditions clashed with police on Saturday, leaving 17 injured, according to unions, the Anatolia news agency reported. Thousands of teachers from across the country had traveled to Ankara to take part in the unauthorized protest, called by the Egitim-Sen union to demand an overtime review and the introduction of regular sanitary checks. Their “great march” had been due to end with a declaration outside the Education Ministry, reports said. (AFP)