ISTANBUL (AP) - A Turkish court yesterday sentenced a pro-Chechen gunman to 36 years in prison for taking hostages at an Istanbul hotel two years ago, the Anatolia news agency reported. The court convicted Mustafa Yildirim, a Turk, of taking 13 hostages at Istanbul’s The Marmara Hotel on May 4, 2002, to draw attention to Russia’s military actions in the breakaway republic of Chechnya and Israel’s attacks against Palestinians. The court ruled that Yildirim not only took hostages but also opened fire in a residential neighborhood, created panic, and illegally bore a firearm, the agency reported. Yildirim released all 13 hostages unharmed after a standoff of more than an hour.

ANKARA (AP) - One soldier was killed and another wounded yesterday when a remote-controlled bomb exploded near their vehicle in an attack in southern Turkey blamed on Kurdish separatists, the Anatolia news agency reported. The attack in southeastern Sirnak province was the latest bloodshed in the region since the Kurdish rebels announced an end to a five-year unilateral ceasefire early last month. The injured soldier was taken to a military hospital in the city of Diyarbakir, Anatolia said. There was no word on his condition.

The defense ministers of Serbia-Montenegro and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia yesterday agreed to boost military cooperation between the two Balkan neighbors. Serbia-Montenegro’s military chief, Prvoslav Davinic, and his FYROM counterpart, Vlado Buckovski, outlined a cooperation plan including meetings of expert groups and a technical exchange. Calling FYROM “a friendly and brotherly country,” Davinic said Serbia-Montenegro will learn from its southern neighbor’s experience in its bid to establish closer ties with NATO. “Macedonia is a few steps ahead of us,” Davinic said. FYROM, together with Albania and Croatia, hopes to join NATO in 2007. (AP)

A minibus overturned on a highway near the Bulgarian capital yesterday, killing the driver and injuring nine other people, two of them critically, traffic police said. The victim, identified only as a 47-year-old Serb, died at the scene of the accident near the town of Slivnitsa, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Sofia. Seven Serbs and two Romanians were among the passengers on the minibus, which was registered in Serbia. All were taken to a hospital in Sofia, and doctors said two suffered critical injuries. (AP)

The war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic, set to resume tomorrow, has been delayed again due to the former Yugoslav leader’s persistent health problems, the UN court announced yesterday. Judges have adjourned the trial until Monday next week because a medical report indicated that Milosevic, who suffers from high blood pressure and heart trouble, should get more rest. Milosevic, who faces over 60 charges of war crimes and genocide over his alleged key role in the 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia, was due to start presenting his defense last week but his ill health forced a delay. Judges yesterday ordered a new round of medical tests to see if the former Yugoslav leader, who is acting as his own lawyer, is “fit to participate in the proceedings from Monday 19th until Wednesday 21st.” (AFP)