SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnia has deported the first of dozens of Muslim former fighters identified as threats to security after investigations requested by the United States, a newspaper reported yesterday. Algerian-born Atau Mimun, 37, was among hundreds of foreign volunteers who arrived in Bosnia during the 1992-95 war to fight alongside Bosnian Muslims against Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats, and stayed on after marrying local women. He was deported to Algeria on Sunday, the Nezavisne Novine daily quoted a senior security official as saying. «It was established that this person jeopardized national security,» said Dragan Mektic, the director of the foreign affairs service within the state security ministry.

ANKARA (Reuters) - A Turkish court has ordered Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pay a symbolic fine to families of soldiers slain by Kurdish guerrillas for using a derogatory word to describe the dead men. In a statement faxed to Reuters yesterday, the office of the lawyer representing the families said Erdogan was also being fined for referring to jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan as «Sayin,» a term of respect meaning «esteemed.» Praising a crime or criminals is an offence in Turkey. A faxed copy of the verdict, dated December 12, confirmed the ruling. The case dates back to a radio interview Erdogan gave in Australia in 2000 - before becoming prime minister - when he said «Sayin Ocalan» would pay for the «heads» he had taken, the statement from lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz said.

A Turkish court yesterday ordered the release of a 17-year-old German jailed since mid-April for allegedly sexually abusing an underage British girl but said the trial will continue, the plaintiff's lawyer said. Marco Weiss was released after «the court decided (this) at its eighth hearing,» Omer Aycan told AFP. «He can, if bureaucratic procedures permit, leave Turkey this evening because there are no travel restrictions on him,» Aycan said. Turkish media said Weiss would be tried in the same court in the same town, adding that the next hearing was set for April 1, 2008. Weiss was accused by the mother of the 13-year-old girl of sexually abusing her daughter in a hotel room. He denied the charges. (AFP)

A Turkish military court ordered the release of two paramilitary officers and a Kurdish rebel informant from jail yesterday until their trial on charges of trying to kill a former Kurdish guerrilla resumes next year. The case is being watched closely as a test of EU candidate Turkey's ability to hold its security personnel accountable for their actions. (AP)