RICE IN BULGARIA
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice will pay a short visit to Bulgaria at the end of July, during a scheduled European tour, mediapool.bg reported on July 1. Rice is expected to stop over for several hours, the website said, quoting unnamed sources in Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry. This will be her second solo trip to Bulgaria without president George W Bush. Her first unaccompanied trip was in April 2006.

COUP IN TURKEY?
Turkish police detained 20 people as part of an investigation into an alleged planned military coup against the government, daily Hurriyet reported on July 1. The arrests came on the same day that chief prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya was due to present his case in the suit filed with the Turkish constitutional court, asking for the country’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) party to be disbanded and a number of its top officials to be banned from politics for five years. Among those detained are two prominent retired generals, two journalists and the chairperson of Ankara’s chamber of commerce, according to Hurriyet.

NO LISBON FOR POLAND
Polish president Lech Kaczynski told Polish daily Dziennik that he will not sign the Lisbon Treaty. He said that signing it after the Irish decision not to ratify the document was pointless. Kaczynski’s interview with Dziennik was published on July 1 2008, the date France assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union. Poland’s parliament approved the treaty back in April. The president’s signature was the only thing left for the ratification process to be completed.

AUSTRALIAN E-VISAS
Australia’s department of immigration and citizenship DIAC has said that it would add Bulgaria, Romania and Poland to the countries whose citizens can use Australia’s electronic tourist visa system. Most applicants from the three Eastern European countries can look forward to having their visa applications processed within minutes of submitting them, DIAC secretary Andrew Metcalfe said in a statement, initially published on June 16 and re-circulated by Australian immigration consultants Migration Expert on June 30. By giving Bulgarians, Romanians and Poles access to the eVisitor service system, Australia edged closer to a fully reciprocal visa arrangement with the European Union, Metcalfe added.