BRDO PRI KRANJU (AFP) – The European Union urged Croatia yesterday not to enforce its controversial Adriatic fishing zone if it wanted to avoid negative consequences for its ambitions to join the EU. “It is essential that Croatia not enforce the fishery zone,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told journalists here. Speaking on the sidelines of the first meeting here between the EU Commission and the Slovenian government, which currently holds the 27-nation bloc’s rotating presidency, Rehn added that, to his knowledge, the fishery zone had not actually been enforced in practice, even if it had legally come into existence on January 1. “On condition that Croatia will not enforce the zone, we’ll try to find a political solution. Otherwise, it would have consequences on (EU) accession negotiations,” Rehn said.

BUCHAREST (AP) – The EU has said Romania can continue its centuries-old rural tradition of slaughtering pigs and lambs for its main Christian holidays without first stunning the animals, the Agriculture Ministry said yesterday. Romania came under fierce criticism for the slaughters when it joined the European Union in 2007. Before Christmas, an outdoor festival is held at which Romanian men slit the throats of pigs and quarter the carcasses, which are then cleaned by women and made into sausages and other pork dishes. The ritual is similar for Easter, but involves lambs. EU law requires such animals be killed humanely, in commercial slaughterhouses and using anesthetic. Romania had argued that this threatened its national heritage of rural traditions.

Turk police said yesterday they had detained 38 people with suspected links to the al-Qaida network last week. Thirty-five suspects were arrested in Van, eastern Turkey, two in the southern city of Adana and one in Istanbul in the January 5 sweep, the Van police said in a statement. One of the men held in Van was believed to be a local ringleader of the extremist network, it added. The suspects were due to appear before a judge later yesterday for arraignment. Members of an al-Qaida cell have been convicted of organizing four suicide bombings in Istanbul in November 2003 that killed 63, left hundreds injured and caused massive destruction as they targeted two synagogues, the British Consulate and a British-owned bank. (AFP)