BUCHAREST (AFP) – The death toll following five days of flooding in northern Romania rose to four yesterday after authorities said they found the body of a teenager carried away by the floodwaters. Another person was still missing in northeastern Suceava county, they added. Authorities had reported on Sunday that a 30-year-old mother, her son and another youngster died in Maramures county when a landslide swept away the house in which they had taken refuge up on a hill. Secretary of State for the Interior Victor Paul Dobre added that two other people were missing after being carried off by the high waters. Meanwhile, authorities said yesterday that a total of 11,720 people had been evacuated from their homes in northern Romania, following the severe flooding that also ravaged western Ukraine over the weekend. In Maramures county, rescue services were trying to evacuate by helicopter some 200 tourists trapped since Saturday on a small train in the mountains, after rising water damaged the tracks. Dobre added that some 4,500 security forces and volunteers were building dikes and giving out food to those hit by the floods. President Traian Basescu, Interior Minister Cristian David and Environment Minister Attila Korodi, who had traveled to the affected region on Saturday, also returned to assess the situation. Forecasters said the weather was expected to let up in the next few days.

SKOPJE (AP) – Authorities in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) have taken a key opposition figure back into custody on corruption charges after the prosecution appealed against his release on bail 10 days ago. Zoran Zaev, the deputy leader of FYROM’s opposition party, and four aides were arrested July 17 on suspicion of embezzling $12.4 million in public funds during the construction of a shopping mall in the southern town of Strumica. Zaev was charged with abuse of authority. The Skopje District Court canceled his release and late Sunday ordered Zaev and his aides held in custody for 30 days on the grounds they might influence witnesses if free. No trial date has been set.

ZAGREB (AFP) – Croatia began yesterday to fly out its team of more than 100 competitors to Beijing ahead of the Olympic Games, among them several gold-medal hopefuls. “We have already accomplished one goal because we are sending more than 100 athletes, which is our Olympic record,” the head of Croatia’s Olympic Committee, Zlatko Matesa, told journalists. Croatia sent 91 athletes to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, the biggest participation at the Games for the former Yugoslav republic since they won independence in 1991. “Now everything depends on the athletes. But I’m happy most of them are in exceptional form, so we shouldn’t be short of medals,” said Matesa, as quoted by the Hina news agency.

A Romanian official says he is confident the International Court of Justice will resolve a decades-old dispute with Ukraine over oil and gas reserves in the Black Sea. Foreign Ministry official Bogdan Aurescu said yesterday he believes the United Nations’ top court will resolve the dispute which dates back to 1967 with the former Soviet Union. At stake is 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas and oil reserves in the Black Sea. In 1997, the neighbors made commitments not to exploit the oil in the disputed area. Aurescu said the case will take place in September in The Hague. The final decision is expected several months later. (AP)

Cyprus’s education minister says Greek-Cypriot school history books will be revised to help build understanding with the divided island’s estranged Turkish-Cypriot community. Andreas Dimitriou says the changes will compensate for some omissions concerning the island’s turbulent recent history. A committee will oversee the revision. But the minister says it will take “more than a year” before students get the new books. He made the announcement yesterday. (AP)