SARAJEVO (AFP) - Bosnia's top human rights court said yesterday that NATO troops should turn over to Bosnian authorities a suspect accused of having links to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, citing provisions of the European human rights convention. Sabahudin Fijuljanin, a Muslim living in the northeastern village of Gornja Maoca, has been held at a NATO base in the nearby town of Tuzla since his arrest in October on suspicion of spying and of having ties to Al Qaeda. In a ruling issued yesterday, Bosnia's Human Rights Chamber said authorities from Bosnia's Muslim-Croat part must formally request from SFOR troops that they «immediately place» the suspect in their custody.

BELGRADE (AP) - A top-ranking police official apologized yesterday for beating protesters during a 1996 demonstration against Slobodan Milosevic's regime. Police Col. Zivko Trajkovic said that «some members of elite (police) forces overreacted» during anti-government demonstrations. Police often broke bones, beat the elderly and harassed journalists as tens of thousand of people protested at election fraud in local contests. After three months of demonstrations, Milosevic handed over authority in major cities to the democratic opposition.

The war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic was again adjourned yesterday on health grounds, with UN judges ordering the former Yugoslav president to undergo a fresh round of health checks. The one-time Serb strongman suffers from high blood pressure and is at risk of a heart attack, according to earlier medical reports. (AFP)

The Turkish government has slated several ports, factories and industrial facilities for privatization this year in a bid to raise at least 4 billion dollars, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener announced on yesterday. «Turkey has earned a total of 8 billion dollars» since the country began privatizations 17 years ago, Sener told a press conference in Istanbul as he outlined the government's 2003 privatization program. (AFP)

A senior leader of Albania's Islamic community was shot and killed yesterday in his office in Tirana, police and Muslim officials said. Sali Tivari, 58, was killed before 9 a.m. (local time) by a bullet to the chest while in his office near the Parliament building, said Ervin Hatibi, editor in chief of the Drita Islame (Islam Light) newspaper. (AP)