PRISTINA (AFP) - Three ethnic Albanians were sentenced to seven-year jail terms for war crimes committed during Kosovo’s 1998-1999 conflict, the United Nations said yesterday. Selim Krasniqi, Agron Krasniqi and Bedri Zyberaj, former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, a rebel force that fought Serbian forces during the war, were found guilty of detaining and beating fellow Albanians whom they believed to be collaborating with Serbian authorities, said the justice department of the UN mission in Kosovo. The crimes were committed between June and September 1998, when members of the KLA organized and ran a detention center in the basement of a school building in the central Kosovo village of Drenovac.

SARAJEVO (AFP) - The grave of Bosnia’s first president, the former Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic, was damaged in an explosion early yesterday, police said. An investigation was underway. Izetbegovic, who died in October 2003, is seen as a hero by most Muslims for leading Bosnia to independence in 1992, a move that triggered a three-and-a-half year war between Muslims, Serbs and Croats.

Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan has said he may call on his militants to declare a ceasefire if Ankara displays “a sincere approach” for the resolution of the ethnic conflict, a pro-Kurdish news agency reported yesterday. “It is possible to stop the bloodshed... If the government displays a sincere approach we will do what is up to us. I will make a call for a ceasefire and the clashes will stop,” the Germany-based Firat news agency quoted Ocalan as saying. (AFP)

Serbs seeking extra protection or a helicopter for the weekend can now turn to the police, which from this month will be renting out its personnel, transport and even animals for private use. According to a detailed price list published in the official gazette, the cost of hiring a policeman to guard money transports or sports events would be 300 dinars ($4.50) an hour. A police horse goes for 2,400 dinars a day, a trained dog for 1,800 dinars a day, and a helicopter for between 45,000 and 140,000 dinars per hour depending on the type. (Reuters)