SOFIA (AP) - A high court yesterday annulled a government decision to shut down two nuclear reactors ahead of schedule — closures required for membership in the European Union. The Supreme Administrative Court, empowered to revoke government decisions, said that Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg had acted illegally when he agreed to permanently close units 3 and 4 of the country’s only nuclear power plant in 2006. The reactors, at the Kozloduy plant, were originally scheduled to stay open until 2010. The court ruled that the government acted in defiance of an earlier parliamentary resolution banning any closures at the plant before Bulgaria joins the EU.

ANKARA (AFP) - Jailed Kurdish politician Leyla Zana and three other former Kurdish deputies appeared in court yesterday at the start of a closely watched retrial made possible under reforms pressed on Turkey to boost its EU bid. The state security court immediately rejected a plea to release the four during the trial, triggering harsh criticism from European Parliament members attending the hearing. Zana, Hatip Dicle, Orhan Dogan and Selim Sadak, who have spent the last nine years behind bars on charges of collaborating with armed Kurdish rebels, used their court appearance to call for more democracy in Turkey.

The Council of Europe cautioned Serbia and Montenegro yesterday not to reinstate the death penalty, an idea of the justice minister which has been criticized by pro-democracy parties in Belgrade. Council of Europe Secretary-General Walter Schwimmer wrote to Justice Minister Vladan Batic, arguing that bringing back the death penalty would run “counter to fundamental European principles and standards.” (AP)

A former Croatian army chief indicted for war crimes by the UN tribunal remains bedridden and depressed at a Zagreb clinic, his doctors said yesterday. Their medical report on retired Gen. Janko Bobetko was released after the Hague tribunal demanded that the Croatian government formally present Bobetko with its indictment charging him with atrocities. (AP)